We think you’ll turn a few heads in Central Park if you’re driving a water melon around when everyone else is piloting sailboats. This watermelon is both sea worthy and radio controlled thanks to the work which [Starting Electronics] put into it.
We used this image because it shows you what’s inside of the hull, but you don’t want to miss the thing motoring around an above-ground swimming pool in the clip after the break. The hollowed out shell is quite buoyant and has no problem staying afloat and upright with the addition of a propeller. The parts from a remote control airplane kit have been mounted on a wooden scaffold. This provides plenty of thrust with a servo motor moving turning the prop for directional control. There is no dagger board so the craft is a bit slow to respond to turns. But how responsive do you expect a floating melon to be?
*nods* bigger motor and hydrofoils….
And more ballast at the lowest point.
That could be solved by switching the expensive li-poly battery pack out with a cheaper ni-mh pack with same capacity.
Since there’s still plenty of space in the bottom of it, judging from the pictures.
Unethical treatment of Watermelons. Watermelons have feelings too.
No, no. The beauty of LiPo is that the voltage stays relatively consistent for the duration of the pack, as opposed to the nickel-metal voltage drop.
Instantly love it.
Use a giant GMO mellon and put a person in it.
Man the cucumber torpedoes!
It should have a remote controlled squirt gun, possibly mounted on the top of the motor stand.
It should shoot watermelon seeds, pitching machine style…
no squirt gun, just a water pump that sucks water from the under side and simply put a nozzle on it aiming front. now you can go and sink other people’s boats by flooding them.
That is what I meant by squirt gun… But yes, there must be melon battles!
I do like the idea of making this pump powered, rather than air. Then you could simply tap the pump for the squirt gun.
And who will do a submarine version?
He should have had the propulsion under water and kept the watermelon intact then take it out to a lake with a populated beach :P
LOL! They need to pumpkinize this for next Halloween.
Where I live in Maine we have a pumpkin boat race every halloween.
Do they build manned versions out of the losers from the ‘world’s biggest pumpkin’ competition?
I thought the Damariscotta Pumpkin Regatta was just an urban legend.
green recycling
That is the second coolest watermelon air boat I’ve seen!
i lol’d… at work.
+1
Reminds me of GMod.
This is not a combination of words i expected on H.A.D. Though i can’t say i object in any way.
I thought the picture showed it upside down, so that the propulsion was hidden bellow the watermelon. I wondered why the propeller was so large…
Really, it would have been quite something to see nothing but a watermelon moving around the pool.
Still, this should turn heads just as much.
I’d like it better if it were the same idea, but upside-down.
Launch the M80 torpedoes
I think that is pretty respectable response for a watercraft. That could totally be a kit (byomelon).
It’s the kamikaze watermelon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKUw-FfTaM0
I curious about the propeller motor, controller, and battery pack — anyone here familiar with electric RC plane stuff? It seems like the motor is using a lot of power … what are the chances that this LiPo battery is usable for more than a few charge cycles?
That seems absolutely normal for a brushless motor and a LiPo. They can supply surprisingly large amounts of current.
Best post title evar!
Way more responsive than I expected after seeing the picture!
I expected to see a zepelin like thing made from a watermellon….oh well.
Nice idea,also when you think that you can actually shape a watermelon by confining it in a small space (box watermelons anyone?) it gets intriguing.
I am wondering how long it will take to rot/decompose?
Just love it
I want to see a vegetable race. Watermelons, eggplants and pumpkins, battling it out! The cucumbers would be like dragsters (needs port/starboard stability “pontoon” rig most likely)
Nise
but the boat have no control
Too freaking cool. I’m laughing my ass off!