Floating through the sky boat with wheels?

....this sounds like a Beatle's song.

With the same inspiration,perhaps?

 

No wheels and you can only submerge it once. It also needs gasoline to fly but its as close as I could find. Its the Beardmore Inverness seaplane. It had retractable masts and sails in case of engine failure or fuel shortage.

 

Interesting contraption...
Retractable sails are definitely much more environmentally friendly than PV panels and battery banks.

 

Hey everyone, I've decied that I won't reply to this thread until I am in the Coast Guard and at least know a little bit more of hands-on knowledge about boats, because there are just too many questions.

Love,

~ColorsWolf

 

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/all-things-boats-and-boating/random-picture-thread-11052-344.html

 

Yes, but the craft that Didier described to me seemed to be more substantial than the one shown in this picture. It carried crew members (I don't know how many), had an auxiliary petrol engine and carried provisions for an intended trans Atlantic voyage. Perhaps, in view of the failure to cross the Atlantic, the team kept a bit quiet about it, hence the lack of information available from the internet. Although it did not cross the Atlantic it did cover a considerable distance and it would be interesting to know more about it, perhaps someone here can tell us more.

 

Hello Slavi,

Completely serious set of answers coming up:

First: a few young people did make a very light catamaran in the 1970's and flew it as the gondola under a hydrogen ballon across the Atlantic. The balloon did fail and they spent some time in the cat, which was essentially a fibreglassed polystyrene core. They wrote a book about it.

Second: these craft you describe exist already. Flying boats. Often made of wood.

Third: You cannot have your cake and eat it. That is, it cannot be olde worlde hand-carved timeber and still light enough to fly. But it can be a superlight facsimile. Think about whether you are trying for an image, or to actually do The Hardest Thing.

Fourth: Radical ideas work, sometimes. I invented a landsailer that is a cross between a windsurfer and a unicycle. It made the press here - several times. Problem was, it's very hard to ride! No prizes for working that one out ahead of time, huh!

Fifth: Consider something I invented many years ago. Imagine your craft is suspended from a large paraglider - the kind already proposed for large ships. Now imagine that your craft also is 'anchored' to the ocean by a heavy panel that acts as a parachute in the water. You now have the ability to be a kite. Last step is to have the ability to steer the panel through the ocean, just like the keel of a yacht. It's the same principle of effort and resistance, and it's what kiteboarders do already on a tiny scale.

Good luck, think big. At the very worst, you'll become a wise mariner with stories of failure to rival anyone else's. I mean that positively.

 

wow, this is the best post yet. the CG is going to like this kid a lot. with a mind like his he'll make it big.

Outlaw

 

A year of day to day procedural details with safety the priority will provide good balance to the free creative ideation.

 

Let the guy have some fun, sure as nuts reality will come crashing in soon enough. Meantime, here's a hammership

 

like the hammership. now that would be a great liveaboard with a few changes.
the guy above on the bike now that's funny.

Outlaw

 

Hey Outlaw. The guy above on the bike - that's me.

In fact this idea was not new. I had a patent search done ten years ago in London. It's out there. Just - well, as I pointed out, it's like trying to ride a unicycle and a windsurfer at the same time, I think.

On the other hand, on paper it is highly efficient and I did have some success with the two prototypes. The third will need to be CF, because it's been stiffness that's been lacking.

Some details for anyone who's interested and would like to build one, perhaps by remote collaboration. I'll describe it:

First, a complete decription: its a single wheel with a big frame acting as a hub, as a place to put my feet, and as a mounting point for the mast. It achieves low friction with the earth through the single wheel, it can be steered by moving the CoE back or forwards about the CoR (like a standard sailboard), it can ride over much larger objects or on sand by virtue of the single soft large-diameter wheel, it packs up VERY small (slightly bigger than a bicycle wheel) and, I theorise, it is capable of stunts that would not be possible with a heavy or clunky attachment like a sailboard, landyacht or big-wheel skateboard.

The wheel is from a mountain bike, has a fat tyre and a double-wall rim (for stiffness). The spokes are removed. The valve is sunk into the rim, so the whole of the inside of the rim is flush.

Then a frame with four shaped rollers is placed inside the rim. This acts as a big hollow hub. The rollers roll on the inside of the rim and are shaped to fit the rim. So the result is a big hub with a flat bottom part that I can put a foot on.

The result so far is a single wheel that I can 'step into' and, holding the frame, roll away with. EXCEPT it requires the balance of a unicycle, front and back.

Now the sailboard mast attaches to the front of the frame, at a place where the frame extends forward past the frontmost part of the wheel. This resulted in a choice:

Prototype 1 had the mast attached again further up, at a second point of the frame that extended forward. This tied the mast firmly to the frame/wheel. Meant that a lot of balance could be achieved even at standstill, by moving the mast front, back, left, right. And theoretically, at speed with a full sail of wind, this would be easier (compare balancing stationary on a sailboard in a choppy sea, with beating in the same sea. Big difference)

Prototype 1 twisted too much though. I'd made the frame out of plywood - very good, strong plywood, but it was just not up to the leverage of the mast.

Prototype 2 went for a mast that could move freely, attached only to the bottom of the frame. This is the one that the press liked, and was shown on national TV a few times. But, there is no doubt that this is the one requiring balancing skills beyond us humans. I even attached a big wooden chopped-down waterski to the bottom of the frame as a kind of 'training wheels' effort, a few inches above the ground. No good.

So now the next one, prototype 3, will be a CF version of 1. I have bought the CF and just need to make the frame. All the other parts can be cannibalised from Prototype 2, currently hanging from the roof of my workshop in Wellington, New Zealand

If anyone wants to have a go, PM me and I'll send plans, photos etc of all the versions. Perhaps we could develop variants and then combine the best parts. I'd LOVE to have a small thin attachment for my sailboard on hand always, for when the sea is no good for sailing but the wind is pumping. Maybe this needs to be open-source, huh?

Meantime perhaps I'll have version 3 up and running soon - I need practice with CF anyway

 

I like it. very cool. great job on it. thanks for sharing.

Outlaw

 

Update: Coast Guard said they were full,

so I tried Air Force: they basically shelved me (took my application and intentionally forgot about me) took me awhile a few months to realize they weren't interested no mater how often I asked and they said "they would try",

so I seriously considered Army for a time,

but before I went with the Army I wanted to see what all my options were so even though I knew almost nothing about them I walked into a Navy Recruiting Office:

about 1-2 weeks later and I became an "official" U.S.A. Navy Sailor!~ ^_^

I am currently in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) with many other Recruits, we all have our own dates as far as I know, I signed my contract and swore the oath exactly on August 21, 2013 and I start basic training exactly on February 13, 2014!~ ^_^

My future chosen Rating (Job in the Navy): Aerographer's Mate: expert in meteorology and oceanography, my job will be to study the sky, the weather, and the ocean and how they all interact with each other.~

This is extremely beneficial news to me: one of the greatest Captains in history was famous for being able to predict the weather, needless to say these areas of study would be extremely useful to a sailor.~

I was actually talking about Robert Faulkner from Assassin's Creed 3, but it seems he wasn't based upon a real historical Captain...or was he?~ ;D

http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Faulkner

A homage to Robert FitzRoy, any one?~

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy

An Aerographer's Mate is a rare Rating to get in the Navy, according my Rating Listing sheet revised 10/12: there are only 1,300 in the Navy.~

I suspect I may have qualified for it with my ASVAB score 92 (I was actually surprised at how high it was and at the same time I wasn't as I had worked hard for 5 months to prepare for that test) and other scores (coding, etc.).~ ^_^

With over 4 months to prepare for basic training and my "A" School (as I have been told them send you immediately to "A" School after basic training), I train and study every-single-day, I've lost weight, gained muscle, and honed my body and mind further than before.~ ^_^ (I just can't stop smiling right now)

I've started planning for living a life where most of my things I can carry on my back and I'm not unwilling to go minimal and/or old-school (like no refridgerator old-old barrels food storage kind), so I plan on building from that, and see where I go.~

More updates eventually, maybe after "A" School.~

Thanks!~ ^_^

 

stuff to read:
http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/articles#military

eat, lift. Remember to be a good person and respect human life. cheers.