Hello From Wisconsin

[popeye]

Hey everyone! My name is Jim but because of my affection for all things Popeye related I have earned the nick name Popeye among my friends and family. I am a father of 3 children and I hope that I am a good father to them. My son and I are big into fishing as well as my girls but the boy will wake up with me at first light and hit the water unlike the girls. My wife shall we say hasn't yet gotten her sea legs but she loves going with us anyway. I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from an explosion I survived at my job. No I was not in the military. I was working at a factory and it was almost time for a coffee break as I was driving my forklift to make one last drop off before break the whole damn place exploded. The guy I had talked to just minutes before was found dead in the spot I was headed to. Anyway enough of the bad stuff.

My son and I have been going to this one lake near our house and besides catching the largest frog I have ever seen we haven't caught a thing. So a few nights ago I was watching a national geographic special on the Bismark and it got me thinking. Why don't I make an ROV? It can't be that hard to do right? I had seen a video about a year ago about a guy who made one using cd-rom drives computer fans and a Sega Genesis controller and I thought "hey I can do that!" My other ideas have never panned out as well as this one has so far so I am taking it and running with it.

I am a stay at home Dad because of my disorder so I have a lot of time to just sit around and think. Everyday objects can be reused in hundreds of ways. Just ask my youngest girl we have made paper towel tube telescopes, toilet paper tube binoculars, baby wipes box sailboats, coffee can stilts, bicycle inner tube sling shots, even a cordless drill blender. Nothing I have ever owned has worked exactly the way it was supposed to. The turn signal on my old truck was actually a pen tube jammed onto the 2 inch long metal rod, the shifter was a 1/4 inch driver, The gas tank was held up by old fuel line and brake line, my mini van's exhaust is held together by a dog food can and a few u bolts, the power window switch is now a toggle switch from radio shack, and the tailgate is held up by a tiny pair of vise grips when you need to unload the groceries.

I am I guess what you would call a mister fix it or mcgyver. I have tons of ideas on how to make different things but for some reason this ROV idea keeps coming back so I am just going to built it and see what happens. I suppose I can share some of my other ideas, an electric bicycle capable of 30mph for 50 miles (No I haven't figured out how to do that yet), I wanted to make an rc snow plow (plans are set just need money), A wood gas powered pick up truck, a car you can use as a boat, so yeah lots of ideas and hours upon hours of research. The ROV seems to be the least expensive of my crazy ideas and the one I actually think I have the knowledge to build so here we go.

Other hobbies would include camping, backpacking, fishing, video games, kite flying, wood carving, and creative writing. I guess if you have any questions let me know.

[Alaska Rov Systems]

Hello welcome to the forum.

Everyone here will help you with ideas on how to build your ROV.

[bikerbones1968]

Welcome to the forums. There is a lot of good info in the forums and most folks here are more than willing to offer help. Enjoy building your ROV and if you get stuck ask away.

Anthony