First time flying on open sea from small boat ?

[Meta4]

You might also have to practise the "grab and twist/flip/roll" method of motor stopping.

That might be fine with a little toy like the Mini, but with bigger drones that could be quite scary.
Having held a Mavic 3 pro that wanted to fight to get back to where it was when caught, there's no way I'd be trying to roll it over, close to arms and faces and with water all around.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

That might be fine with a little toy like the Mini, but with bigger drones that could be quite scary.
Having held a Mavic 3 pro that wanted to fight to get back to where it was when caught, there's no way I'd be trying to roll it over, close to arms and faces and with water all around.

I have done it with an m2p, it was that or let a dog get it.
You DO have to be careful, even a glancing blow from a bigger prop is going to hurt but ........ on a boat I think there will be little option.

 

[Meta4]

I have done it with an m2p, it was that or let a dog get it.
You DO have to be careful, even a glancing blow from a bigger prop is going to hurt but ........ on a boat I think there will be little option.

On land is one thing but on a moving boat is something different.
I've held the Mavic 3 on a boat that was stopped, but being moved by the current.
It was like a powerful angry beast wanting to get back to the spot where it was grabbed.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

On land is one thing but on a moving boat is something different.
I've held the Mavic 3 on a boat that was stopped, but being moved by the current.
It was like a powerful angry beast wanting to get back to the spot where it was grabbed.

I too have held a Mavic 2 moving my hand about enough to trigger a response, I am not arguing that it will fight but it may be the OP's only option.

 

[BGladstone]

GET A HANDLE
When working from a boat you would launch and catch with a handle.
Save your fingers and save the drone! Get a handle. Practice with in ashore before trying in wind and waves.
Also turn the boat bow into the wind and launch and catch from the stern.
(The 3D printed handle I bought online was brittle and not good. I got one from Gus Schmeige at RegattaShots.com that I really like. Velcro strap around drone body with 6" carbon handle from bottom of drone.)

 

[jimlips]

Check out this video:

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I've cued the video to the point of interest so you don't have to watch the whole thing. I'm the guy in the front of the kayak, trying to catch my Mavic Mini 3 or 4 (can't recall which).
The water was mostly calm, but my big mistake was forgetting to turn off the downard (landing) sensors.
The result was that the drone was stuper-stable as long it is was up higher, but when it "saw" the waves in the water, it got confused and kept jerking around. I think when it finally "saw" my hand, it aligned itself and landed properly.

Lessions learned: TURN OFF DOWNWARD SENSORS, bring gloves, and take your time. DO NOT USE RTH, manually land it.

 

[Pieter Einthoven]

I frequently fly my MPP from moving sailboats. There are several important things to do that are very important.

1. Launch and recover from the back of the boat. Then when the drone goes to hover it safely separates from the boat.
2. get a rigid handle. Mine is a GoPro type mount and I just have a 1” wooden down screwed into it (see photos). When you fly the drone up to the back of the boat you can just snatch it out of the air. I think it is very dangerous to hand catch from a moving boat without a rigid handle
3. After you recover the drone, turn it sideways. At least in the MPP this shuts down the motors because it thinks it crashed.
4. I can set the MPP to automatically update the home point when you have moved a certain distance away. It still does not fly back to you but it won’t be trying to fly as far away.
5. My MPP has a setting for a max distance from the launch point. You MUST turn this off, otherwise your drone might suddenly stop.
6. Turn off obstacle detection as it will prevent the drone from getting close enough to recover. My MPP only has forward obstacle detection, so I just fly it backwards to the boat. Flying backwards actually makes lateral control easier (right stick moves drone right).
7. Come home when battery is at 50% to give you lots of time to make approaches to the boat.
8. When you first try this, have 1 person dedicated to catching the drone, and 1 person flying the drone, neither of who are needed to operate the boat. When you get proficient, you can fly and catch by yourself.
9. I use Active Track to have the drone follow the boat and stay pointed at the boat. On the MPP and DJ Go4 app it works but is not great. When i fly ahead of the boat, the boat catches up to the drone so I still have to keep backing the drone away. The speed is limited to about 15-20 knots in active track so be aware of the combination of wind speed and boat speed.

 

[Capt Pete]

I fly the M4P. Both from a 12 ft open aluminum row/motor launch and from my 25 ft Cape Dory sailboat. I launch off of a piece of plywood set on the bow/forward seat and land on the same place. I mainly use on a large river to capture marsh and tidal river photos and videos. I never hand launch or catch from the boat.
Different story with the sailboat, but still never hand launch or catch. I sail alone, so almost impossible to video sailboat while underway. I launch and land on the hatch cover with a beach towel on the hatch for traction and the boom pushed way out to the side. I've never turned off the avoidance stuff and just do a forced landing. While in blue water I never loose site of the drone and use it to video assorted fish on the surface and just under. Wind is steadier at sea in open water but never fly if over 5 mph and always return with at least 10 minutes to do the landing! From the smaller, open launch it's much easier and I've flown with wind in the 10 to 15 mph range with no problems. Not many can fly alone from a sailboat in open water, but it can be done!

 

[jwilson]

That's a start, but even an experienced hand catcher/launcher will have a nasty surprise and lot of trouble if the boat is moving.

I would never try it on a moving boat.

 

[tvdwouw]

I frequently fly my MPP from moving sailboats. There are several important things to do that are very important.

1. Launch and recover from the back of the boat. Then when the drone goes to hover it safely separates from the boat.
2. get a rigid handle. Mine is a GoPro type mount and I just have a 1” wooden down screwed into it (see photos). When you fly the drone up to the back of the boat you can just snatch it out of the air. I think it is very dangerous to hand catch from a moving boat without a rigid handle
3. After you recover the drone, turn it sideways. At least in the MPP this shuts down the motors because it thinks it crashed.
4. I can set the MPP to automatically update the home point when you have moved a certain distance away. It still does not fly back to you but it won’t be trying to fly as far away.
5. My MPP has a setting for a max distance from the launch point. You MUST turn this off, otherwise your drone might suddenly stop.
6. Turn off obstacle detection as it will prevent the drone from getting close enough to recover. My MPP only has forward obstacle detection, so I just fly it backwards to the boat. Flying backwards actually makes lateral control easier (right stick moves drone right).
7. Come home when battery is at 50% to give you lots of time to make approaches to the boat.
8. When you first try this, have 1 person dedicated to catching the drone, and 1 person flying the drone, neither of who are needed to operate the boat. When you get proficient, you can fly and catch by yourself.
9. I use Active Track to have the drone follow the boat and stay pointed at the boat. On the MPP and DJ Go4 app it works but is not great. When i fly ahead of the boat, the boat catches up to the drone so I still have to keep backing the drone away. The speed is limited to about 15-20 knots in active track so be aware of the combination of wind speed and boat speed.

Good tips!
Adding some points:
0. If you traveled some distance, check if a compass calibration is required *before* getting on the boat.
0a. If you have the option, start the flight against the wind. People lost drones because they drained the batteries when fighting the headwind when trying to fly back.
10 Before doing it from a boat: practice, practice, practice! Overestimating your skills may sink your drone.

 

[Meta4]

0. If you traveled some distance, check if a compass calibration is required *before* getting on the boat.

It doesn't matter how far you have travelled .. compass recalibrating is not required.
Compass calibration has nothing to do with where you are or how you've travelled from your last flight.

 

[tvdwouw]

It doesn't matter how far you have travelled .. compass recalibrating is not required.
Compass calibration has nothing to do with where you are or how you've travelled from your last flight.

I think it does matter - it happened to me a few times. I understand it has to do with the fact that real and magnetic north are in different places.

 

[Meta4]

I think it does matter - it happened to me a few times. I understand it has to do with the fact that real and magnetic north are in different places.

It's an old myth, fortunately less in favour than it used to be.
It has nothing to do with variations in the earth's magnetic field and everything to do with the magnetic field of the drone itself.
What do you think happened to your drone?

For an explanation of what compass calibration actually does and why it has nothing to do with where you are or how far you travel, read the first post in this thread:

A short explanation of compass function, calibration and errors.

BACKGROUND The aircraft compass is often misunderstood, both in terms of function and purpose, but it is important to understand what the compass measures, why, and what happens to that information. At the most basic level the purpose of the compass is to measure the earth’s magnetic field in...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Blexius]

Hi @Pacefast
Adding some comments on what has already been said…
1. Whatever you plan to do on the water, practice first on land (including taking off and landing by hand) to gain experience.
2. I suggest that the boat remain stationary at least during takeoff and landing.
3. Even when stationary, waves and wind could move everything; consider having a second person responsible for hand catch the drone while you operate the RC (again, practice on the ground first).
4. I think the most appropriate is to change the Homepoint to RC location (and not the takeoff point).
5. You shouldn’t lose the signal while on a boat (open field and without interference), but maybe it’s best to set it to hover ... in the meantime you try to regain the signal and land manually.

Best regards,

 

[AMann]

“I think the most appropriate is to change the Homepoint to RC location (and not the takeoff point)…”

Oh finally someone suggested using the Return to Controller and not the Return to Home setting!

Being a newby when it also happened to me, you will experience great bewilderment, panicky feelings and a sense of impending doom as you try to figure out why your drone won’t land where you want it to and it wants to fly back to where you were before if it goes into a RTH mode and your position changed at all from where you last were when it took off! This happened to me while following my truck for a couple miles with my M2P (my passenger was the PIC), but I think the panic and a great sinking feeling would be much worse while flying it from a boat and having to watch your drone try to land in the water where your boat and home point used to be!