I have it in my mind to take some great aerial shots of my boat, out in the ocean, after it launches in a couple of months.  Follow me, will be perfect while in flight - but what about the landing? - the boat is not that big and there's always some motion, so catching would be dangerous.  Taking off and landing from the beach would probably be the only safe option, but it will be difficult and limit how much I can video. Has anyone else successfully landed on a boat with a Phantom ?

Many here have, and also many here do the hand catching.
I would advise you avoid this practice of hand catching.

There is a kickstarter product that has rafts on the bottom of a phantom 3 that i am thinking or getting for landing on water.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dronerafts/waterstrider-perfect-footage-confident-landings-an
To me this is perfect for boating.

My questions would be "how much space do you have on the deck?"  and "do you plan to takeoff and land while underway?"

But to answer your question, No I have not launched or recovered on a moving platform.

I have made a landing platform out of a 2'x2' piece of plywood.  So far it is painted bright white but I plan on putting a circle H on it like a helipad.  I routinely launch and recover on it instead of the grass - it's much more stable and easy to spot using the camera if I'm out of view.

You should do something similar and practice takeoff and landing in a small area then progress to a moving target, perhaps a small wagon pulled by someone or the top of a car.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I landed on a two passanger motor boat (recording follow up on a sail boat), just fly in front of you, descend to 2mts and then aproach slowly.
You should be able to hand catch without hassle.

Without knowing any details of the boat I can only generalise.
If you fly from the boat, hand catching is probably required.
You don't want to try to land on a racking deck or through rigging wires.
You may also need to hand launch.

Make sure you know your Phantom's operation inside out.
At sea is not the place to learn new tricks.
And don't try landing on a car roof as mentioned above.
As you get close the Phantom would show up a compass error and probably want to start spiraling.
Fitting floats like that waterstrider??
That sort of thing appeals to scared people that don't fly over water.
Here's what I think of that: http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... 5&fromuid=10818

Someone else on here recently asked a similar question,  and I believe I have the best way to do it safely.  Seer illustration below

Thanks everyone - I have a 25 foot motor boat, so hand catching will probably work best - I will just need to do this on a calm day with not too many other boats about.

tokenbrit Posted at 2016-4-27 14:02
Thanks everyone - I have a 25 foot motor boat, so hand catching will probably work best - I will jus ...

Aloha tokenbrit,

     No matter what the details, it is important to have the hand release/catch crew use line to attach the crew member from the waist to the two gunnels and fore or aft in a tripod configuration (a bos'n's or linesman's belt works well).  This allows the catch/release crew member to be secure and stable so they can avoid damage to the P3 or themselves.  The operator then flies out of and into the hands of the catch/release crew member while the boat operator keeps the boat stable.

     Hope this helps.

Aloha and Drone On!