1:6 mono waterski

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Funny you should mention paragliding, I have been thinking along those lines for a while. When I was flying I made a bogey which had a para wing fitted , a large servo pulled an arm left or right for steering. I could try the wing being pulled by the boat, how high ? String length. The wing is about 1200mm across if i remember rightly. How about 16 feet?

 

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So it's called parascending or parasailing, and uses a round parachute . Still no reason I couldn't try my rectangular one. I think adding a figure might be good for stability.
I have found a round parachute about 1 meter diameter, used for pulling by kids when running to increase fitness

 

[Unusual RC]

I got pulled on land and water by large controllable kites for decades, so I am confident you can make a scale parasail.

How do you launch it will be the challenge. Also do not go out in high winds.

A remote controllable winch would be great too, but is no necessity.

 

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I have ordered one of these, my idea is to replace the panda with my own figure They are sold as a kite for children. I spent hours online going through parachutes for rockets, then drone recovery parachutes. Some of the best ribbon parachutes are made for model jets as a drag chute for landing, but very expensive.
At least this one is colourful which is what I wanted, I think it's a meter wide which seems about right.

 

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Having a chat a the club with a very nice lady, about skiing, she asked if I had done full size. I replied yes when i used to have a bowrider, but I had more fun kneeboarding, which got me thinking if the foil would work with a knee board. So I am working on the idea, the figure is well on the way, kneeling down of course. I am printing the board now, doing it in 2 parts which screw together when the blade holder is attached. I need to make a Velcro strap to go over the girls knees, and i will need a new tow rope and handle.
Lex will it work?

 

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This will drop into an indentation in the board.

 

[Unusual RC]

I am sure a kneeboard rider will work too. If not stable enough, some foils will solve it

 

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Well I am having fun, I was pushing my luck printing the knee board vertically, it got about half way and fell over. So I cut the messy bit off, now I will print the other half and glue them together.. It might be the new pla I am using, called polyterra.
So I will use my expensive stuff for the next try.

 

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A lot of effort , so I hope it will work. I have made 2 lots of foils , normal and wide, the wide ones give an extra 12mm each side. I think Lex said the wider they are the slower you can go. I hope I don't loose her the strap is all that's holding her to the board

 

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Handle made and a ski rope complete with floats. I made a link for the tow line with aluminium that can swivel . All the foils are ready to fit so good to try on Wednesday.

 

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Success right from the start with kneeboarding , in fact because of a lower center of gravity it worked almost better than the ski. Didn't get any film though my camera man was on holiday. I used the Rib with the white outboard today to do the towing and it was fine, I was at 1/4 throttle most of the time. When I can we will get it on film. I am drawing another kneeboard , I can try different designs as it's easy to swap them over.

 

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Another good day kneeboarding yesterday, but it did fill with water by the end of the session, not sure how I will overcome that on the next knee board.

 

[Unusual RC]

Terrific!
She starts on her side, so you might want to finetune that too.
But regardless how she starts it works very well!
Well done, great movie!

 

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Thanks Michiel, I am working on that, it would be good if she floated upright. I have designed a new board today and I have used shell to hollow it out I can stuff some foam inside. At the back will be a plug for draining, I am printing the front end now, as I split it in two for printing.

 

[pascall]

ik volg dit al een tijdje, prachtig om te zien!
Misschien een idee, ontvanger, servo inbouwen om een roertje te bedienen.
Dan kan je met een aparte zender de skie/plank besturen.
Kan je de buitenbocht kiezen en slalommen achter de boot.
Mogelijk is het te mixen op één zender met twee ontvangers, zou je aan een expert moeten vragen.
Anders heb je een tweede piloot nodig.

Mvg,

Pascal.

 

[Unusual RC]

Haha, geweldig idee!
Gewoon een eenvoudige 2-kanaals zender erbij voor een tweede persoon. 1 kanaal maar gebruiken. Lijkt me een leuk gezicht!

Hij gebruikt een "vliegzender", dus evt. met een tweede ontvanger op de andere knuppel zetten. Geen idee of dat met 2,4Ghz kan. Met 35Mhz en 40Mhz wel.

 

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I had the same idea , how to operate a rudder, so she could swing out and jump the wakes coming back. There is no room for a receiver and servo. By doing figure of 8s she does cross the wakes, this should show in the next film with on board footage. Maybe with two tow ropes fastened to a servo arm on the boat it might work, all the pull would be offset by a bar under the board. So Olga's new board is ready for tomorrow, I ended up printing it in 3 pieces.
Maybe no need for a servo, if two lines were separated on the back of the boat as the boat turned right the left line tightens, this is crossed to the right side of the board, so the board should pull out to the left. As the boat goes straight the board moves back to the centre.

 

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Olga is good to go. Somehow I've ended up with more curve to the board, we shall see if it still works. I added more weight by swapping the 20p pieces for bits of lead, but she still leans over , not as much.

 

[Unusual RC]

More curve means rocker in surfboard terminology. More rocker means more planted in the water at the cost of more drag.
In your case that means the ski rope will a bit more tight, amps a bit up! We will see!
She looks good!