Surface Drive For a fast Amphibious Vehicle

dinoa · Feb 23, 2018

Nice piece of work.

Bert Amphibious · Feb 23, 2018

Thanks I need to start a few new threads in different categories. Yep I have been looking at the Russian amphibious stuff. I haven't seen anything that Russian's have that is fast on both water and land yet. The Sherp is pretty cool.

I was in the O&G business for about 40 years I got to be a little creative in that field but I really wanted to do some of this marine stuff. I was too busy running O&G projects to do it until now. I didn't have the time to build and try the things floating around in my brain for over 40 years that I never acted on. Example this is surface drive design I almost patented in 1979 I came up with in 1973 as high school working as a mechanics helper in my dads gas station garage. I may still get around to patenting some aspects of it.
The design advantages are:
· Very cheap and easy to build. All plate and tube construction. No castings are required. Only a lathe and a welding machine is needed to fabricate item.
· Hull is well sealed from water leaks. Water has to leak through the bellows and through two grease seals to get into the boat.
· The bellows seal can be air tested for seals on dry land before going into the water. Multiple bilge and water leak detection systems can be used on in the bellows area. The bellows can even be changed underwater if needed and special installation techniques are used.
· Can run as a fully submerged prop or as a surface drive depends on application.

I am not out selling plans or kits for the single joint drive yet but Jake can sell you a modified version of one with his Mini Boat we have a hand shake on it. Boat in video is only 5.5 feet long and uses a 7.5 Hp motor from Harbor Freight with a tiny single joint surface drive guy in video is over 220 pounds and it ran about 30 mph. I should post it separately for him in a different category see TrackBoats.com.

I am in the process of building a big one to test on an Amphibious Car design.

myark · Feb 23, 2018

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

I have an Alpha unit I was looking at trying to make it jack up and down sort of like what you said. The issue is sealing the sliding marine Alpha or Bravo Drive to the hull and/or sealing the marine power shaft back to the Gearbox. I can set it up with a fixed elevation and try it then easily unbolt it slide the marine inboard/outboard up or down then reseal it and try it again.

I thought about extending the vertical shaft in the Bravo drive the one that slides through the water pump so that I could bring the marine drive shaft from my gearbox at a decent distance above the water line. That also got a little funny looking since when it trimmed up it would kick it out past the bumper/swim-platform. Also I am not looking at just building a one off design so I am trying a lot of different stuff.

I checked Bauman Marine (Houston company) If I do go with the Bravo Drive I would consider using one of their "Lifter" model props or something similar. Note the exhaust doesn't go through the hub but I can make it so air gets sucked down through the hub. Would like to consider an over the hub type prop like their lifter design.

I should have probably done a mission statement post first. I my still do one later. I went through the middle of Hurricane Katrina I stayed and was one of the *First Responders* and worked with the Parish with the flood recovery. Our little group did some amassing things fixing things like ferry landings in record time long before any National Guard help showed up. BUT I saw a lot of things that should have and could have been done better. The biggest thing that I saw was and still is that we are inadequately equipped to handle flood situations. A few amphibious vehicles would have made a huge difference.
There is more to my goal than building cool recreational toys. I know there is an overwhelming need for cost effective amphibious vehicles. I looked through countless hurricane flood pictures of police and other government agents in 4' wide x 14' long flat bottom boats getting rain soaked. The situation is like we were still using horse drawn fire trucks. Our police and first responders are ill equipped to handle flood situations.

Part of my mission is to get Utility Service Companies, Government Agencies and anybody to get amphibious specialty vehicles. If Power, Gas, and Water companies had a few Amphibious Workboat Trucks it would have made huge difference in flood responses. If gas or water piping loses pressure, ground water can contaminate the piping and then the piping needs to be purged or flushed out. If the leaks can be isolated right away it can save weeks even months in the recovery process. An amphibious workboat tool truck could be used to help in the initial rescue and evacuation process while scouting out and handling the easy leak repairs and debris clearing.

After the initial rescue and evacuation process they would have a real head start on getting the utilities up and running and getting everybody back in their houses. In addition the amphibious tool trucks could be used on a daily regular basis even when there isn’t any flooding. A small group of amphibious tool trucks would be a real money saving service for the Utility Companies. The Utility companies cannot send customers a gas, water, or an electric bill if they do not have any utility services. Amphibious Workboat Tool Trucks can make and/or save the Utility Company’s lots of money, is great PR, makes the customers much happier, and shortens the flood recovery process BIG TIME!

It would be helpful if the police, FEMA and/or anybody had a few fast amphibious vehicles to help in the medical evacuation and response effort. Again cost effective amphibious vehicles are possible please watch my videos
and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=XR002A-Sg24 don't be afraid to pause the video and take the time to read the inserted messages. Again please visit my website AmphibianMotors.com my e-mail is bert@amphibian-motors.com please contact me and I’ll fill you in with more details. Can you help promote the concept to the Utility Companies and the Government Agencies?

There are a few other people that make amphibious vehicles so it is not just promoting me. It is getting government and people to acquire better resources to serve the public better. FYI an old used rescue helicopter cost about $9,000,000 and cost about $1,000 per hour to run (if you just rent it it’s about $5,000 per hour). A fast amphibious 4 seat car from WaterCar (google WaterCar Panther) cost $172,000 which sounds like a lot. However, for the cost of one old used rescue helicopter you can buy 52 brand new amphibious cars that can run 40 mph in the water. Note I feel I can design and make larger easier to service flood rescue specific design 4X4 amphibious tool truck chassis/hull for less than $172,000. Also please google Gibbs and CAMI as well. CAMI sort of has a version designed for flood rescue which could be adapted for a workboat utility truck. So where are all the amphibious vehicles????

The amphibious vehicles need to designed to be used on a regular basis. There are few old LARCs out there given to local government agencies (Police/Fire) with flat tires, dead batteries, and bad gas that are not ready because they cannot use them on a regular basis. The police cannot use an old WWII DUWK to patrol the streets and Wildlife & Fisheries cannot use one to petrol the waterways. A utility company could possibly use something like a fast street version of a slow water DUWK (equipped with hydraulic arm with a hydraulic chainsaw and push knees) . I was and am going for something that was fast on land and fast on the water. Something that somebody like a park ranger around here could patrol both the camp grounds and the associated waterways. Yes a daily driver!

Please help pass on the message; there is a problem and the solutions are being ignored. It seems that neither the Boating community or the Automotive community wants to build amphibious vehicles both act like it no big deal and that it has been done. Really???? NO NOT REALLY. Ask yourself where are all the amphibious flood rescue and recovery vehicles???????? Hell where are all the amphibious tender boats on all the nice big Yachts???
Click to expand...

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

I have an Alpha unit I was looking at trying to make it jack up and down sort of like what you said. The issue is sealing the sliding marine Alpha or Bravo Drive to the hull and/or sealing the marine power shaft back to the Gearbox. I can set it up with a fixed elevation and try it then easily unbolt it slide the marine inboard/outboard up or down then reseal it and try it again.

I thought about extending the vertical shaft in the Bravo drive the one that slides through the water pump so that I could bring the marine drive shaft from my gearbox at a decent distance above the water line. That also got a little funny looking since when it trimmed up it would kick it out past the bumper/swim-platform. Also I am not looking at just building a one off design so I am trying a lot of different stuff.

I checked Bauman Marine (Houston company) If I do go with the Bravo Drive I would consider using one of their "Lifter" model props or something similar. Note the exhaust doesn't go through the hub but I can make it so air gets sucked down through the hub. Would like to consider an over the hub type prop like their lifter design.

I should have probably done a mission statement post first. I my still do one later. I went through the middle of Hurricane Katrina I stayed and was one of the *First Responders* and worked with the Parish with the flood recovery. Our little group did some amassing things fixing things like ferry landings in record time long before any National Guard help showed up. BUT I saw a lot of things that should have and could have been done better. The biggest thing that I saw was and still is that we are inadequately equipped to handle flood situations. A few amphibious vehicles would have made a huge difference.
There is more to my goal than building cool recreational toys. I know there is an overwhelming need for cost effective amphibious vehicles. I looked through countless hurricane flood pictures of police and other government agents in 4' wide x 14' long flat bottom boats getting rain soaked. The situation is like we were still using horse drawn fire trucks. Our police and first responders are ill equipped to handle flood situations.

Part of my mission is to get Utility Service Companies, Government Agencies and anybody to get amphibious specialty vehicles. If Power, Gas, and Water companies had a few Amphibious Workboat Trucks it would have made huge difference in flood responses. If gas or water piping loses pressure, ground water can contaminate the piping and then the piping needs to be purged or flushed out. If the leaks can be isolated right away it can save weeks even months in the recovery process. An amphibious workboat tool truck could be used to help in the initial rescue and evacuation process while scouting out and handling the easy leak repairs and debris clearing.

After the initial rescue and evacuation process they would have a real head start on getting the utilities up and running and getting everybody back in their houses. In addition the amphibious tool trucks could be used on a daily regular basis even when there isn’t any flooding. A small group of amphibious tool trucks would be a real money saving service for the Utility Companies. The Utility companies cannot send customers a gas, water, or an electric bill if they do not have any utility services. Amphibious Workboat Tool Trucks can make and/or save the Utility Company’s lots of money, is great PR, makes the customers much happier, and shortens the flood recovery process BIG TIME!

It would be helpful if the police, FEMA and/or anybody had a few fast amphibious vehicles to help in the medical evacuation and response effort. Again cost effective amphibious vehicles are possible please watch my videos
and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=XR002A-Sg24 don't be afraid to pause the video and take the time to read the inserted messages. Again please visit my website AmphibianMotors.com my e-mail is bert@amphibian-motors.com please contact me and I’ll fill you in with more details. Can you help promote the concept to the Utility Companies and the Government Agencies?

There are a few other people that make amphibious vehicles so it is not just promoting me. It is getting government and people to acquire better resources to serve the public better. FYI an old used rescue helicopter cost about $9,000,000 and cost about $1,000 per hour to run (if you just rent it it’s about $5,000 per hour). A fast amphibious 4 seat car from WaterCar (google WaterCar Panther) cost $172,000 which sounds like a lot. However, for the cost of one old used rescue helicopter you can buy 52 brand new amphibious cars that can run 40 mph in the water. Note I feel I can design and make larger easier to service flood rescue specific design 4X4 amphibious tool truck chassis/hull for less than $172,000. Also please google Gibbs and CAMI as well. CAMI sort of has a version designed for flood rescue which could be adapted for a workboat utility truck. So where are all the amphibious vehicles????

The amphibious vehicles need to designed to be used on a regular basis. There are few old LARCs out there given to local government agencies (Police/Fire) with flat tires, dead batteries, and bad gas that are not ready because they cannot use them on a regular basis. The police cannot use an old WWII DUWK to patrol the streets and Wildlife & Fisheries cannot use one to petrol the waterways. A utility company could possibly use something like a fast street version of a slow water DUWK (equipped with hydraulic arm with a hydraulic chainsaw and push knees) . I was and am going for something that was fast on land and fast on the water. Something that somebody like a park ranger around here could patrol both the camp grounds and the associated waterways. Yes a daily driver!

Please help pass on the message; there is a problem and the solutions are being ignored. It seems that neither the Boating community or the Automotive community wants to build amphibious vehicles both act like it no big deal and that it has been done. Really???? NO NOT REALLY. Ask yourself where are all the amphibious flood rescue and recovery vehicles???????? Hell where are all the amphibious tender boats on all the nice big Yachts???
Click to expand...

Hi Bert
Great to see ingenuity on boat design
View attachment 138689 View attachment 138690 View attachment 138689 View attachment 138690 View attachment 138689 View attachment 138690

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

I have an Alpha unit I was looking at trying to make it jack up and down sort of like what you said. The issue is sealing the sliding marine Alpha or Bravo Drive to the hull and/or sealing the marine power shaft back to the Gearbox. I can set it up with a fixed elevation and try it then easily unbolt it slide the marine inboard/outboard up or down then reseal it and try it again.

I thought about extending the vertical shaft in the Bravo drive the one that slides through the water pump so that I could bring the marine drive shaft from my gearbox at a decent distance above the water line. That also got a little funny looking since when it trimmed up it would kick it out past the bumper/swim-platform. Also I am not looking at just building a one off design so I am trying a lot of different stuff.

I checked Bauman Marine (Houston company) If I do go with the Bravo Drive I would consider using one of their "Lifter" model props or something similar. Note the exhaust doesn't go through the hub but I can make it so air gets sucked down through the hub. Would like to consider an over the hub type prop like their lifter design.

I should have probably done a mission statement post first. I my still do one later. I went through the middle of Hurricane Katrina I stayed and was one of the *First Responders* and worked with the Parish with the flood recovery. Our little group did some amassing things fixing things like ferry landings in record time long before any National Guard help showed up. BUT I saw a lot of things that should have and could have been done better. The biggest thing that I saw was and still is that we are inadequately equipped to handle flood situations. A few amphibious vehicles would have made a huge difference.
There is more to my goal than building cool recreational toys. I know there is an overwhelming need for cost effective amphibious vehicles. I looked through countless hurricane flood pictures of police and other government agents in 4' wide x 14' long flat bottom boats getting rain soaked. The situation is like we were still using horse drawn fire trucks. Our police and first responders are ill equipped to handle flood situations.

Part of my mission is to get Utility Service Companies, Government Agencies and anybody to get amphibious specialty vehicles. If Power, Gas, and Water companies had a few Amphibious Workboat Trucks it would have made huge difference in flood responses. If gas or water piping loses pressure, ground water can contaminate the piping and then the piping needs to be purged or flushed out. If the leaks can be isolated right away it can save weeks even months in the recovery process. An amphibious workboat tool truck could be used to help in the initial rescue and evacuation process while scouting out and handling the easy leak repairs and debris clearing.

After the initial rescue and evacuation process they would have a real head start on getting the utilities up and running and getting everybody back in their houses. In addition the amphibious tool trucks could be used on a daily regular basis even when there isn’t any flooding. A small group of amphibious tool trucks would be a real money saving service for the Utility Companies. The Utility companies cannot send customers a gas, water, or an electric bill if they do not have any utility services. Amphibious Workboat Tool Trucks can make and/or save the Utility Company’s lots of money, is great PR, makes the customers much happier, and shortens the flood recovery process BIG TIME!

It would be helpful if the police, FEMA and/or anybody had a few fast amphibious vehicles to help in the medical evacuation and response effort. Again cost effective amphibious vehicles are possible please watch my videos
and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=XR002A-Sg24 don't be afraid to pause the video and take the time to read the inserted messages. Again please visit my website AmphibianMotors.com my e-mail is bert@amphibian-motors.com please contact me and I’ll fill you in with more details. Can you help promote the concept to the Utility Companies and the Government Agencies?

There are a few other people that make amphibious vehicles so it is not just promoting me. It is getting government and people to acquire better resources to serve the public better. FYI an old used rescue helicopter cost about $9,000,000 and cost about $1,000 per hour to run (if you just rent it it’s about $5,000 per hour). A fast amphibious 4 seat car from WaterCar (google WaterCar Panther) cost $172,000 which sounds like a lot. However, for the cost of one old used rescue helicopter you can buy 52 brand new amphibious cars that can run 40 mph in the water. Note I feel I can design and make larger easier to service flood rescue specific design 4X4 amphibious tool truck chassis/hull for less than $172,000. Also please google Gibbs and CAMI as well. CAMI sort of has a version designed for flood rescue which could be adapted for a workboat utility truck. So where are all the amphibious vehicles????

The amphibious vehicles need to designed to be used on a regular basis. There are few old LARCs out there given to local government agencies (Police/Fire) with flat tires, dead batteries, and bad gas that are not ready because they cannot use them on a regular basis. The police cannot use an old WWII DUWK to patrol the streets and Wildlife & Fisheries cannot use one to petrol the waterways. A utility company could possibly use something like a fast street version of a slow water DUWK (equipped with hydraulic arm with a hydraulic chainsaw and push knees) . I was and am going for something that was fast on land and fast on the water. Something that somebody like a park ranger around here could patrol both the camp grounds and the associated waterways. Yes a daily driver!

Please help pass on the message; there is a problem and the solutions are being ignored. It seems that neither the Boating community or the Automotive community wants to build amphibious vehicles both act like it no big deal and that it has been done. Really???? NO NOT REALLY. Ask yourself where are all the amphibious flood rescue and recovery vehicles???????? Hell where are all the amphibious tender boats on all the nice big Yachts???
Click to expand...

Hi Bert
Well done
I have attached a friend Terry Roycrofts amphibious idea in the early days before Gibbs Aquada - Gibbs Amphibians http://www.gibbsamphibians.com/platform/aquada/ arrived at his place by helicopter and purchased the design from Terry, Your design has great potential because of the speed and low cost.
Well done

OCB · Feb 24, 2018

jorgepease said: ↑

I don't understand all the connection stuff but if you can connect to an outboard type drive then why not use outboard type jackplate, Bobs or Portabracket. The Bobs will get you about 6 inches of travel and the Porta 17-21 inches. A heavy cupped prop by Baumann marine will let you tuck the prop up under the bottom of the boat in a tunnel or just channel the water back so you get a hump back there where you need it.

I have run through 1.75 inch deep water with no problem on my flats boat, prop does slip a bit when it's way jacked up but I don't think you are talking to that extreme.
Click to expand...

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

Dear Boat Design Net I am going to build an 8’ wide x about 27’ long amphibious chassis/hull about 7200 pounds. This is NOT my first amphibious project please watch my video. I got up close to 40 knots in the water on my first amphibious prototype design and it was fast on land too.

My first amphibious design used a Berkeley 12JCA water jet pump. I would have thought the Wildlife & Fisheries agents around here would really like the jet drive system for a Flood Rescue type vehicle. Turns out our local agents are strongly opposed to jet drives for flood rescue service. They said no way because of the floating debris that we had after Katrina. They also said that they liked the first prototype design and were impressed BUT it was TOO small.

So back to the drawing board to create something that the Agents would really want based on some of their input. Building an amphibious mini RV sized FAST amphibious vehicle has lots of design challenges and you have to make some compromises with both the marine hull design and the vehicle design. The wheels will be fully retractable same as the previous design in order to get on plane. I have worked out most of the land running suspension problems. In fact I can make it 4 wheel drive and four wheel steer with fully retractable wheels. (DONE IT)

Now when we are talking about marine surface drive systems I need a little guidance. Based on the various transfer-case type gearboxes that I have already built I can just about run any marine drive system desired (Jet drive, Mercruiser in/outboard, or surface Drive (similar to Arneson)). In order to be able to trim up the marine prop drive system better for land use I am looking at running a raised ventilated prop. I could run a raised Bravo with a ventilated type prop design or an Arneson like surface drive with a ventilated type prop.

I am interested in using a large single screw Surface Drive similar to an Arneson Surface drive except it would be powered through an automotive type automatic transmission feeding one of my custom Transfer-case gearboxes. I also have a neat cheap robust surface drive design using a “Single Joint drive” it again is my own design. Already tried a small one on a tiny 5.5 foot long boat with a 7.5 Hp motor. It got on plane with a 220 pound guy so the design concept works well. Thrust is carried through the shaft through the joint and to a bearing box at the transom. As far as operation it is similar to an Arneson.

The hull chassis is sort of a ventilated step hull. The hull has a small step just behind the rear differential that allows air as well as some trapped water at the start to be sucked out from the closed in section of the wheel wells. I am running a 3 speed transmission I am leaning towards running an oversized ventilated Prop about 16” OD x 14” pitch. Target speed about 35 knots with a 600 plus HP motor. I am even thinking about trying a bigger more aggressive pitches and lower rpms to make it a little easier to get it started. Would love to see examples of boat set ups that would make me a little more comfortable about getting way too far out there. If you guys make me too nervous about heavy weird hulls with surface drives I may just punt and go to a fully submerged prop on a Bravo drive with about a 36” long 3” rear step in the hull behind the rear differential.

I can see this discussion topic going off in many directions if it gets off the ground. I live in the New Orleans Area. Right now looking for resources and suggestions. I have seen a couple heavy workboat type hulls about 35 foot that ran surface drives any of you guys out there? (maybe an oyster boat with a surface drive)
Click to expand...

Very nice project! I like your idea of designing it as part as the everyday service fleet. The LS with TH 400 and 205 gear case is boom proof. You can spit the power from the LS-7 you can run two surface drive at the speed. In low range you can spin a big prop slow.

I also like the design the idea of your single joint drive? What kind of joint do you use?

OCB

Bert Amphibious · Feb 25, 2018

Yep *OCB* I like the NP205 Transfer Cases easy to modify so that output shafts operate independently. I also like that you can get them in a divorced case style and do the same that way a short input drive shaft is used and just about any engine/transmission can be connected to the input. Also I designed and made my own Adapter so that I can take a standard NP205 that is mounted to a transmission and turn it into a divorced case. The machining isn't to hard just a few hours on the old Bridgeport Mill using the boring head.

I built a small prototype single joint surface drive with a Spicer 5-170x U-joint and partially built a bigger one with a 1350 U-Joint. I am looking at trying to get a 1410 U-Joint into a Mercruiser #6 U-Joint Bellows.

FYI I also went one step way beyond past that I built my own custom gearbox divorced style Transfer case using NP205 gears. Added a few more output shafts. It weighs just a touch more than a regular NP205. It is also a two speed case but on one side it has an input 1350 U-joint Yoke and two 1350 U-Joint output yokes. On the other side of the case it has three outputs (shafts are common shafts run through the box) The shafts can be run High neutral or Low). I can run 4 wheel drive, marine drive and a PTO for whatever. It is shown below without the 8 pattern Bolts.

Squidly-Diddly · Feb 25, 2018

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

I am Working/Helping a buddy of mine with that exact effort for a couple of years. Company name is Track Boats website needs work http://www.trackboats.com/ He had some issue with somebody with the Navy jumping ahead of him with a patent which stalled his efforts. We were running his prototype on public waterways here which is also near a Navy Base (Navy Base even has a fuel dock on the same waterway). He was also towing it uncovered on public streets and people were stopping him and asking about it. That was several months before the Navy base guy got a patent which looks just like Jake's running prototype. The Navy guy has free government attorneys at his disposal and they can fast track patents. If nothing else the Navy patent should be considered worthless since he patented something that was already out in the public domain, It ran faster across the grass than it did in the water but it also seemed like if we did a little more belt position tweaking it was on the verge of really getting up and moving. The main target market was the duck hunters. It would just about guarantee that they could make it to a duck pond and still get home without getting stuck. For Police, Fema, medical evac, and Wildlife and Fisheries I think they need something that can run on the streets on a daily basis to be worthwhile. View attachment 138671 View attachment 138672
Click to expand...

interesting, IIRC the jetski VS snowmoblie contest physics was about the greater AREA of the tread VS the pump inlet.

Got a number of the Navy patent? I'm pretty sure similar stuff was at least thought about long ago, so a general patent would be worthless.

OCB · Feb 27, 2018

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

Yep *OCB* I like the NP205 Transfer Cases easy to modify so that output shafts operate independently. I also like that you can get them in a divorced case style and do the same that way a short input drive shaft is used and just about any engine/transmission can be connected to the input. Also I designed and made my own Adapter so that I can take a standard NP205 that is mounted to a transmission and turn it into a divorced case. The machining isn't to hard just a few hours on the old Bridgeport Mill using the boring head.

I built a small prototype single joint surface drive with a Spicer 5-170x U-joint and partially built a bigger one with a 1350 U-Joint. I am looking at trying to get a 1410 U-Joint into a Mercruiser #6 U-Joint Bellows.

FYI I also went one step way beyond past that I built my own custom gearbox divorced style Transfer case using NP205 gears. Added a few more output shafts. It weighs just a touch more than a regular NP205. It is also a two speed case but on one side it has an input 1350 U-joint Yoke and two 1350 U-Joint output yokes. On the other side of the case it has three outputs (shafts are common shafts run through the box) The shafts can be run High neutral or Low). I can run 4 wheel drive, marine drive and a PTO for whatever. It is shown below without the 8 pattern Bolts.
Click to expand...

Bert
Some time ago I have work with the 205 on 4x4 trucks with big tires. We got a kit to add a 208 transfer case to get lower then the 1.96 stock low range. Now I use the atlas transfer case is much lighter then the cast iron stock one. Lots of gear ratios.
Atlas Transfer Cases | Chevy Transfer Cases | Advance Adapters http://www.advanceadapters.com/categories/atlas-transfer-cases/234/

I am working on almost the same idea of a short surface drive. I started with bravo gimbal housing to use the steering and trim for less manufacturing cost. I designed a new type universal coupling to stay away from the U joint the is to small in the bravo drive design.

I have been working on more outputs for my transfer case as well. How many outputs in your T case have. I have a old Vemco case from the 1970's with 2 froward 1 to the rear.
vemco 4x4 - Google Search https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=676&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=UPOSWtavD8eOjwOxhpHQBg&q=vemco+4x4&oq=vemco+4x4&gs_l=psy-ab.3...2710.4142.0.4523.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.l0H3jFXFqyo#imgrc=x-z_s0WDAWp9tM:

OCB

kach22i · Feb 28, 2018

Bert Amphibious said: ↑

Yes I knew David Carambat. I visited him about 9 months before he died; he never really got over the death of his wife. I wish I had met him much sooner. I spent a whole long day at his place climbing on his stuff. He was going to help me with some drafting (excellent drafting skills with a good eye for design) but his health was an issue Do you know what happened to his stuff?
Click to expand...

I think his Facebook account is still active, that's how I heard he had passed, the news hit me in the nads even though he was just a forum and e-mail buddy. Someone was talking about cool uncle David with all of his great inventions, and similar to you my first thought was like yea- what's going to happen to all that cool stuff now? I'm assuming it went to auction or some of the relatives have some of it. He knew he wasn't in good health for a while, hopefully he planned his legacy well as was not in denial. Try poking around Facebook maybe you can turn something up.

When my aunt was sick she said she was going to beat it and didn't make a plan-B (a will) for her son and her assets. I think the state got more that he did.

Your design has a couple of really strong points lacking in similar attempts, it has size and it sits low enough for over the side rescue operations.

Keep up the good work.

Bert Amphibious · Feb 28, 2018

Thanks for the reply. Lets's share info if we find out anything more.

Nikola Webster · Mar 4, 2021

Hi there,
Not sure if you know this or not, but you can ride the original amphibious cars. The ones that Hans Trippel, a German designer, created. The Amphicar Model 770 debuted in 1961. The vehicles were produced in Germany by Quandt Group and available to buy from 1961 to 1968. Production stopped in 1965 with 3,878 produced, of which 3,046 were imported into the U.S.
The only place in the world where you can ride them (unless you own one) is at Disney Springs in Florida: Amphicar Disney Springs - The Most Unusual Attraction • https://britonthemove.com/amphicars/
Also, Mount Dora in Florida has an amphicar festival every year where many owners come and display their cars on the water.
You should check it out if you are into amphibious cars; the history alone is fantastic. Riding one - WOW! Enjoy - Nikki

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Surface Drive For a fast Amphibious Vehicle

dinoa Senior Member

Bert Amphibious Bert Amphibious

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OCB Senior Member

Bert Amphibious Bert Amphibious

Squidly-Diddly Senior Member

OCB Senior Member

kach22i Architect

Bert Amphibious Bert Amphibious

Nikola Webster New Member

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