Human Powered Boat

Yeah Sure - OK...

Hello...

OK - you do that and while you are at it - come up with same for my 'Gecko 14' enclosed trimaran...

See my gallery for the latest mental masturbations on the 'design'...

I sold my O'day 22 cash pig 5 knot slug - cashed out my vacation pay - hope to start laminating foam cored panels at work in a month or so...

As for your 'energy calculations' - HOLY AMOUNT OF VARIABLES - doing math on a given diesel - a given load - a given pitch - and an estimate of sea state is easy - but stick a 'HUMAN' in there as the power plant and all hell breaks loose and the math goes with it...

HOWEVER - there is the only closest equal - those old DUPONT sponsored maniacs of the 80's - Email 'em - see http://nix.larc.nasa.gov/search?b=SC000045 ...

And REMEMBER - anything is possible if you are too stupid to know that it is not - thats a joke...

Them be my thoughts...

Cheers - and good luck...

SH.

 

HPV Angle gears

Well here's the 90 degree angle gear I wound up with. It's pretty cool. Milspec 416L stainless, 5/8" shafts, lubricated for life in an anodized aluminum housing completely sealed... http://www.andantex.com/anglgear.html
My plan is to mount it with one end coupled to the 5/8" propshaft, the other side running athwart, connected to a small diameter sprocket, then a mounted bearing on the other end of the sprocket. Then just a regular chain & sprocket to give it the 1:6 ratio and...presto 300 rpm (or so).
Keeping with the axiom subscribed to from the beginning...K.I.S.S. I am staying away from (heavy) flywheels and (complicated) gizmos.
So, I have only to order the large sprocket with the proper number of teeth to give me the required ratio, then I'll have all I need to complete the driveline mock-up.

Sean, I'm finding my artistic skills pale in comparison to yours so I might take awhile to get my paint scheme up...
Nobody took me up on my request for equipment list, so I'll just post what I'm calculating weights on so far.
I think Carl is coming up with a cardboard model, if so, I'll get pics.
SG

 

HPV model

Just another HPV update...
Things are proceding as they have been all along...in spurts and stalls.
Carl (my friend & codesigner) had to take some time off to take care of some personal business but not before he was able to come up with the plate developments and lines drawings for the preliminary scale model which I have just completed.
To say that I am pleased with it would be an understatement. When he gets back in a few weeks, we will begin crunching some #'s...resistance & loading at first to get an idea of what kind of performance we might expect.
The driveline mock-up is going slower than I had hoped due to the fact I still have a 30' sailboat jig epoxied to the deck of my shop but I have all the parts necessary to begin fabing it up when I make space.
I have rid myself of powered vehicles and I now bike everywhere instead of twice a week trips to town & back. I feel great.
Before I get too much further, I want to give HUGE kudos to the folks who have given me tangible assistance...I'm not 1/2 way there yet but it would not have been possible for the project to come this far without the help of:
Carl Chamberlin, Eric Sponberg, Brian Young, Paul Smith, Don (the machinest), Scott (@ Willawa Bikes), Sean Heron and jehardiman.
There's a slew of others whose input has been invaluable and not just here on this site...icetreader,JEM, skippy, sharpii2,yipster, Andrew Mason...shoot I just can't name all whose input has contributed so far. Before I forget though, I want to give the biggest Mahalo to a few folks who don't even have a clue as to how much they have inspired me & helped me without even knowing it. Namely Mick Bird (The Big Kahuna), Ray Speck, Kit Africa, Jim Franken and a certian fellow from China who's name has been lost but whose insperation remains.
There's a long way to go but I hope to begin construction of the hull this fall.
The major hurdle of funding remains but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this project succeed. I figure if I liquidate all my assets (can't take it with me, right?) I might be able to at least fund myself to Hawaii. Who knows from there. The other big hurdle of prop design also remains but that too is just a matter of time & energy (read $$$). Carl seems to think a wood prop. would suffice & we are working on figuring out what the finnished product might look like. Since this is a unique hull with ultra low power, efficiency is becoming more and more crucial. Until we come up with real #'s as far as shaft rpm, wetted surface, prismatic coefficiant and loader disp., it's all just supposition anyway.
So... here she is in 3D. Something to toutch, manipulate & ponder.
For anyone interested, I will send you your very own HPV model to build & play with. It is 1:12 scale and printed on heavy cardstock. If you want one, e-mail me because postage in the US is like $2 for the thing and I need all the dimes I can hold onto right now. But anyone who wants one can have one for the cost of postage & an envelope.
S.G.

 

What is wrong with SH...

Hello...

See http://www.n2geo.org/expedition/ - stick a mobile centrino cam in your boat and stickers on the bow Davinci fashion so it reads back as an ad...

Push for a spot on Discovery - http://discoverychannel.ca/_home/index.shtml - YUP...

Do a Virgin Unite banner offer on same camera - http://www.virginunite.co.uk/virgin_ho.php - SELL SELL SELL - let them paste anything onto your boat and have them pay to point a camera at it and for the uplink equipment which is YOUR GPS and ARP...

I am going to go eat potato chips now - and stew - I HATE BOATS...

CHEERS...

SH>

 

I like a foot-powered propulsion system for kayaks designed by engineers at HobieCat in Oceanside, California. What is your opinion?

 

kayack prop.

Vlad,
While the propulsion system you have pointed out is indeed a great system for kayacks, there are a few reasons why it is not optimal (even if scaled up) for a displacement vessel.
First off, the space restraints of a kayack are way different than the HPV. It makes more sense to have full use of all the muscles I can put to the shaft instead of just from the knees down.
Secondly, a fully loaded kayack weighs less than a couple hundred lbs. and draws inches, the HPV will weigh in at a few thousand lbs. and I can make use of it's V-bottom to get the end of the propshaft down deeper in the water where it will do some good.
Thanks for the input though...you want a model?
SG

 

Virgins...

Hello...

See http://www.virgin.com/aboutvirgin/gotabigidea/default.asp ...

I am going to work up a Virgin paint - just for kicks...

My wife wants me to paint the condo - GAH...

Have fun...

SH.

 

I think the Hobbie Mirage drive in combination with a rowing device can be a good propulsion.

 

I just meant flapping wings instead of a propeller drive. You can have full use of all the muscles if choose the right way of your power transfer to flapping wings. Thanks, I don’t want a model.

 

HPV Global Challenger website

So here's a link to the new HPV Global Challenger website. It is raw but it is a beginning... http://hpvglobalchallenger.spaces.msn.com

We continue to work on weights and ballances but we have enough information to actually go out and build the hull. I've applied for a quote on the stock so we'll really have a much better estimate of the costs involved when we have that information.

We hope to be able to register members into the organization online in the future.

I'm attaching a pic of the scale model with the proposed house design and a scale wireframe man. (He's 5'5" in scale)

SG

 

A little something for to chew on.

Earlier this year I completed a hydrocycle design with Harry Howard at Wave Walker. The drive unit was designed with the help from Nissan engineers. It's a sealed unit that's very efficient, durable, and maintinence free. It's going to blow away the Hobbie Cat. Wave Walker's going to introduce the SOT hydrocycle kayak this year at the 06 Outdoor Retailer show next month. Stay tuned. james@wilddesign.com

 

HPV Global Challenger

Thanks Jim but I don't think that driveline has any usefullness for a larger, higher displacement application like mine. Good luck with your project though.
It is going to cost about $5100 in materials to build the hull for the HPV, so I'm knocking on doors for a construction grant lately.

 

If your looking for power and efficiency, no mount of scaling is going to make any difference if there is only one person providing the power. It may actually hinder your speed and efficiency.

The Wave Walker drive. It's a 6:1 drive that can be tailored from 5:1 to about 8:1. The prop has been optimized for low RPM power and efficiency. It has 2 bevel gears, two cogs, and one lube bathed chain. A broken in drive has very low drag. I'm willing to bet that the right angle drive you have chosen alone has more drag than the whole WW unit. Drag is a major factor when coupling low HP output with long distances. It's a completely sealed unit with several tears of testing behind it. If you email Harry Howard at Wavewalkerinc@aol.com he can provide more specifics.

Assuming you want to keep a low CG, you'll place the user into the boat as low as possible. The WW drive is design to be just deep enough into the water to prevent cavitation but not so deep that you dragging around extra wetted surface.

A lot of work has been put into making racing kayaks more efficient. This might be helpful to your design if you looked into some of the amazing work people have done with surf-ski's. Especially since you plan to go long distances using human power.

 

If you acquainted with my posts:
Fishes and dolphins are powerful propellers
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8191 ;
How fast can we swim with a dolphin like propeller?
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8257;
Briefly about flapping hydrofoil propulsion
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8335;
A new concept for future boats http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9864;
Traveling wave jet propulsion
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?p=76783;
you could see the sine propulsion device for human powered boats that is shown on thumbnail below. It is quite complicated but you can use a simple modification of it (picture 2). It's really going to blow away the Hobbie Cat.

 

Power Calcs

From time to time, this thread gets...sidetracked. I guess in a way that is not a bad thing, because it really allows for thorough discussion of the points that need to be hashed out.
Propulsion is one of these points.
From the beginning it has been one of the big question marks of the project. To say that it has been in the front of my mind for months would not be an understatement.
That is why I am very happy with the news I recieved today from Carl. He has been working dillegently on weights and ballances, various coefficients and formulas over the past days and I would like to share with you what he has come up with...in case you are one of the folks who likes to cut to the chase, our design appears considerably more efficient than our initial estimates, in fact it is nearly twice as fast at load than I had originally calculated for (I'm a notorious bet-hedger)

So here's the basics, the boat comes in at about 1500# empty. Fully loaded at 4037# the following stats are for the fully loaded vessel:
Draft 20"
WL 17'8"
Disp 63 ft./3
Disp/Length 326
Wetted Surf. 92.75 ft./2
Immersion 391 lbs./in.
Pc .56
momment to trim 1" 330 ft./lbs.

According to the math, at 100% efficiency, the boat requires .096 hp to make 3 kts. Our experiments have shown that I can comfortably sustain 1/5 hp over an extended duration (several hours) with bursts to 1/4 hp and topping out at 1/3 hp. So at 50% efficiency we should still be able to make 3 kts. for extended periods at full load.

Big deal? Well, in practice that means that it should be able to complete a circumnavigation in under 2 years with a good margin of error.
Thanks Carl.


On the non-profit side of the project, we are increasingly getting new members and installing new Officers to "spread out the load". Welcome John Ramalho, a tallented and award winning video producer who has acceped a position as Media Director with the Global Challenger Association, we look forward to working with him, one of his first projects will be doccumenting the construction of the vessel.

Thanks to all who have helped bring us this far, this forum and all who have contributed own a small piece of our collaorative effort. We still have a long way to go though, like 23,310 nm...