Boat build part 1 - Overview

This is the first video in a series on how to build a bait boat. The boat I will build is very small, and the sparse room to place components is a challenge. One way to solve the challenge is to select components that are small, and components with low weight.

The boat will be powered by two 3s2p batteries, it will have an autopilot, an echosounder, one bait tray and lights. And can be equipped with a top mounted (low profile) bait thrower. Target weight is below 4.5 kilo including batterier and mounted bait thrower.

PART 1: This first video focuses on some planning and includes a description of main components to be used. I will list parts needed in each of the videos to come, no parts are needed in the first as it focuses on explaining some basic principles.

Please note that I will make the videos as the boat build progresses. It will take some time, and videos will thus become public over a period in time.

Videos planned to follow up after this introduction:
Partt 1: [this video]
Part 2: Preparing a pixhawk before we put it into the boat
Part 3: Walkthrough of the additional components bought and printed
Part 4: Building the upper hull (from parts to complete)
Part 5: Installing lower hull parts
Part 6: Adding the lower hull power and signalling system
Part 7: Finalizing boat configuration
Part 8: Combining upper and lower hulls and gluing
Part 9: Settings in Carp Pilot Pro to fully support all boat features

PARTS NEEDED:

Please see table around 1 minute in for the major electronics. In addition to this table I used:

DHconcept ALPHAmini hull kit, including:
Upper and lower hull
Battery cover lids, including inserts to glue in and rubber sealing for edges
Two red super bright back lights
Two acryllic inserts for front lights (here 5mm LEDs fit in)
10mm plastic or carbon carrying handle
Metal plate for bait tray trap door with hinges
Metal weed guards
Bolt and nuts for the bait tray door and weed guards
High quality propeller shanks with ball bearings, pre greased
Two propellers (for left and right)
High quality 5dbi Antenna

3D printed parts:
Box with lid for the Raymarine Dragonfly pro 3
Battery holders
Motor holders
Motor holder for the bait thrower, and a top basket

Additional electronics:
A wifi booster from Ali Express
A waterproof servo
An external USB connector for the pixhawk, incl a I2C multi connector
A pixhawk Wifi UDP serial adapter (for secondary telemetry, can be used for primary)

Diverse parts:
Piano thread and plastic tube for the bait tray door holder
Deans power plugs
Power cables (14, 18 and 22 AWG)
Soft velcro to fix top of holder for the bait thrower (soft but high quality glue)
3M Dual Lock velcro for fixing diverse components (awesome stuff)
Black Tec7 glue

Note that I ended up using the pixhawk4 mini. Reason was that I had the pixhawk4 mini available, I just put it to good use. But be aware that this autopilot uses JST-GH connectors and not DF13 (or Molex Picoblade) like the pixhawk (2.4.8) from Radiolink. I had to swap some connectors.

Note that I ended up using the mateksys M10 L4 3100 GPS. This GPS is not serial bit instead CAN. The supplied connector was a good fit fot the pixhawk4 mini. But also note: I had an older Radiolink SE100 (GPS) laying around with uBlox M8n chip. But Radiolink now builds in M10 chip as well. So a new SE100 is a great match for the regular Pixhawk.

There are more than 50 different Ardupilot compatible autopilot hardware options to choose from. But, if you are not in for some challenges I suggest you pick models broadly used, like the Pixhawk 2.4.8. Reason is that so many has built drones/cars/boats before, all questions you may encounter are likely already answered and available on the internet. The more odd solution you build, the more you need to figure out on your own!