Aquarius Sail Owners

Does anyone use those mountable video cameras?

I was thinking of maybe putting one up in my rigging looking down on the tramp. Anyone have experience with them?

Kevin

nope.

But only because I don't have one....

Well....... get one then and tell me about it.

Funny you should mention it. In my post about flipping and having the wrong shroud extender undone I almost posted the video footage I had of it but wanted to edit it up a little nicer first... But since you asked:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=GBFtms5djHQ

I have the Oregon Scientific camera and it is pretty nice (note that you tube compresses the video significantly). The video above was taken with the camera mounted to where the bridle wires meet. It works good unless the jib vibrates, then things start shaking like mad!

Overall I am impressed with the camera and it is waterproof since it spent 5 minutes at the furler drum turtled. The downside is that I wish it had a wider field of view. Mounted at the furler it barely has enough field of view and w/o a spin pole I can't go much further forward. I did do mast top on a H16 and the issue with that is that you need to turn it on with a button, so you need to lay the boat on its side before and after. Also as the mast rotates it changes what is captured. All that being said I really like the camera and I will post more video in a couple weeks after I find time to do some editing (I'm on vacation next week).

-Eric
SC20 #113

That's cool!! So you were able to un-turtle it alone? Which way was the boat pointing when you un-turtled it?

I laughed watching it..... sorry. I just wished I had video of me pitch-poling mine.

That is pretty good video. How long will it video? How big is your memory?

I am wondering if you could hook up a pulley system to one of your spreaders and hoist the camera up and down??

Thanks and looking forward to seeing more.

Kevin

I meant to ask about the daggerboard. They float?

Yes I was able to unturtle solo and I did so standing on the leward hull, btw this is how I managed to get the wrong shroud extender undone. Once I had the shroud extender undone I needed to right it the other way but I didn't think of that at the time.

The camera has a 4GB SD card which will record for 2 hours which is just about how long the batteries last. You could rig it on a pulley but if it is just hanging from a block it is going to swing a lot and the video will be terrible I suspect. It really needs a sturdy mount, even the furler shakes when the jib isn't sheeted in hard. I am thinking of mounting it to the bridle wire tang on the hull next time. Probably not as good of an angle but it would shake less. Lots of experiments to do.

As for the boards, mine float and they are original, I don't want to say yours do and then have them sink. As you can see I have tethers but I don't normally use them unless I am sailing in the ocean or some other place where finding them would be impractical...

-Eric

Which model camera do you have?

I have this one:
http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/p ... 14&pid=895

It was a b-day gift.

Just updated this. I realized I have the atc3k not the 2k.

Eric,

I just bought one. How did you mount yours? Do you have any pictures of the installation.

Kevin

No pics, I totally forget to take some. I tried mounted to the front beam but the jib sheet kept hanging up on it and I was afraid I would rip it off so I moved it to the bridal wires just below the furling drum and this works well unless you flog the jib then it shakes like crazy! I want to try attaching it to the hull right at the bridal wire attachment point and see how that works.

They way I attached it to the bridal wires wasn't pretty but I didn't take anything with me to do it. What I did was use the handlebar mount, found a stick the right diameter and attached the camera to the stick. Then I used some rigging tape to tape the stick between the 2 bridal wires. Like I said it isn't very classy but it worked.

BTW I posted another video of actual sailing (not flipping) to youtube:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ngtwpISb5KI

I still have a couple more hours to edit together...

-Eric

I want to see more video of you flipping.

Its funny I went for 3 or 4 years w/o flipping and then I did it once last year and twice this year so based on this trend you should get plenty of footage next year.

Seriously though I don't mind flipping, it spices things up a little.

Very Cool Video Ed I have a few questions:

Did you turtle completely ???????
You righted your boat in 90 seconds....that's amazing!!!!
If so why did your mast not keep you afloat???????
How do you right a turtle ????????

I flipped my first ime on the ocean this past saturday. It was totally unexpected. I could not right it since I was slow at getting it prepped for righting and water got in the mast. I did plug the upper end and seal with 5200 but it might be leaking from the stay bracket attachment.

I plan to pressurize the mast slightly to check for leaks. Anyone have any other ideas ????????
Has anyone ever filled the upper end of the mast with foam effectively?????
What a great resource this site is. Thanks for any help......

Pete

Yes I went completely turtle but it took much longer than 90 seconds to right it. To unturtle you stand on the leeward hull and lean back on the righting line, the buoyancy of the mast will help it come up, I did this by myself w/o issue.

I went turtle for 2 reasons, the first is that I was sitting on the hull after I flipped and my weight pushed it over, second it was really windy and the wind hit the tramp and that helped push her down.

As for filling the mast with foam I think that is a bad idea, I believe most of the expanding foams you see at home depot etc are not water proof and will be become very heavy if exposed to water for long, second the foam isn't light. You are much better off just sealing your mast well. That being said I have never figured out how to seal the through hole for my mast rotator. Does anyone have a good secret for that one?