Mavic water recovery system

[JeffCharger]

My first attempt, still needs work havent tried to fly it yet. Hoping it allows landings and keeps things dry by sitting up without being to unstable, but I don't have refresh so too chicken to tryView attachment 17206

be careful that you don't have too much length. I remember seeing one test that resulted in a crash, and it looked like one of the noodles/straps got "pulled" into one of the props.

 

[Dspace]

Great topic and new ideas here but 180 posts and not one video of landing/launching a recovery-float-Mavic from a boat, or a landing-float-Mavic from a real world body of open water (meaning one that is not even remotely close to being dead flat calm......) Oh well, maybe some day

 

[pbzpln]

Just not sure that is in the cards. I think the small size of the Mavic makes it impossible to make something wide enough to be stable and high enough to keep it dry with rougher water.

I just measured, about 2.5" under the "hull" when in the water. I would be afraid of flying stability making it any higher with my design. In fact I'm scared of it as is. But in the water it seemed very stable, admittedly in the bathtub with just enough water to try. And no, I'm not going to try to take off and land in the tub, there is already video out there if you want to see that.

 

[Boman49]

I have several of the getterback's.
You will need to cut the two small plastic brackets to make it fit perfectly on the mavic's arm.

Can you show a picture of how you cut them?

 

[Dspace]

Just not sure that is in the cards. I think the small size of the Mavic makes it impossible to make something wide enough to be stable and high enough to keep it dry with rougher water.

I just measured, about 2.5" under the "hull" when in the water. I would be afraid of flying stability making itView attachment 17220 any higher with my design. In fact I'm scared of it as is. But in the water it seemed very stable, admittedly in the bathtub with just enough water to try. And no, I'm not going to try to take off and land in the tub, there is already video out there if you want to see that.

I made an attempt at a wide stance, high clearance, lightweight landing float system. 2.5 oz for everything including carbon tube extensions(attached photo). Floating performance was great but flying this rig was completely unstable. After that I bailed and have just stuck with a recovery float set up coupled to some custom hand-grab landing gear for boat flying.

It's just that I see all these great attempts at landing float variations and no evidence that they would work in real world open water. (Finding a getterback in that real world open water is pure needle/haystack stuff. Heck I need my marine GPS just to quickly find my 14 inch bright pink crab pot buoys) .

 

[Hutch]

Looking good. I think it will work pbzpn. You could improve your aerodynamics a little by taking an angle slice from the rear and hot gluing them to the front. Have you tested the balance of your rig in a tub of water? My original tries were a little front heavy. I also found you need a fool proof system to keep the floats ON in the event of a bad crash. Otherwise they don't serve as a "recovery" system. Not sure how your floats are attached at the rear, but I know my front leg extensions would come off the Mavic legs if I didn't take my velcro straps up over the Mavic arms (both front & rear). Tight, but not tight enough to stress the arms. That wouldn't be good. Most of the rear body landing gear extensions I've seen just sorta snap on, and they could come off in a crash or hard landing. Does the rear cross piece interfere with your sensors, or do you just disable all your downward sensors? Thru much trial and error I was looking for a solution where I could still use all my built in downward sensors with the floats in place. Also learned the hard way, but saved myself from a crash, as you descend the floats do cause some prop turbulence. Give yourself plenty of time to come down from height in a controlled fashion. I found that if I am moving forward, or back, during descent that the float turbulence coming down is not much of an issue. Come straight down hard and fast and you'll likely not be pleased with what happens. Often you can't see your Mavic suddenly drop out of the sky, maybe upside down. I was lucky and was able to recover from the Mavic kinda flipping mid-air. I know auto landing is slow & not much fun, but it is a very controlled descent. I was very surprised the floats didn't cause more of a handling issue in regular flying. Likely they will in a strong wind. When I fly my beloved Mavic over water, I only do so in nearly perfect conditions cause I'm a big chicken when it comes to trashing my favorite toy. - hutch

 

[Hutch]

Can you show a picture of how you cut them?

I also experimented with the Getter Backs' and still have 2 of them. My first experiment in 15 feet of water with a 2 lb piece of tile it took almost 15 min for the getter back to deploy its balloon, but it did work. Probably better in deeper water (water pressure, etc) but I'd have freaked out if it was my Mavic down there. LOL

 

[Mavic]

I also experimented with the Getter Backs' and still have 2 of them. My first experiment in 15 feet of water with a 2 lb piece of tile it took almost 15 min for the getter back to deploy its balloon, but it did work. Probably better in deeper water (water pressure, etc) but I'd have freaked out if it was my Mavic down there. LOL

GetterBack does not have a balloon!
Water Buoy does, but it's crap!

 

[Hutch]

I made an attempt at a wide stance, high clearance, lightweight landing float system. 2.5 oz for everything including carbon tube extensions(attached photo). Floating performance was great but flying this rig was completely unstable. After that I bailed and have just stuck with a recovery float set up coupled to some custom hand-grab landing gear for boat flying.

It's just that I see all these great attempts at landing float variations and no evidence that they would work in real world open water. (Finding a getterback in that real world open water is pure needle/haystack stuff. Heck I need my marine GPS just to quickly find my 14 inch bright pink crab pot buoys) View attachment 17233 .

Hey Dspace - I can guarantee you my setup works in real world open water. No guarantee it would keep the Mavic body or gimbal perfectly dry in rough water, but you would get your Mavic back. I settled on my setup above after much trial and error. Had the opportunity to test it in May on a fly-in Pike fishing trip to Northern Ontario. Worked well and easily landed in quiet water dry as a bone. Recovery was my goal, not regular water landing as a habit, but I had to try it. Can I ask you to show us your hand grab landing gear. It's not so easy to grab my Mavic in a rocking 18ft cedar strip boat all by itself, or all by myself. I guess I could just grab the floats. Can you show us your hand grab setup? - hutch

 

[Hutch]

GetterBack does not have a balloon!
Water Buoy does, but it's crap!

Yer right Mavic. I misspoke, getter back just deploys the little yellow plastic thingy. I've tested them. Never used a water buoy, but read about them. Like space said, can be pretty hard to find if quite a ways away from you. Also can take a long time to deploy the float.

 

[pbzpln]

I think dspace was referring to something to use repeatedly with no damage in open water, which I personally believe is probably not likely possible. In fact his attempt looked pretty much exactly like what I would have tried, but he got the instability I figured it would have.
Now something that allows you to recover it in open water for the purposes of refresh, that works, the debate would be what's system(s) are best for what conditions.
I was trying to do neither. I don't go to much open water, I want something that will keep my drone dry if it, say, decides to autoland in a creek. Not sure I will ever even try it, mostly a way to screw around and avoid doing the paperwork I should be doing. But I just can't help trying when the noodle was a whole 94 cents!

 

[Dspace]

Hey Dspace - I can guarantee you my setup works in real world open water. No guarantee it would keep the Mavic body or gimbal perfectly dry in rough water, but you would get your Mavic back. I settled on my setup above after much trial and error. Had the opportunity to test it in May on a fly-in Pike fishing trip to Northern Ontario. Worked well and easily landed in quiet water dry as a bone. Recovery was my goal, not regular water landing as a habit, but I had to try it. Can I ask you to show us your hand grab landing gear. It's not so easy to grab my Mavic in a rocking 18ft cedar strip boat all by itself, or all by myself. I guess I could just grab the floats. Can you show us your hand grab setup? - hutch

Here is a video of my hand grab gear along with the added recovery floats. The hand grab gear weighs in at 22 grams (just 4 grams more than the standard landing extension legs that most of us use). The foamy floats and attachment gear weigh in at another 25 grams. These are definitely not landing floats, just recovery floats.

At first I thought the floats would be enough by themselves for hand grabbing but no way with a rolling, drifting, pitching boat. I have the prop burns to verify that. The hand grab gear makes all the difference. Even if my grab isn't perfect (I'm an older klutzy guy), there's no finger slashing. This video is a very calm day for me, and the boat (24 ft center console) is still bobbing all over.

 

[pbzpln]

Flew a very very little in the backyard. I still have the downward sensor blocked so I turned that off, stability horizontal was fine but it was holding altitude about the same as my $30 HS190, so I set it down quick, and a little harder than usual, it does make for a soft landing.

 

[Dspace]

Hutch,
Here's another one where I launch and manually fly parallel fairly close to the boat at under 10 feet AGL. One hand on the throttle and wheel of the boat and the other controlling roll and altitude of the Mavic. Reasonably stable flight characteristics with the add-on stuff as far as I can tell. I'm bobbin around all over on the bow for the hand catch. Its not especially pretty but it gets back in the boat without too much hassle.

 

[Hutch]

Here is a video of my hand grab gear along with the added recovery floats. The hand grab gear weighs in at 22 grams (just 4 grams more than the standard landing extension legs that most of us use). The foamy floats and attachment gear weigh in at another 25 grams. These are definitely not landing floats, just recovery floats.

At first I thought the floats would be enough by themselves for hand grabbing but no way with a rolling, drifting, pitching boat. I have the prop burns to verify that. The hand grab gear makes all the difference. Even if my grab isn't perfect (I'm an older klutzy guy), there's no finger slashing. This video is a very calm day for me, and the boat (24 ft center console) is still bobbing all over.

NICE Space. Thanks for taking the time for the detail in the vid.Whered you get the base your using on the bottom? - hutch

 

[Hutch]

Hutch,
Here's another one where I launch and manually fly parallel fairly close to the boat at under 10 feet AGL. One hand on the throttle and wheel of the boat and the other controlling roll and altitude of the Mavic. Reasonably stable flight characteristics with the add-on stuff as far as I can tell. I'm bobbin around all over on the bow for the hand catch. Its not especially pretty but it gets back in the boat without too much hassle.

Excellente' - I'm 68 - OLD GUYS RULE! ;-)

 

[Boman49]

That is nice. I too would like to know what materials you used & where from?
Thanks

 

[Dspace]

NICE Space. Thanks for taking the time for the detail in the vid.Whered you get the base your using on the bottom? - hutch

A little Cad design I came up with and printed on my handy-dandy 3-D printer in PLA. Carbon tube designed, cut and epoxied into preset holes in the base. Lots of iterations to get to a design I liked (light, strong and no interference with the downward sensors). I tried a techie print with carbon fiber filled PETG but to be honest the PLA worked just as well

I also designed and printed up some foam float holders that incorporate into the same hand catch gear base so you can easily /quickly add or remove the recovery floats with the hand catch gear already attached.

I really like the hand catch gear by itself. It works just like the current common landing gear extensions with the benefit of added ground clearance (3 1/2 inch) AND the ability to hand catch/launch without worry whenever the need arises.

Forgot to mention that I also added a neat little radio beacon locator (t-beacon). It works like the Marco-Polo beacon locator, only it's lighter and cheaper; 11 grams with a snap on enclosure I printed up (that little orange box on the back of the landing gear). Works great on dry land but I need to waterproof my enclosure and see if it will work in a water ditch scenario.

So with landing gear (22 grams), water float add (24 grams), and radio beacon (11 grams), the whole thing comes to around 57 grams (2 oz). I believe a Trackimo just by itself is 40 grams (1.4 oz), so not too bad for all the functionality packed in there.

 

[Boman49]

A little Cad design I came up with and printed on my handy-dandy 3-D printer in PLA. Carbon tube designed, cut and epoxied into preset holes in the base. Lots of iterations to get to a design I liked (light, strong and no interference with the downward sensors). I tried a techie print with carbon fiber filled PETG but to be honest the PLA worked just as well

I also designed and printed up some foam float holders that incorporate into the same hand catch gear base so you can easily /quickly add or remove the recovery floats with the hand catch gear already attached.

I really like the hand catch gear by itself. It works just like the current common landing gear extensions with the benefit of added ground clearance (3 1/2 inch) AND the ability to hand catch/launch without worry whenever the need arises.

Forgot to mention that I also added a neat little radio beacon locator (t-beacon). It works like the Marco-Polo beacon locator, only it's lighter and cheaper; 11 grams with a snap on enclosure I printed up (that little orange box on the back of the landing gear). Works great on dry land but I need to waterproof my enclosure and see if it will work in a water ditch scenario.

So with landing gear (22 grams), water float add (24 grams), and radio beacon (11 grams), the whole thing comes to around 57 grams (2 oz). I believe a Trackimo just by itself is 40 grams (1.4 oz), so not too bad for all the functionality packed in there.View attachment 17306 View attachment 17331View attachment 17319

Really nice set up. Would you consider making one to sell?

 

[Dspace]

Really nice set up. Would you consider making one to sell?

I'd need a few days to make some additional sets (I'm running low on the good quality foam which I have to buy online), but I'd be willing to send out a few for established forum members to try and provide some feed back. I think I'd do it on a "if you don't like it, send it back, if you like it, here's the price". Absolutely no idea what I would charge. PM me if you're interested. Dave