4 Wheel Drive Boat - looking for builder

To Submarine Tom

The steering doesn’t have to be as severe as a car requires (not trying to curb park between cars).
I think one 4 wheel drive vehicle (maybe Suzuki) used rubber blocks instead of U joints to transfer power to the front steering wheels.
I think this might be good enough?
But in any case I’m assuming a low power transfer requirement (per wheel) and lower shock loading considering that it’s driving against water rather than pavement.
Proper geometry is easy but proper power distribution – not so much.
In any case it’s not the Indy yet and it can certainly run circles around a hovercraft.
And again because it’s not the Indy articulating might be just fine?

Caterpillar steering however is the easy way to go.

 

I freely admit that a certain amount of power has to go into simply lifting the boat/vehicle out of the water.
A 550 lb. boat requires a continuous 32hp to stay above the water.
At low speeds the lift/drag ratio is nothing to write home about (until you get to maybe 35 mph or so).

When you’re going 90+ mph it’s a different story.
The only other type of boat that can keep up is the planing hull (with a lot of HP). At this speed you may still have a 5:1 L/D ratio on the planing hull itself (not good to start with) but the propeller efficiency is going to degenerate considerably.

The Planing Wheels (given that the blade angle can be adjusted on the fly) will still extract the 32hp required to keep it out of the water (this never changes) and use any additionally power to drive small packets of water backwards to drive the boat forward and overcome the air resistance which is all that’s holding it back.

And it’s amphibious once it hits the beach it leaves the planing hull in the dust, so to speak.

 

Yawn... lets see it go...

-Tom

 

. . . and likely it's paddles . . .

 

Perhaps "hits the beach" was a little over the top. How about moves on to the beach.
Anyway I'm arranging a lake test; everyone in their parkas for a day at the shore.
Might have something to show in a week or 2.

 

Standing-by...

-Tom

 

Not in the same category as far as versatility, but how would a hydrofoil's demands (to keep out of water) compare is a question I wonder about?

Porta

 

Well the idea does work, and has been done before (maybe 2003 ish). I have seen a 4 wheel motorbike (Honda big red I think) built with wheels like this, although they were fabricated from steel so it could be driven around on the shore as well

 

I've never seen a steel wheeled 4 wheel? motorbike. I'd love to see a picture.

Portacruise I don't understand your question about hydrofoils?

 

The wheels looked almost exactly the same as your wooden ones but were made of steel. The theorey behind the design was exactly the same, it was either a masters project or a PHd project. I dont have any pictures as it was a few years ago that I was last at the university. Initially it didnt have enough power so they ended up supercharging it.

 

I'm no patent attorney but this basic idea has been floated (pun intended) around for many a year. Maybe the paddle angle is patentable but the idea of driving on top of the water supported by revolving wheels of some kind has been in the public domain for decades at least. The usual proposal is large balloon tires with enough flotation to support the thing. I'd be surprised if one has not actually been built and tried.

 

This is close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gAEoEGYfDE

 

Yes Ron, there are dozens like that. Its a wonder the OP has not seen them. A good search is the absolute first thing to do before spending time on reinventing the wheel. Another pun.

 

My patent app. is based on efficency among other things. If I can't exceed the lift to drag ratio of a hovercraft then the value of the patent will be diminished!

 

Is this what your describing?

http://www.procycledepot.com/AMS_SIDEWINDER_REAR_ANGLED_V_PADDLE_SAND_ATV_TIRES-8-10607-92575.html