Flying from a canoe. Any Advice?

[Zbip57]

Make sure your home point is set to a dry location.

In case of disaster it's always important to take careful note of where the actual Home Position is recorded. If you take off from the canoe it marks that spot as the Home Position, but if you then move the canoe, you need to be aware of where it'll go in the event RTH is triggered. But that doesn't mean you can't cancel the RTH function if it's triggered.

Even if the canoe has moved, you can periodically update the Home Position to the current location of your transmitter, or you can drag the location of the Home Position to any chosen new location on the map (i.e. the nearest island). You can even change the Home location while the drone is already en-route during a RTH. But those options assume you still have a functioning control signal, unless you've dropped your transmitter overboard.

Hand launching isn't difficult. Catching is the challenge. It can be tricky if the canoe is moving, i.e. drifting in a current or with the wind. If you have both hands on the controller's joysticks, you won't be able to handle a paddle at the same time. Position the drone downwind from you and let it sit there in a hover at a safe height (higher than face level) . Then paddle or let the canoe drift downwind under the hovering drone so you can reach up to grab it out of the air.

 

[Baron von Richthofen]

unless you've dropped your transmitter overboard.

Now that really would have been a bad day.

 

[Wilson Photography]

This shot of a partially frozen reservior from a kayak in January 2021 with a Mavic Mini 2. My 2nd or 3rd flight so I was a little nervous to say the least. I did have a landing pad sitting on the kayak since I did not know how to land "grab" it from the air at the time.

 

[Zbip57]

partially frozen reservoir from a kayak

That's a great shot!

 

[sethgodin]

I do it on the Hudson river a few times a week. But always with a takeoff and landing from the nearby dock. The ability to send it home with one push is very seductive, and for most canoeing, you're
a. not going that far
b. going back where you started

have fun.

 

[jffprc]

Shouldn’t be a problem, have you hand caught before?

 

[keirvt]

We have a two-person canoe and a Mavic Air2. The canoe's open-topped 'Indian' type, with no deck, not a kayak or sit-on. I'm thinking of using my drone to follow us and film from it, but while the rewards for success are great, I'm well aware this is fraught with risk, particularly for the unprepared or inexperienced. Is anyone out there who has done this type of flying and can offer some suggestions and advice that will help ensure it doesn't all end in tears and disaster?

One idea I had that really plays it safe is to cheat a bit and take off from the shore, well back from the water's edge. Then paddle out, do a couple of hundred yards along the river with one of the auto tracking settings running on the drone, then back again to our start point and the drone's home point where we can land both boat and drone.

The alternative of course is what my son dubbed the 'suicide method', ie to run the entire operation from the canoe - take-off, flying and landing (hand-catching). Has anyone done this successfully or is it, as we both suspect, just not worth the risk? Are there any other possible ways a film like this (where the film-maker/AC controller is in the canoe) can be achieved?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts folks
The Baron

On rare occasions I launch my drone from a canoe on the harbour. Good to have two persons, one to manage the canoe and the other to catch the drone. One trick is to take a GPS and mark the waypoint at launch. Upon retrieving the drone you return to that way point. If for any reason the "return to home" feature is triggered, you are in the right place.

 

[synthesis7]

I have hand launched from canoes and boats from multiple locations. Due to timing and surroundings constraints, launching from the coast was not possible. All my hand canoe launches/catches were on lakes with easy conditions.

For a canoe launch I would consider the following:
- if you are on a river, don't. Just go to shore and film another canoe crew, your image will be very close-up anyway, it will look a bit weird seeing a guy staring at his screen. Also, with currents it just is too dangerous
- if on a lake, sure. Just don't go too far, and make sure you have 10+ minutes of flight time left before you hand catch. I have had numerous disconnect issues over water which took some time to fix. (MP1)
- If there are a lot of trees nearby, wait till you have done 5+ boat launches. This adds a whole new layer of complexity. I lost my first drone due to this (drifting into a tree while not paying attention to the screen for 3 seconds)

I think the most important thing is to have perfect control over both boat and drone, so you can steer either into the direction of the other if needed

Boat shots are always some of the best ones in aftermovies I make - don't forget the straight top-down shot, always a winner. This is a video from Greenland:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

(canoe shots at 2:20)

 

[howard.allum]

I would say being fully confident of the different ways of updating your home point is the most important thing about flying from a boat. Also, I have ski type landing gear fitted (light and cheap) which makes hand launching, and particularly landing, much easier and safer.
Having said all that, the idea of practising the flight sitting in your canoe on dry land makes a lot of sense.
Good luck! ???

 

[Pedro0287]

I took pictures with my MP from a kayak several time and it works fine with quiet condition but for safety reason, i always launch it / land it from the water with some kind of a home made safety jacket i designed myself and machined on my cnc. Very cheap to do. Yes flight performances are affected but who cares, it does the job : very stable vidéo, no sign of gimbal and/or safety jacket on pictures. The weight is less than 40 gr.

 

[samiam]

I have thought about that also. When I use my canoe it is because I want light and portable. I fish lakes that are far off the beaten path. The less junk I have to transport in and out the better. If you have a light weight solution I would surely like to here about it.

I'm getting ready to buy a Mini 2, and I have a Grumman 17' square stern canoe, so I am reading this thread with great interest. I do a lot of improvised (i.e., cheap mods to my canoe. It seems to me that a light folding landing deck could easily be made from either soft foam board with a few supports for rigidity, or corrugated plastic board (Coroplast, et al). For those who aren't familiar, Coroplast is the material that the white USPS baskets are made from - corrugated cardboard recreated from strong plastic. The deck would need to be lashed to the gunwales when deployed. Another thing to keep in mind is that you would want to deploy the landing deck very close to the canoe center of balance; the ideal site in a solo paddling situation would be directly in front of the paddler. It wouldn't be very much fun executing a safe landing, only to have the drone pitch off the side of the canoe as the paddler maneuvers to retrieve it from the landing deck. Obviously relatively still waters and winds would be required for this kind of drone use.

 

[samiam]

I think some kind of canopy like this might work. Just found this picture but does not give any details on how it attaches. View attachment 132769

It's pretty clearly lashed with cord (para or bungee) to cleats attached to the sides of the canoe. Most canoes don't have these, I suspect they are either aftermarket add-ons or specific to this canoe model.