Would You Consider Sailing, But Without Sails?

I agree with the idea of a system exactly as you describe for a cat, I just think that the losses in transmitting the power from the windmill to the propeller would be too great, I could be wrong though.

Steve.

 

Can the Gougeon Flettner rotor be built up in a conical shape to distribute the weight more uniformly across the top deck.

in addition have suspension mounted hull to harness wave power and improve stability on deck for disabled recreeants.

 

Sailing boat on youtube that use Kites do exist

@tembero

I came across several types of sail boats ranging from small dingy to large catamarans that had large kites that pulled them along and it seemed to work well.Basically there is small mast the kite is held onto and the steering the kites ropes are held to the mast with crossbow set up .Some the boats were hydrofoils and would go fast
sorry I haven't the links will supply tonight or next night


If you wanted to do a windmill Gougeon Flettner I would suspect the best is a catermeran with a large circular track .For example if the boat was on reach with wind ion starboard side and the wind vanes on starboard side the base of the wind mill would be fixed to port side with some sort of gears to drive the propeller going from port side to middle of the circle with the shaft then to prop under water to drive it forward . Being a circle track then the system will always rotate around to catch the wind from every direction but needless to say might be lacking in speeds when going dead down wind . Also the track system might be heavy and complex not sure ??

I dont know much about suspension system cats other than a motor boat cat exists but it looks complex heavy and expensive so i suspect there will not be any useful power harnessed from that idea But i could be wrong

mobhaid

 

@mobhald

haha, yes I see. Cutting out the middleman, does this work?

I was presuming to charge a capacitor/battery and have a electric propeller, I replied through curiosity but still an engaging topic nevertheless.

From a sportmans perspective driving the boat through mechanical means only sounds a reasonable challenge, maybe a little pedestrian, but that wasn't the ideals on how this thread was initiated was it?.

The suspension hull, my mind will not rest at ease. All those waves, all that movement, surely many practical uses.

I have attached an image of the concept, please feel free to feel offended by my appalling artistry.

 

Nodding duck for electric production

@tembero

The only electric power production that I know of that is efficient is the Nodding Duck solution diagram below

The anchored nodding duck rises and falls the lighter end with incoming waves to the shore side so tends to be set to prevailing direction of the incoming waves .The blunt end the waves are nearly nothing as the nodding duck has harnessed all the power .However extra tall waves can over turn the nodding duck so electric motor power has to be used to return the capsized nodding duck back to correct way up to start to go back to work again

It might be possible to rig a nodding ducks together to front a boat hull that will harness the waves to drive it along ,However it would i think probably work best going into the waves rather than going with the waves and pretty sure it could not work going sidewards to waves

I cant see from the diagram that was supplied post #49 with many moving sections how they will supply power as the natural tendency will be for all the sections to go into median position and stop generating power probably from excessive friction . It sorta like a car driving down a unpaved rutted road at ~30MPH the shocks tend to stop moving much as they get into the rut frequency that means that shocks dont move so much

However I could be wrong no harm in throwing out different ideas

 

I think a challenge could be the only way forward for any ideas such as this. Definitely a way to bring minds together to solve problems, and prove whether it could be done or not.


Does anyone want to build this yet?

 

presently

Although my location is registered as Poole this is jumping the gun a little, I live in London and best access to watersports in general is a pedallo on the local duck pond.

But I will soon have the arena for method, and will be very interested in all aspects of boating.

I have plans to build a sailing dinghy, and novelty and innovation will not have need of a back seat.

Nevertheless, whilst in London I can do my appearance good by avoiding shining the bright, Earthen-founded lights of a land-lubber!

 

Thats not a valid assumption imho. First, though they used 20 HP of motors, you have no idea how much of the available HP they used to cover the distance.

There are no solid stats to make any sensible assumptions.

A recent calculation by a qualified NA, works out that the rotors should produce a worthwhile saving on fuel


"The resulting rotor is 1.0 m diameter, 5.1 m high and turns at 390 rpm. It should require around 5-5.5 HP shaft power for turning it, which is a nice saving when compared to 9-10 HP required by the propeller (according to the boat resistance curve)."


http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/pr...lettner-rotor-project-50587-4.html#post691203

That, and historical reports indicate that rotors produce useful savings.