Testing Billy Atkin's "Shoals Runner"

[kengrome]

Greetings,

Last week I proposed an inexpensive testing program that should tell us which hull is more efficiently propelled at 15 knots, Atkin's Shoals Runner or another hull with the same propulsion system, displacement, waterline length and waterline breadth but with a simpler underwater hull shape.

Some of our experienced colleagues agree that this testing program makes sense, and so far we have received $200 in pledges toward these tests. This means we need only $800 more before we proceed. One of the folks who pledged his financial support had this to say:

I agree whole heartedly with your argument that tow tests won't give accurate results and am very excited to see your proposed powered tests get off the ground (and onto the water). I have always been a proponent of seat of the pants, rack of the eye, whatever you want to call it, boat building. Maybe that is not the smartest way to run a business but then again I am still in the boat building business after twenty years while many others are not. What I am getting at is I think your proposal is the fastest way to arrive at real data and that your anticipated cost of $1000 seems extremely low and a fantastic deal for anyone remotely thinking about building one of these boats.

Here is the description of my testing proposal:

1- I will build a small version of Shoals Runner and a second boat in my boat shop in Cebu, Philippines. Both hulls will be built to a scale that makes the boats roughly 15 feet long overall. They will both have the same design displacement and waterline length and beam, and both hulls will be optimized in Michlet / Godzilla (special software for designing efficiently propelled boat hulls) for maximum efficiency at 15 knots.

2- I will install cheap off-the-shelf inboard propulsion components typically used by local fishermen, including China-made 6.5 HP gas inboard engines, stainless steel prop shafts, 6-inch diameter two-blade stainless steel propellers, etc. The inboard drive systems will be direct drive to further simplify and reduce costs.

3- I will run my tests over the wide tidal flats behind the reef as well as in deep water a bit further offshore in the Visayan Sea near my home. I will measure the fuel consumption of each boat in side-by-side tests to determine which boat is more efficient in various conditions. I will repeat each test after swapping engines and propellers to eliminate the possibility that one boat may have a more efficient propulsion system than the other.

4- The financial budget for this project is $1000 which will cover all the costs and requirements that I am not providing myself. In addition to my personal time to build and test these boats properly then report the results online, I am also donating the use of my shop, the cost of utilities during construction, and one complete inboard drive system as described above.

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If you would like to support this project in any way please join the Yahoo group entitled "ShoalsRunnerTesting". If you simply wish to observe you do not have to join since I've opened the group archives to everyone:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShoalsRunnerTesting/