anyone slapped an outboard or oars on Hobie 16 or similar cat?

[spidennis]

Originally Posted by Tiny Turnip

Its about 3.2 with one engine, cruise all day.

thanks Tiny Turnip, I could ask you questions about your boat all day! But what thread to do that on? Without completely hi jacking this one?

[Squidly-Diddly]

I don't think sprawling on a tramp and rowing is going to work for more than a couple minutes or in any sort of waves.


I noticed Tiny Turnip's boat put the crank unit just fore, and thus below, the existing deck.

Hard to do that in conventional backwards sliding seat rower without ending up seated at the bow at the end of the stroke.

I remember a thread of some guy building a small cat for pedal powered paddle wheel to take his dog out with. I'll try to find it.

We also had a good thread about "front rowers" but I can't find it.


I think this thread is fine for pedal rigs on Hobies, I was just generally asking about using Hobies(or similar) for things besides sailing.

[upchurchmr]

spidennis,

Looking at the Hobie pictures I believe the saggy net has caused the ergonomics to be poor. The oars are only partially in the water, and the handles are at shoulder level. Ideally your hands should be lower when pulling, so a raised seat could make the blades fully in the water with the hands a little lower than shown.

Marc

[spidennis]

Originally Posted by Squidly-Diddly

We also had a good thread about "front rowers" but I can't find it.

http://www.frontrower.com/aboutfrontrower.htm

I asked the front rower guy if his unit would work on a hobie and he didn't think so.

[Mr Efficiency]

The fact that the original sail powered vessel is driven along by force acting high above the waterline, and also steadied by that rig, gives you a very different 'feel' to some motorised version. I knew a bloke years ago who plonked a 25 horse Johnno on one, but he was half-crazy. Sounded like hell-on-sponsons poking head-on into a chop.

[Squidly-Diddly]

I did several Solidworks drawings of various rigs, most of which seen to want bigger geometry than a canoe, but might work on Hobie.

Ancient Kayaker came up with most of the concepts, I put them into fairly standard rowing stroke dimensions, because the "human factor" would be what controls everything.

front rowing system for canoe

[Tiny Turnip]

Thanks Spidennis. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I've posted a lot on the pedal powered boats thread, but it would take a stout heart to wade through that one!

[upchurchmr]

Spidennis,

Don't get scared off about the Rontilla front rowing system, yet. The only real requirement is to be able to position the rig so the oars don't hit the boat hulls while in the water. I don't know if that system can adjust the angle of the oar shafts depending on how high you mount the seat.
I would be scared of the price!!!!
I built a sliding feet system that probably cost me $100 max and it works on a 7 ft wide cat (not a commercial sail boat hull). It works a lot better than I do, but it hasn't been very refined for low weight.
Tiny is very right about the pedal power thread, but it is very informative if you skip a few people (possibly myself). The front rowing thread reference above has one or two people who have the Rontilla system. You might read it carefully to find them.
Marc