solar splash

[gonzo]

The "Sea Sled" won every competition and got outlawed. People can ignore innovation, particularly when it challenges established beliefs.

[Tom Lathrop]

Originally posted by gonzo
The "Sea Sled" won every competition and got outlawed. People can ignore innovation, particularly when it challenges established beliefs.

That is often all too true. However in the here and now is there any instance of this happening to a Sea Sled or IVB? As near as I can figure, an IVB could run in the catamaran class and meet the rules with no problems.

Tom

[gonzo]

What are the rules in the catamaran class?

[Tom Lathrop]

I have no idea, but the sea sled seems to fit the concept of a catamaran pretty well. Lots of boats that are classified as catamarans have differing arrangements. Low bridgedeck, high bridgedeck, a central hull, planing hulls, displacement hulls, wave piercers, etc, etc.

I have absolutely nothing against the sea sled, IVB, or any other inovation in boat hulls. I'd just like to see more definitive data such as apples-to-apples comparisons. Knowlegeable people have come down on both sides of the sea sled issue. Those of us who have no personal experience with these boats need more concrete data or the concept will remain just interesting, but no more than that.

The so called "outlawing" of the sea sled was no more than a racing club saying "you can't race that boat against these boats". Racing groups and clubs, sail and power, ALWAYS have restrictions that define the various racing classes that participate in their events. If you have something different, then you can either form your own group or form a separate class within existing clubs. Sitting on the sideline and whining that "they won't let me race" is counterproductive.

Perhaps if Hickman had not been such a suspicious horse's patootie, we'd have more sea sleds around.

[gonzo]

I agree that Hickman had a nasty personality. That is what ultimately made the Navy drop his design even though they tested extremely well. They attain the same speed as a hydrofoil with the same HP but can handle rough seas. The Sea Sled followed the rules, they had to change the rules to exclude them. I love new technology that is truly an improvement. Some are just fads or cosmetic changes. The Sea Sled is, in my view, revolutionary. There haven't been superior designs yet.

[Tom Lathrop]

Two negative issues that I have heard about sea sled performance is that it has excessive longitudinal stability and that spray can be a real problem.

The first sounds like it could result in the boat smashing its way through waves rather than riding over them.

The second is claimed to be caused by trapped air under pressure (by the boat running into a wave) suddenly blowing forward and directly over the boat and occupants. Neither sounds like an appealing characteristic for a boat to have.

Another issue shared by any multihull is poorer maneuverability caused by high directional stability. This can be dealt with by experience and I don't consider it a major problem.

One other problem in the original sea sleds was chine tripping in turns. I think this has been solved by the addition of deadrise chines on later models.

Revolutions have their problems too.

[gonzo]

The spray problem can be solved with vents. They lead into the deck or the sides.

[Ed kellogg]

I would like to thank everyone who posted here. I am member of the same group that Quang Ha was part of (he graduated). We were a little late in the design process to implement some of the suggestions that were posted here for this year's competition, but we are starting our model testing of hull designs for the 2004 competition. If you are interested int the results they are available at http://solarsplash.com/. Our team, Cal Poly Pomona finished, 7th, down from third, due to mainly making modest improvements while going up against stiffer competition.