Generic Advice For New Boat Designs and Designers

Saqa,
I think it works ok, maybe some times a thick skin might represent a skill that enhances completion of a project.
The old time Fijians might well have the advantage of generational knowledge, island communities, extended families to guide from a long past of building with available materials & importance of fishing to live to a high performance craft fit for purpose.... on the other hand we can have conventions of design process giving similar but differently.............

Looks like you're doing fine Saqa.

All the best from Jeff

 

Extreme HomeBuild Example

I found a link courtesy of Pericles about the perils of uneducated design.

In this case, it would first appear bad oar design caused a near tragedy.

Originally located at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...laminate-flooring-wire-coat-hangers-glue.html

"The men set sail from the Essex coast yesterday for an Easter fishing trip using the craft, which was made by cobbling together insulation boards, scrap plywood, laminate flooring, wire coat hangers and stuck together using silicone glue.
But just 200 metres from the shore at Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea, the men ..... were left stranded when one of their oars snapped and they had to be rescued by an RNLI crew.

.....

But despite the eventful rescue, the pair have already made plans to return to the sea in a new boat after lifeboat crews destroyed their original creation."

But - close look at the design reveals that the paddles used would have been no match for a cumbersome, unwieldy and unseaworthy design.

The Rescuers smashed the boat to bits on recovery - no doubt annoyed at being called out due to the boys inexperience.

 

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity" R. A. Heinlein

 

I think they should be nominated for the 2015 Darwin Award.

 

Unfortunately you have to die to be nominated

 

The "Maxwell Smart Award" then ... for folks who "Missed it by that much!"

 

It doesn't look such a bad boat to me and it was a first attempt at boat design. Not so easy to build a boat with £9-00 worth of materials. From the information available it would seem that the only part that failed was the oar which looks to be one part that was professionally designed and manufactured!

 

Charge the buggers with wilful destruction of property, imo, how dare they smash the boat to pieces ! And especially considering it was the oar that failed, seemingly, not the wonderful boat.

 

The oar broke not because it was badly made - but because it had too much pressure applied for its design load.

That tub of theirs would have been impossible to control against waves and wind - tons of pressure when their paddles were designed for lightweight plastic canoes.

When they got swept out 5 miles offshore, and not been able to be seen by rescuers in fog or rain, it would not have seemed such a lark.

 

So, with one oar broken they only have one oar in the water.... how appropriate!

 

Nothing wrong with that design, just poor choice of propulsion. It's all foam and one sheet of thin ply - unsinkable. 200 m offshore is a near tragedy? Lads on a lark and it's a serious topic for a boat design forum?

 

They called the Royal Lifeboat Service, so no, it wasn't 'a lark'.

200 metres in an outgoing tide is 30 minutes from being visible from shore in such a small boat - and did you notice not a life jacket between them. Could they swim ? Sure, the boat was unsinkable, but not even a grab rope around the edges for numb fingers after 15 minutes

Oh - and typical hypothermia times to unconsciousness and drowning is less than 60 minutes in British waters

http://www.useakayak.org/references/hypothermia_table.html

 

And don't forget drowning from cold water shock.

 

And then there are the Great Whites and Moby Dick! THE Daily Mail? You mean the DM that would rather have Princess Diana dead than alive? The king of yellow journalism? But for the want of two good paddles, even the DM wouldn't have made it a story. Now, monkeys flying out of my arse.....

 

You try hard Yo, but it IS newsworthy. I note you didn't try to refute the perils of the cold north Sea this time - but if the Coastguard has to spring into action then the story behind it is always news.