I don't fly over the water, but I do live near a lot of it.
I think this would restrict the travel speed (wind resistance), but they don't weigh much.
I might consider it as insurance if I were to fly from a small boat. I sure would hate to have a pin hole in one water bottle.
What do you think?

WOW! That's about all I can say. Pretty creative I guess, but yes I would think these would certainly cause a lot of resistance. Tell you what, you give it a shot, and let us know how it works out for you. LOL

I think it will tip over on hitting the water, you'll get splash back from the propwash right up into the gimbal, they will be in shot unless you're looking straight down. But please feel free to give it a go and remember to post the video of it all going wrong.

Flying from a small boat, learn to hand launch and land.

My first reaction is....Wow, what a great and simple idea, how come I didn't think of that!!

If you test it, please video.   I'd love to see how stable the floats are in the water.  I'm less concerned about reduction in performance when airborne.

I'd give it a shot on my P3S.

I did a quick google, and found commercially available floats for Phantoms.  However, I like your simple solution a lot better!  Plus, it gives a "WTF" factor!!

I also have a Spark.  For that little guy,  there are commercially available floats that look pretty good:   https://www.ebay.com/i/263384587239?chn=ps

Sid

Absolute rubbish.
They would handicap the drones performance seriously and are more likely to cause the loss of the drone than the imaginary dangers of flying over water.

Good pic of a redneck drone with pontoons.

ALABAMA Posted at 2018-3-7 13:36
Good pic of a redneck drone with pontoons.

That was my exact thought when I ran across this while just searching the many add on devices.

No the water bottles are just not my style. I would have made something that looks more like a pontoon boat from like a pool noodle, and put it on some longer legs to protect the camera .

Amateur Droner Posted at 2018-3-7 14:07
That was my exact thought when I ran across this while just searching the many add on devices.

No the water bottles are just not my style. I would have made something that looks more like a pontoon boat from like a pool noodle, and put it on some longer legs to protect the camera .

The risk is that you have to carry these floats when you are in the air, and they act like sails. Even winds that previously would not have been a problem for the aircraft, now become one. The aircraft is much more likely to get blown away in winds, and it would adversely affect RTH performance if there was a slight headwind.

There are commercial and 3D printed floats or pontoons available, with much better aerodynamic ability than pop bottles. Haha

Check eBay and "Amazing" for the plethora.

With a little craftiness, you can get a pool noodle and create a set of mounts.


RedHotPoker

Yeah now these are better.
I might consider these with pool noodle instead of the water bottles, the frame work seems a little more stable.

No matter what,performance is shot...no wind days for sure!