It has always been my desire to make a remote controlled sub. Problems that exist are lack of time, lack of money, and the fact I
insist on obeying the laws of physics throughout the design of such a sub. For instance, one problem is that high-frequency radio waves don't like to travel through water. So, a wireless video link may present a bit of a problem, unless it the sub is tethered, which isn't as fun... but compromises must be made. As I said above, I've always wanted to do this. Memorial Day 2000 found myself and a friend
sitting around the house. He proposed to me that we build that sub I've always wanted to. I countered that we should start with something a bit simpler than a sub, perhaps a simple surface craft. After a trip to the hardware store we came back to the house. With some PVC, acrylic glass, 2-liter pop bottles, and other miscellaneous junk we proceeded to hot-glue bits and pieces together to no avail. With Tuesday came Real Life (tm) and progress was delayed til the evening. After becoming frustrated with ourselves for having no plan we resorted to building an air boat upon a sort of hull we had made out of two 2-liters that had acrylic glass as a linking element. For propulsion we used a simple electric motor with a prop attached. To steer the boat we placed the motor atop a servo which changed the direction of the motor/prop. Determined to sail that day, we took the boat up to the local pond determined to sail that day -- now night. With headlights and flashlights by which to test the boat we discovered that the high profile of the motor caused the boat to nose-dive into the water... no speed attainable. To fix this problem we taped a 20oz pop bottle to the front of the floating thing. Now we had something we could sail around the pond under a little power. For remote control we used a 49MHz radio stripped from a cheap RC car.
While these first steps are incredibly small, a storm is brewing. Thought for future designs included using all acrylic glass to make a nice boxy looking boat. This idea has been all but thrown out in favor to the though of making our boats out of fiberglass. While we may still play around with PVC and other beverage containers fiberglass will most likely prevail.