Watercraft with "Suspension Systems"

[kach22i]

I know the first question on your mind, why would you do that?

To quote myself...................................

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15577
Every land vehicle has a suspension, passenger trains, automobiles, motorcycles, aircraft landing gear you name it. Not only for comfort but also for handling and road or rail holding ability (some train cars even lean).

You can sip your tea riding the train, or drink your beer crossing the English Channel on a cushion of air (hovercraft); there is something between you and "shock".

Found an Example:
http://www.americanhydrofoil.com/index.htm

American Hydrofoil News

October 30, 2001: The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons
Division (NAWCWD - Point Mugu, California) and
American Hydrofoil enter into a Cooperative Research
And Development Agreement (CRADA). The construction,
testing, and evaluation of a hydrofoil watercraft
prototype named the American Hydrofoil HydroPod A300,
incorporating American Hydrofoil's exclusive Surface
Skimming (TM) and Vertical Dampening (TM) technology,
is the focus of the three year program.

The example above I found at an interesting website (see link below), there may be many other examples. Please post what you may find - thanks.

Worlds Most Radical Marine Designs
http://foxxaero.homestead.com/newsplash.html

[stonebreaker]

Well, part of the problem is that most suspension systems work on the principle of a small mass (wheel) hitting something and bouncing up, then the energy of the collision is absorbed via the suspension into a large mass (rest of the vehicle). Most boats don't have a small mass in contact with the water, so you can't really use a conventional suspension system.

One thing that might work is a suspension system in the seat. Semi trucks have this and it works quite well.

[Quicksilver]

Yeah I think it would be much easier, (maybe not as cool) to put the suspension between the rider and the hull and not the hull and water. I'll tell you what, I would have liked a nice version of suspension as a teen when I was riding my RIB with a semi-surface piecing prop(45mph). Kinda blew out some disks, can never ride something like that again. suspension of some sort is important, even if it's just a seat. I see how hydrofoils would work, but hydrofoils still havent caught on.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by stonebreaker

One thing that might work is a suspension system in the seat. Semi trucks have this and it works quite well.

I saw such a seat on a military type boat on a TV special once. The special operations craft had all of it's seats that way. Still a heck of a shock for everything else.