New Folding Tender Design

[ConcertinaBoats]

Thanks for the links Portacruise. I looked at both the Origami and Portabote quite a lot when designing the Concertina. I think the Origami is very elegant but it was the fact that it seemed so complex and had so many pieces that led me to designing my own.
I loved your first link; the emergency pop up boat. It makes the Concertina look very slow to erect by comparison.

I have wondered about whether the Concertina would be suitable for for use in floods. In flatish waters it would be stable enough but it can carry two smallish adults at most. As a way of someone going to get help if communication lines are down it would probably work well.

Thanks for all your feedback. Thanks for letting me know about the 'buy plans' button Marshmat.

[ConcertinaBoats]

I think the buy plans button is only broken on internet explorer. It seems to work on Firefox.

[portacruise]

Hi, Jeremy.

My experience is with hurricanes which come with hot, humid weather, something like Kartrina at New Orleans. When there is an initial surge, only high ground in sturdy buildings or trees are of much use, drowning is a danger. Then, the huge rains start which flood hundreds of acres gradually, without much current of the water except to get deeper, but some heavy wind at times. The most vulnerable are individuals that are not fit to paddle several miles to help, food or water in an inefficient craft, -might drift them to greater danger with winds. Even boarding/unboarding a squarish craft containing some rainwater, with or without help at treacherous locations not designed for boarding is an issue. A more open, accessible, self bailing design where one doesn't have to step over and keep balance might be of more use. Of course, the fit are found rowing or sometimes motoring about, helping with rescues with larger craft, doing the best they can.

Porta

Originally Posted by Jeremy Harris

Depends where you live. Here is the UK major flooding seems to have become more prevalent in recent years and is primarily a problem for towns and villages built on river flood plains (which a lot are). Often what happens is that rivers just breach their banks and flood hundreds of acres of flat land on their alluvial plains.

When this happens the water is often slow moving, rather like a vast lake. A boat like this would be very effective as an emergency aid. At the moment, whenever there is a big flood we often see people getting about by canoe or paddled inflatable.

The major problem isn't drowning, its food, fresh water and protection from hypothermia for the vulnerable.

I understand that other areas around the world suffer different sorts of flooding, flash floods with high velocity water flow, for example. I doubt any small, portable boat is really going to be much practical help in those conditions. When a flash flood occurred here in the UK a few years ago (Boscastle, Cornwall, 2004) the only thing of any real use in saving lives were helicopters, boats weren't a practical means of rescuing anyone or providing aid.

[Jeremy Harris]

Originally Posted by portacruise

Hi, Jeremy.

My experience is with hurricanes which come with hot, humid weather, something like Kartrina at New Orleans. When there is an initial surge, only high ground in sturdy buildings or trees are of much use, drowning is a danger. Then, the huge rains start which flood hundreds of acres gradually, without much current of the water except to get deeper, but some heavy wind at times. The most vulnerable are individuals that are not fit to paddle several miles to help, food or water in an inefficient craft, -might drift them to greater danger with winds. Even boarding/unboarding a squarish craft containing some rainwater, with or without help at treacherous locations not designed for boarding is an issue. A more open, accessible, self bailing design where one doesn't have to step over and keep balance might be of more use. Of course, the fit are found rowing or sometimes motoring about, helping with rescues with larger craft, doing the best they can.

Porta

Thankfully we don't get such turbulent weather, but then the latitude here in Southern England is just a bit North of you, around 51 deg N, so slightly further North than Winnipeg in North American terms!

I think the neat thing about the Concertina Boat is its scalability. It should be possible to pretty much double its size I'd have thought, which would significantly increase its load capacity.

[ConcertinaBoats]

Originally Posted by marshmat

PS- your "buy plans" button appears to be broken.

Fixed now I believe. :-)
Thanks

[portacruise]

Thought you might find this interesting:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/che...s_crossin.html

Ugly but remarkably effective....

Porta

Originally Posted by Jeremy Harris

Thankfully we don't get such turbulent weather, but then the latitude here in Southern England is just a bit North of you, around 51 deg N, so slightly further North than Winnipeg in North American terms!

I think the neat thing about the Concertina Boat is its scalability. It should be possible to pretty much double its size I'd have thought, which would significantly increase its load capacity.

[Ike]

Very clever. Better than Portabote. I saw a dinghy from England about 15 years ago that worked in a similar way but not as well thought out. Keepup the good work.