sea-worthy amphibious craft?

Is self launching a useful phrase ? You surely aint going to want to commute far on road in an iguana, but I guess if you can afford one, you probably won't need to commute...

Not sure what counts as seaworthy. Here's a couple of very different films, each very capable and very entertaining in its own way...

http://youtu.be/3mr_pCrhTkk

http://youtu.be/UO4cw565V98

 

I wish these links still worked, I'd like to see this!

 

Found them ..

http://www.kelsall.com/Designs/KSSAK18.htm


and other photos

 

thanks!

 

aphibious vehicle

i am currently fabricating an amphibious small motor home( 20FTx8ft.) aluminium hull, based on sea sled hull. jetdrive, v8 rear wheel drive. hope to market design drawing and hull kit.no photos as yet.

www.sealegs.com

also Derek Kelsall has dome quite a bit of work on an amphibious catamaran. Try
http://www.kelsall.com/t1p.html

I am on your side - I have been tossing around the idea of a self launching small boat for years. The main reason to own a boat is to get to lovely unspoiled places in a bit of comfort - who needs to worry about getting onto that secluded beach on a small dinghy through the surf, and leaving the comforts of home hanging off a bit of string half a mile offshore.

I hope you come up with something I can afford to buy or build soon.
Go for it.

 

I like the way the tires on that Kelsall become boat bumpers.

I had similar idea for my self transporting "take it all with you" trailerable Cat/Tow combo.

Looks like he has nice white, non-marking "hospital" tires, so as not to mark up the classy white yachts. Nice touch.

 

Here is an interesting amphibian.
The German M3
http://www.military-today.com/engineering/m3.htm
It can act as a raft, join with other M3's to make a big raft, or form into a bridge.
400 bhp, 4wd, 4ws, central tyre inflator, retractable undercarriage, water jet propulsion.

 

No camping allowed around the lake but a caravan is allowed on lake.

 

An early design Myark folding trailer barge

 

6 year old thread reply!

I note that this is a very old thread but I also note that you are still active on this forum.
Here is a bit of a fun project I did last spring. I'm a yachting journalist and the full how-to is due to be getting published in the UK's best selling sailing magazine in about April this year. Hopefully I have successfully attached pics.

While the back wheels are bought items- standard small RIB portage wheels, the front swivel wheel assembly is not. It solves the problem of rowing upto the pub, then pulling ashore out of the tidal range while we go and have something to eat/ drink without a) having to pay to moor, b) worrying about the boat moving etc.

The back wheel assembelys cost about £80, but the front kit was about £20 in epoxy and scrap plywood, old launch trolley wheels etc. Trying to move anything but a tiny RIB with just the back wheels (the only bits you can buy) is backbreaking- due to obvious balance point issues!

It transforms the boat's usability for £100

If I was doing it again I'd make the front higher allowing the front wheels to swivel 360 degrees for a better turning circle.

I was amazed that nobody makes this sort of thing. You could easy weld something similar out of ss tubing and it could be designed universal fit very easily with a pair of adjustable trailer type vee pads. The only DIY would then be fitting a padeye in the stem- no harder than drilling the 8 holes for the throughbolts that secure the rear assemmblies.

Zodiac did a front wheel at some stage for one of thier more unweildy SIBs but it didn't fold back easily so you couldn't take it with you unless you put it in the boat. That and Sealegs and probably a hundred others mean it's been done before so it's not patentable or anything.

The only other caveat is I have mounted this on a very nice 50 year old mahogany clinker rowing boat- as that is what I have. Before anyone tells me off for supporting this old girl only at her ends- In long term parking I do have a little car jack I wind up in the middle to support the keel of the boat. If it was a grp boat I probably wouldn't bother.

 

Further to this, I need to add that the front wheels need to have inflatable tyres so it floats up under the hull and stays in place- not too much bouyancy as you have to sink it down to pull it up in the water.

I also should state that I do not row up and down the river with the wheels up as shown in the second pic. I have R-clips and pins for the front and rear assemblies so I take them off and pop them in the boat under the thwart. So the only molestation of the boat is the 8 holes drilled in the transom and the little mounting plates for the rear launching wheels, and the front padeye- which is stainless- so a bit dirty on a boat that only formerly contained brass, bronze, mahogany and oak.

 

The Myark trailer barge that has plug in torsions suspension, I was going to add a plug in hydraulic drive system allowing the boat to drive ashore, one set of torsion suspension floats of and is placed in the front boxes seen in picture to balance the load for land handling or motoring onto a surf beach to be towed further.
It can have three sets of torsion suspensions giving a trailer load of 6000 KG.
Sea legs design needs to be placed on a trailer to be towed further on land and the cost is triple and the load carrying capabilities are less, also needs more HP as the Myark trailer barge pictured has two 25 hp outboards, also can float much larger loads.
One day when have the $ it’s an easy project to finish.

 

amphibians

hello . there are some real craftsmen out there, I tend to loose patience and have rework and refining to do.hope to make some progress in new year, taking time to buy materials and fittings.

 

Over the holidays I was looking at a magazine from about 50 years ago. Popular Mechanics/Science, Mechanics Illustrated etc

Had an aluminum trailer/barge that you towed to the water-then drove the vehicle onto it, and used either an outboard or the drive wheels to move about.

So not much new under the sun.

 

Was this Myark folding trailer barge design around 50 years ago ?