If you've nothing better to do at five in the morning, then there's nothing like surfing YouTube videos in search of the state of the art. This incidentally is testing US style: sunshine, open water and open minds as per the rain outside, strict prohibitions and curmudgeonly old men with their sad boats in their sad garages in the UK.
And that's just me I'm talking about.
But this guy's ThinkFlight channel features among his many experiments his efforts to build a hydrofoil, in the process of which despite failing to do so he still ends up with an entertaining airboat to play around in.
What is interesting from our point of view is his opting for electrical motors and aero-propellers in lieu of water-screws. The reason why is not far displaced either: there is a plethora of electrical motors designed for airscrews to choose from, against a dearth of options when it comes to same with water-screws. This beside the clear advantage of boats that can (a) ride over tarmac and then (b) hover over to the water.
My biggest fear going forward is that the prototype may not be nearly so fast as we'd hope. Although absent the payload here, and the prospects for it being so look better. The motors to my mind look to be on a par with T-motor's U13, and tho' they produce five times the thrust of the U7, we've nowhere near the gross weight appearing here.
On water as in air, lightness is a virtual circle... lighter gross weights requiring lighter motors that require lighter batteries and a structure that need not be so substantial: all of which means less cash is required to return similar speeds.
Undue weight in air or on water, however, kills off projects and occasionally people.
