Drone from boat

[Meach]

Ok I know I should search but.....
I got a drone for my birthday. Video or pics. I'm thinking of flying over a new lake for good fishing ground. Am I nuts lol. Anyone done this?

 

[Scottintexas]

What brand / model drone
Be sure you understand the laws and requirements about where you can fly

 

[Meach]

Yah I. Aware of the laws. I fly RC.airplanes. but any idiot can fly a drone their so easy tempting to fly where your not supposed too.

 

[biffdotorg]

Biggest tip when flying from a boat, is practice your landings and take offs from a very small landing pad. Or learn to hand launch and retrieve with plenty of practice runs.

There won't be great places to launch a drone on these boats, and if you do, landing will be much more difficult. If flying a current DJI model, I have learned to do it by hand. Since it's tricky to override the auto landing system with one hand, I cannot stress practice on dry land many times.

Now if you have no intentions of doing it from the boat, then flying over water is really not much different than over land. Wind and thermals may surprise you if flying low.

Depending on the fish you are after, a good depth chart on any current electronics is more valuable than overhead visuals of water. Not much to see other than weed cover.

Good luck

PS: I do like to check early ice coverage in the fall and ice out in the spring.

 

[fatboyroy]

if you have DJI and launching/retrieving from boat, get it as close to you as possible then grab from bottom and flip it (belly up), it will shut the prop. Remember return to home is not an option cause boat moves in the water even if you are anchored (slip side to side etc).

 

[biffdotorg]

if you have DJI and launching/retrieving from boat, get it as close to you as possible then grab from bottom and flip it (belly up), it will shut the prop. Remember return to home is not an option cause boat moves in the water even if you are anchored (slip side to side etc).

That's a good tip, especially knowing that if you run low on battery, return to home engages automatically! I learned that when I took off with my first DJI, and had not anchored the boat. I literally set the controller down, fired up the boat and ripped across the bay to get under it just before it tried to set down on the water!

 

[biffdotorg]

Holy crap, I just looked back for that video. That was 8 years ago with a DJI Phantom 2! I remember trying to learn to fly/edit and get the landing gear and prop protectors out of frame. Things have truly changed.

 

[tabbibus]

I retrieve with the "flip it" method. And usually take off from the sunpad in the bow. I guess I should learn to take of from the hand, but I've seen some videos where it doesnt fly and.... DUNK. lol

 

[suke]

I have a DJI Mini 3 pro and I've yet been able to do the hand grab rotate thing. So I just force it to land on the seats. LOL! So far so good, but it can be a pain when boats are sending wakes my way. I tend to fly in the evening when it's pretty calm wind/traffic wise.

This was done with a Mini 2

 

[biffdotorg]

That's a heck of a wave out of a 212x! Nice work. And great job keeping it framed.

The trick with hand landing, is forcing the Mini to ignore it's obstacle avoidance on landing. It will recognize your hand, so with your other hand you need to tap the screen to force it to drop to your hand. Of course, then grab it by the body before the props open up a vein in your wrist. (smile)

 

[tabbibus]

I find that if you go into sport mode it is easier to force it. It will disable obstacle avoidance. Even then it will try to fly up when you reach for it.

 

[suke]

That's a heck of a wave out of a 212x! Nice work. And great job keeping it framed.

The trick with hand landing, is forcing the Mini to ignore it's obstacle avoidance on landing. It will recognize your hand, so with your other hand you need to tap the screen to force it to drop to your hand. Of course, then grab it by the body before the props open up a vein in your wrist. (smile)

That vid is actually taken by another buddy on a different boat actually pretty far back on the lake. He has gotten quite proficient with his piloting skills. The mini 3 pro has follow me mode so I won't have to futz with keeping it in frame like he's able to. I just haven't gotten the balls enough yet to get it out there while I'm surfing to try it.

 

[LoWeLL216]

I also have the Mini 3 Pro.

For those having issues recovering by hand just grab the drone from underneath more toward the rear (ie away from the sensors on the front) and flip it over as already noted to stop the props.

Practice a few times on land and you'll never have issues on the boat again. Works really well.

 

[dgfreeze]

I don't claim to be a drone expert, but last weekend I was flying my Mavic 2 over some water, and realized it was slowly descending towards the water while I was focused on something else. Made me a little nervous, and decided to reel it in. Also, from what I've read, a lot of warranties/guarantees don't apply over water. I guess something about the water messes with the sensors, and the drone can miscalculate it's height, and stuff like that. I would recommend either getting a bulletproof warranty, or coming to grips with the possibility of losing the drone altogether. All this said, I kinda think a large part of my problem was that due to being tucked back into a cove, my drone could only latch onto 6 satellites, when I think Mavic recommends a minimum of 9??

**edit** I just realized I didn't include insurance in this, and in my head, I did. So, warranties/insurances is what I should've written, and get a bulletproof insurance that covers water immersion. But also remember that a lot of insurances require recovery of the drone to collect.

 

[LoWeLL216]

I don't claim to be a drone expert, but last weekend I was flying my Mavic 2 over some water, and realized it was slowly descending towards the water while I was focused on something else. Made me a little nervous, and decided to reel it in. Also, from what I've read, a lot of warranties/guarantees don't apply over water. I guess something about the water messes with the sensors, and the drone can miscalculate it's height, and stuff like that. I would recommend either getting a bulletproof warranty, or coming to grips with the possibility of losing the drone altogether. All this said, I kinda think a large part of my problem was that due to being tucked back into a cove, my drone could only latch onto 6 satellites, when I think Mavic recommends a minimum of 9??

My Mini 2 used to do that if I flew it close to the water. Now I generally don't bring it below 10' or so unless I'm taking off or landing or it's right in front of me.

 

[dgfreeze]

Strange thing is, I had it hovering at least 20' above water, and decided to get a seat to sit on. Without touching the controller, I turned away, got a chair to sit on, and by the time my attention was back on the drone, it was definitely less than 10' above water. Maybe 20 seconds. I got nervous, and brought it back. As I mentioned above, I'm no expert, and that applies to my flying skills as well, so I didn't want to tempt fate. But I am 100% certain I did not inadvertently bump or move a joystick in any way. It absolutely did it on it's own. Whether an actual drone issue, a sensor/water issue, or lack of satellites, I don't know, and I wasn't in the mood to start testing theories.

 

[kgower]

Whether or not you have your Part 107, if you don't fly commercially do you have insurance on your drone?

 

[dgfreeze]

Nah, this thing isn't worth more than a few hundred bucks by now. If I ever get around to upgrading to the Mavic 3 Pro (or whatever is the latest version at the time), I would absolutely without a doubt get insurance. But even then, my understanding is that a lot of insurances won't cover water immersion.

 

[LoWeLL216]

Whether or not you have your Part 107, if you don't fly commercially do you have insurance on your drone?

I do. DJI care is pretty cheap. I used it once with a previous drone that had a crash in moderate winds (prop came off). They replaced the drone via mail very quickly. That said I don't know if you're covered over water. They do pull the flight log too during the claim process.