Flying over waves in ground effect with The MudSkipper.

[@sleeplessstu]

A truly impressive vessel you’ve built ! It’s simple, classic, and becomes airborne pretty fast. The BEST part is that she flies at a horizontal attitude so you can actually SEE over her nose !

[@Ground-Effect]

Thanks alot! That day was amazing, flying over shallow reefs and small breaking waves was such a thrill

[@dantietjen1852]

I too...love the airborne attitude that James was about to achieve with the 5.5% wing tilt. Center of gravity, correct horse power, flotation attitude, control, etc. Just amazing! I'm so impressed and very much looking forward to seeing his mods for Mud Skipper II. As he said...."Nothing improves success, like failure."

[@andrewerickson6690]

Holy crap i need one

[@Russell_Phillips]

Absolutely brilliant James! It works so well. Congrats.

[@Ground-Effect]

Thanks so much!

[@dantietjen1852]

I really like how it actually WANTS to stay in ground effect. It makes it more than just an over-powered air foil or sea plane, like...say... Aron.

[@Ground-Effect]

It does like to sit in ground effect. It has the ability to fly out of it also.

[@andrewerickson6690]

​@@Ground-Effectreally ? How high have you flown ? Love this machine however I feel the need to build my own and add sir Chapman's philosophy to it

[@MaxPowers]

This is just awesome. Would love to know stuff like wing angle, length ann width, engine size, takeoff speed, maximim speed, maximum height in flight, range etc. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

[@Ground-Effect]

Appreciate it mate. It is very fun to operate! I'm going to make a video soon doing a complete walk around and discussion about it!

[@MaxPowers]

@@Ground-Effect Awesome, look forward to it.

[@johnh8615]

What a beautiful day in rocko. Love your videos 🤤

[@Ground-Effect]

Appreciate it mate. It was such a nice day

[@heavyflakoverthetarget6275]

Fantastic. You had an idea and you made it happen. Good luck to you mate.

[@Ground-Effect]

Thanks a lot mate!

[@Ben-Dixey]

So jealous, looks awesome. Been looking for a Jabiru J3000 engine, nothing around under £7k. I'm sure something will turn up, I can buy a gen 1 j2000 for £2.5k. Do you think your machine would still fly with two people at only 85hp? The other option is a rotax 912, easier to find but more expensive. Been talking to kester Haynes, he built one too but went with twin sponsons/floats.

[@Ground-Effect]

Cheers Ben. Maybe they are not as common there, they are built here. No a 85Hp on my exact craft would not be enough, it would be underpowered and sluggish. Designing a craft using a J2200 is very achievable. He built a great craft too. How is your helicopter going?

[@Ben-Dixey]

@@Ground-Effect cheers for the info James. At the moment I'm heading towards copying Kesters design, I intend to go and have a look at his machine as he isn't that far away from me. He managed to get into the air with just 25hp so maybe with 85hp it would lift two people. Been looking at stepped hulls to reduce water drag. Perhaps making the sponsons out of aluminium over fibreglass. Dual controls would also be a great addition I think. The helicopter project is currently suspended but I'm doing another video explaining what I've learnt and will announce the new wig project. That's why I wanted to mention yourself as inspiration. Have you thought about doing commentary with your videos ? Your insights would be very interesting to a lot of people and I think views/subs would increase should you want that. Ben

[@Ben-Dixey]

@@Ground-Effect Hi, here is the video where at the end I mention you and your channel, I used a couple snippets of your videos during the narration. Hope that was ok and I hope in time it adds a few subs. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6DKgXuqjLNsgsk Regards Ben

[@TROUROCKS]

can you drop a link to kester Haynes craft please

[@TROUROCKS]

im building this .. but with jameses wings kzbin.info/www/bejne/naqvqH5tdtCraKs

[@lancelanphier9509]

So cool! What is the highest altitude above the water you've ever flown or is capable of?

[@Ground-Effect]

I've been to about 20m but 2m is the sweet spot

[@tristanbradford99]

Do you have any plans? Or can you tell us how you made/got it?

[@Ground-Effect]

I don't have any available sorry, I designed and built it.

[@poisonoverdose1]

Hey there James! Hope you're doing well. Say...I was wondering if the center of lift of your "wing" is anywhere close to the center of gravity of your craft? (Max take off weight, that is). Does the extra weight of a passenger throw things off much? Also, is your horizontal stabilizer a lifting air foil. If so, I suppose you calculated that into your center of gravity...correct? Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom. I appreciate it mate! Dan

[@Ground-Effect]

Hey mate! Doing great thanks. The CL is close to the CG. I balanced it to have them close. Yes the extra weight of a passenger makes a big difference, I need to add 25kg of lead to the tail. The horizontal stabiliser creates negative lift (pushes down). The angle of incidence of the stabiliser is -8 degrees

[@Keefus78]

So, how many guns do you think HMAS Stirliing had pointed at you as you flew towards the island?

[@Ground-Effect]

Haha, I'm sure they know me now. Have a look at the video where I fly close to a submarine under tow into Stirling

[@gregdowd939]

Im building one using a jon boat /tinney for the hull with lifting wings

[@fboomerang]

I'm Tesla Sr Staff Eng and I need one of these in the SF Bay. Just bought a houseboat and the ground-based commute is brutal. I have EV stuff! Let's collab!

[@DGroenenberg]

Make it happen!!

[@gregdowd939]

Volkwagon motor too to keep expenses down

[@dantietjen1852]

Is your aircraft engine, somewhere around 230hp, or is it hopped up in order to move the 450kg vehicle off the water?

[@Ground-Effect]

It has a 120HP engine only

[@Ground-Effect]

It has a 120HP engine only

[@dantietjen1852]

At cruising speed, can it quickly "pop up" over an on-coming boat?

[@Ground-Effect]

Yes it has that ability

[@MaxPowers]

Is this made of plywood or marine ply? Also, wouldn't it be easier to cut out the ribs design entirely out of ply instead of constructing each rib from several bits of wood?

[@Ground-Effect]

The side skins are 4mm and the bottom hull are from 6mm marine ply. Cutting from ply would be no where near as strong, it will be heavier and would cost a lot as there will be a lot of wastage material

[@MaxPowers]

@@Ground-Effect Okay. Thanks for your feedback.

[@Ray-t9r8b]

Is there plans for sale to build one

[@Ground-Effect]

Sadly not at the moment

[@Ray-t9r8b]

@@Ground-EffectAny help on hull,??? At least to get me started building. Mechanical Engineer retired

[@MaxPowers]

Hi James, what is the degrees º angle of the wings please?

[@Ground-Effect]

5.5 degree angle of incidence

[@MaxPowers]

@@Ground-Effect Thank you very much.

[@MaxPowers]

@@Ground-Effect Hi James, is the tail angle the same?

[@TROUROCKS]

gets better every vid .. whats ur air speed james ?

[@Ground-Effect]

Cheers mate. About 100kph ground speed

[@jackisted7689]

There aren't enough likes on KZbin for how cool this thing is. Please please come to the UK and fly this over the English Channel to France. I don't believe anyone has done it before.

[@Ground-Effect]

Haha thanks very much mate I appreciate it! Would love to but a rather long flight 🤪

[@JasonMcB123]

How is it steered? Does it have a rudder or ailerons or something of the sort

[@Ground-Effect]

It has rudder and elevator controls. The rudder is connected to the same control stick as the elevator making it feel like ailerons. The secondary effect of yaw is roll and it works very well to control this.

[@coptotermes]

So is this classified as a boat or a plane? I was waiting to see if you got pulled over!

[@Ground-Effect]

It's classified as a boat. I got it all approved with the authoritys

[@lukeamato423]

How fast does it get going

[@Ground-Effect]

120kph

[@lukeamato423]

@@Ground-Effect that could work

[@KAT-DPF]

Simply beautiful. I'm thinking that it would be even more effective if it had real wings. Make them in 1 meter sections of styrofoam and plywood (or aluminum) and just slip them on spars. I believe you have already thought about it.

[@Ground-Effect]

The wings I have are not very efficient but I chose that design to make it easier to setup, store the wings. Your idea is something I have been thinking about but for the time being I'm just enjoying operating it

[@KAT-DPF]

Thank you for posting... That way you encourage the rest of us who have similar projects in our heads 😊

[@andrewerickson6690]

Sir is that a boat or an airplane wellyes and no. To which ? Yes an airplane for a guy who is afraid of heights aboat for thos who wish to not get sea sick perfect soviet problem solving