Built by Wolves for Wolves


Battle Boat


Battle Boat:

If you have seen "Battle Bots" or "Robot Wars", then you have a good idea of what this boat will be doing, although we had the idea long before those shows came around.  There currently is no set date on when the competition will take place, but it will probably be a while.

Click on any pic to see a larger image.

 

The hull is made out of one 4x8 sheet of 1/4 inch plywood (they have to be sinkable), it took a few days to make mostly due to the drying time on the marine adhesive.  It is powered by a 60cc weed whacker engine.

 

One of the most important pieces the "stuffing box" This allows for the prop shaft to go thru and not the water.  It is made from a 12 inch long aluminum tube with two (one on each side) 1/2 inch thick neoprene washers and two brass bushings inserted in them. The entire tube was then packed with axel grease.  The "stuffing box" does not have to be this long, but it adds more stability to the prop shaft.

 

A top and side view of the engine mount, it had to be angled so the prop would come out below the water line.

 

The prop shaft and "stuffing box" waiting for the engine.

The Engine mounted and ready to go in the boat.

Everything comes together...now all that is needed is a rudder and a prop!

   

Pre-launch controls check. The servo for the throttle worked fine, but I am going to build my own servo for the rudder, there was not enough displacement (that is max rudder deflection in the pic) and sometimes it would get stuck.

   

"Wow it actually floats" About forty pounds of batteries were added to sink the prop fully into the water.

   

"Boat Cam" this was right after the engine died out in the middle of the lake, it was dark by the time it drifted back to shore.

The primary weapon, an auto reloading pneumatic nail rifle, is getting close to being ready to mount onto the boat.  All that needs to be done is the auto reloading part, it can already shoot a projectile thru 1/4 inch plywood, leaving a 1-inch exit wound! And then there are the torpedoes...