I have now started an autonomous R/C racing boat project as well as my pontoon RSV project and will develop both projects in parallel.
This autonomous boat is being built around a Legacy Traxxas Villain R/C racing boat that is about 31" long and uses the same dual brushed and geared propulsion drive train as the pontoon RSV hull.
Here are pictures of the basic hull, motor/drive train and props:
Basic Hull
Twin Geared Motor Drives
Twin Screw Drive
I decided to paint the hull prior to attaching the propulsion system and other support hardware.
Here are pictures of the painted hull done in a sort of USA Woodland camouflage:
Villain Side View
Villain Stern View
After installation of the drive train components and propellers I will install the ESC/Servo watertight compartment in the aft section of the hull/deck compartment. The upper deck should be here on Tue and I will then determine how to modify it to accommodate a Pixhawk navigation platform.
More pictures and construction details as I progress this coming week.
Regards,
TCIII Autonomous Vehicle Developer
Replies
Hi All,
I finally received several 3DR GPS/Compass modules this week and spent a few hours this weekend completing the Navigation Control board.
I have bound the NC board Spektrum receiver (AR6115) to my DX7 R/C transmitter and have calibrated the radio channels. I have also leveled and calibrated the gyros and accelerometers.
All I have left to do is calibrate the compass and setup some of the basic, steering, throttle, and navigation parameters and I can put the boat in water to run a mission on my Association's mini lake.
Below is a picture of the completed Navigation Controller Board. I will tidy up the wiring after I calibrate the compass.
TCIII AVD
Hi Tom. I'm eagerly awaiting the next post to see how the Traxxas Villain is progressing. It looks great.
Hi Grant,
The Villain is ready to go and I have successfully tested it in the Manual Mode in my Association's mini lake as the Association's pool is so small that the boat was setting up reflected waves in pool that almost swamped it.:-( The lake is big enough that the bow wave is not reflected off of the shoreline resulting in a smooth running boat. But that is the reason I am looking at building the 40 in length V hull racing boat that I can seal up and has great rough water performance.
Regards,
Tom C AVD
Hi All,
I was finally able to get back to moving my Traxxas Autonomous R/C Racing Boat Project along this last weekend since I had completed most of the work on the Pontoon RSV Project and was waiting to test the RSV in the Association community swimming pool today.
The first picture is of the upper deck area prior to adding the pilot area cover and the navigation controller platform. At the bottom of the picture you can see the top of the splash shield that I added to stern to prevent the following stern wave from rolling over the transom when the boat is slowing down from a high speed run. Also visible in the picture are the throttle and steering servo cables protruding from the left side of the pilot area.
Regards,
TCIII AVD
Hi All,
Testing that I performed today in the Association swimming pool at fairly high speeds indicates that I have successfully sealed the inner hull from any further water incursion. My only concern is that water can be splashed over the upper deck transom when slowing from a high speed run and possibly run down into the opening where the ESC start/stop switch protrudes through the upper deck. Therefore I might have to build a small splash shield on the transom area of the upper deck.
Regards,
TCIII AVD
Hi All,
Unfortunately sealing the mating area under the boat in the transom area where the outer hull and the inner hull meet did not prevent the water incursion I had originally experienced.
The only other point for water incursion in the hull transom area is inside the inner hull where the steering connector rods and the propeller shaft stuffing tube hull penetration neoprene seals are located.
The stuffing tube seals are double faced so they seal on the outside of the hull and on the inside of the hull. The steering connector rod seals are made up of a bellows followed by the hull seal, then the inner hull seal, which is then followed by a second set of seals located inside and outside of the ESC waterproof box where the steering servo is located.
I had to remove the ESC waterproof box, which sits above and in front of the area where the steering and stuffing tube hull penetrations are located, to be able to access and provide additional sealing for both the steering and stuffing tube hull penetrations. I can now see why Traxxas has discontinued the Villain EX configuration as it is extremely difficult to detect and prevent hull penetration leaks in the area under the ESC waterproof box location.
After removing the ESC waterproof box I proceeded to add a liberal coating of silicone sealer to the steering and stuffing tube hull penetration seals and the surrounding area of the transom where the outer and inner hull meet. The inner hull had been cutout in the transom area where the steering and stuffing tube hull penetrations exit the outer hull and enter into the inner hull. I liberally flooded the cutout area with silicone sealer to essentially close off the outer hull from the inner hull in the cutout area.
I then waited until the silicone sealer had had a chance to cure before testing the hull integrity in the Association swimming pool this morning.
Much to my relief the application of the silicone sealer in the inner hull area of the transom worked and I did not detect any water incursion after letting the hull sit in the pool water for three minutes.
The moral here is do not trust the "as built" integrity of double hull construction where the hull below water transom penetrations are located. Unless you cannot do otherwise, I would suggest using a quality silicone sealer on the inside of the hull in the area of the transom below water hull penetrations.
My next step is to insure that there is no water incursion over the top of the inner hull transom, when the boat is underway, as there is a slight gap between the top of the inner hull transom and the bottom of the removable upper deck. This area of the transom tends to be pulled slightly underwater by the propellers when moving at a high speed.
I have attached a rubber strip on the underside of the Upper Deck transom cover area that butts up against the top of the Inner Hull transom to help prevent water from moving over the top of the Inner Hull transom when under way. I have also considered adding two screws to the vertical surface where the Upper Deck transom cover mates with the Inner Hull transom area which will pull the Upper Deck transom cover tightly against the Inner Hull transom surface.
Regards,
TCIII AVD
Hi All,
Today I took the completed R/C Villain EX racing boat out for a spin in the Association swimming pool:-)
It moved very smartly though the pool water though moving it at a high rate through the water caused the stern to pull down and a small amount of water to seep over the top of stern, through a gap between the top of the transom and the inside of the transom area of the upper deck and into the bilge in the bottom of the hull.
Since I had to use a Villain IV upper deck, because the Villain EX upper deck is no longer available, the IV upper deck mounts slightly differently on the EX hull and results in a slight gap where the inside of the upper deck mates with the top of the hull in the transom area.
I plan to investigate various methods of sealing the gap between the hull and the upper deck that will still allow easy removal of the upper deck to get to the motor/drive trains and the batteries. I can also adjust the vertical trim of the propellers downwards to help push the stern up under higher speeds and help keep the water away from the top of the transom.
As soon as I get this minor leak issue put to bed, I plan to proceed to add the navigation controller, associated components, and a waterproof covering to the deck plate.
Regards,
TCIII AVD
Hi All,
I took the Villain EX boat down to the pool today and just let it float in the water without running it around in the water.
When I got back home, I still had some water in the bottom of the hull. I am pretty sure that it is not coming in though the propeller shaft stuffing tube hull penetration seals nor the steering link hull penetration seals which are both double faced seals.
The Villain EX hull is made up of two pieces: the outer hull and an inner liner that is mated to the outer hull. The original Villain IV design had the builder assemble the outer hull and the inner liner by CAing them together. The Villain EX hull, on the other hand, came preassembled with the outer hull and the inner liner glued together.
I suspect that there might be some small gaps between the hull and the inner liner mating interface in the transom area of the hull which is normally slightly underwater. Therefore I have used some clear RTV sealant to seal off the area in the transom where the hull and inner liner are joined together.
I will test tomorrow to see if my sealing efforts have prevailed:-)
Regards,
TCIII AVD
Hi All,
Today I connected up the two motors to their respective ESC wires, hooked up a couple of 8.4vdc NiMH batteries along with a servo tester and checked out the performance of the ESC, motors, and drive train. All of the components performed as expected. I then installed the ESC/servo waterproof box cover and locked it down with the included twist cap.
Previously I had added a 1/8" thick ABS plastic deck plate to the top of the upper deck for the navigation controller and associated components and completed a mount for the twist cap to hold the upper deck securely to the boat hull. The twist cap locks into a post with a lateral pin which is attached to the motors mount under the upper deck.
The next step will be to add the navigation controller, associated components, and a waterproof covering to the deck plate.
Regards,
TCIII AVD
Hi All,
I worked on both the Pontoon RSV Hull and the Traxxas Villain EX Hull at the same time during this last week. I spent most of the time with the Villain Hull during the week and the RSV Hull during the weekend.
The Villain IV Upper Deck showed up on Thursday of this week and I modified it to fit on the Villain EX hull because the Villain EX Upper Deck is no longer available. The Villain EX ESC arming button is not in the same place as the IV so I had to do a little surgery to the aft portion of the IV deck to make way for the EX arming button and cover the IV arming button hole.
I spent from Monday to Thursday of this week installing the motor/motor mounts, motor cooling coils, the stuffing tubes, the ESC/servo waterproof box, the ESC, the ESC water cooling heat exchanger, the servo, the propellers/mounts, and the steering control rods. Everything took longer than I anticipated:-) Here is the results:
This coming week I will solder the ESC motor drive wires to the motors, adjust the gear train lash, and proceed to test out the ESC/drive train with a pair of 8.4vdc NMHi batteries and my Traxxas R/C transmitter and receiver.
I am still waiting for the ESC/servo waterproof box cover which should be here on Tuesday. The addition of the cover makes the ESC/servo box completely waterproof since the ESC motor/battery wire loom exists the box through a waterproof gasket and all of the other box cover penetrations have waterproof gaskets also.
I then plan to start to working on mounting an APM2.6 navigation platform in the cockpit of the upper deck.
Stay tuned, more to come!
Regards,
TCIII Autonomous Vehicle Developer
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