Take me to the water...

You'll have to check back here for the evolving (and never final!)  results of "water-proofing" (or is that "water-proving"?)  -- for right now we don't have much up here, but this is where we will post videos and descriptions of the sacred process of trial and error as we test things out in the liquid phase of  that universal solvent that makes this planet unique in the solar system, H2O....

Testing the Sea Perch 0.7 amp Jameco motors mounted on the Sea Hawk.
At Mother's Beach in Marina Del Rey in California EZ Money Harper, his dad Roy Harper and I tested how the Sea Hawk drives with Sea Perch motors (Jameco .7 Amp motors) running off of a 9.6 V NiCd rechargeable hobby battery. They drain the battery fairly quickly and the craft doesn't move all that fast, but it does work.  One issue we found we needed to resolve is to make sure we get counter-rotating propellers. In this test we had propellers that turn in the same direction and of course this made the boat turn slightly to the right.

Here EZ Money describes the results of one of our motor tests. We had the motors set up so they would counter-rotate, but since we had the same propeller on both motors it merely turned the craft around in circles.  We reversed polarity so both were pushing but this, of course, biased the craft to the right.  Since then we have installed a counter-rotating propeller on the right motor and now it should go straight. This is a good learning experience!




Below are earlier tests of the craft, starting with a series of  flotation tests.

 First Float Test of Sea Hawk Surface Craft at Mother's Beach, part 1 of 5

  First Float Test of Sea Hawk Surface Craft, part 2 of 5

  First Float Test of Sea Hawk Surface Craft, part 3 of 5

  First Float Test of Sea Hawk Surface Craft, part 4 of 5

 First Float Test of Sea Hawk Surface Craft, part 5 of 5

The above video shows that, yes, you can test out your Sea Perch in your bathtub - you just can't dive very deep.  The up and down thrusters can also make a bit of a... splash.   As the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy tells us, "don't panic... and always carry a towel."

 The following two videos show the appropriate winter use of a condominium swimming pool is for testing your Sea Perch/Sea Hawk/Manta Ray.  Wet suit optional.