Project

Hi,
I have been assigned the task to complete a final year project in university on boat design. This can consist on some aspect of testing to produce a finished boat which will have something different and satisfy the examiners. I am looking for some good suggestions what i can base my project on. I am doing an engineering course and would be very grateful of help. Thankyou

Sarah

 

Sarah,

Good luck. it's easy to think of unsolved problems, but they are probably mostly too hard to get done in a year. That's why they are unsolved. For example, there are many strength calculations that are done more or less by rule of thumb because an exact engineering calculation is too difficult. There are some threads on this board that discuss that sort of thing. Another would be to find a better alternative than an outboard as auxillary for a small sailboat.

I correspond with a lot of amateur designers and builders, and they have many open questions. It would be interesting to see what you could do with these. Mostly this group uses plywood panel construction with glued ply lapstrake as second choice.

The most common question is what kind of plywood to use. There are questions about species, as well as grade. In recent years, some builders have used Medium Density Overlay as an alternative to marine ply. It's only a little cheaper, but it's more readily available to many. It would be interesting to know if it is really as good, whether it makes sense to sheath it with 'glass/epoxy or if staturating the paper covering is just as good, and whether the paper should be removed in way of a structual joint.

It would also be interesting to develop a scantling table for construction using ply sheathed on both sides with 'glass in epoxy. (Most builders only use sheathing as surface protection. One designer uses the sandwich construction, but he developed his own scantlings which he keeps proprietary.)

Epoxy is the current resin of choice for use with plywood. It works wonderfully, but has problems with allergies, and it is expensive. Investigation of alternatives to epoxy would be interesting.

Which brings us to glue. There are many new glues out there. Many seem to be waterproof, but have cautions about use below the waterline. A little published experimentation would be interesting. Among of the most popular here in the USA are PL Premium and Gorilla Glue.

A technique that has a new popularity for amateur spar construction is called the 'birdsmouth' technique here in the US. It was patented in the UK years ago as the"Nobel" (or Noble?) spar. If you look into it, you might be able to come up with an improvement, or make some other helpful contribution. Amateur spar construction in general may be a fruitful area. We don't have generally accepted methods for building spars of fiberglass or carbon, or for building wing masts, or rotating masts. Crossbeams for multihulls fall in this category too.

Keel construction is a problem for amateurs. "Melted lead" is a concept that strikes fear in the hearts of many, not just Koko. And the placement of keels on twin keel boats is a difficult problem. Also twin centerboards or leeboards; should they have asymmetric shape, or toe-in? End plates and wings on keels and rudders could stand some explication to the novice.

Ideas in sailplans come and go. Marchaj published some comparisons that suggested that the 'crab claw" rig was the best for a 3rd world fishing boat. That's a controversial conclusion that could be revisited. Actually, just improving on the current generation of spinnaker sock could make you some money.

Some high tech boats are moving away from metal rigging to high-strength synthetic fibers. Plenty of room for experiment there.

Need more?

SeaDrive

 

Here is an idea for you , design a boat constructed from recycled plastic rather than wood, and a uv protectant coating to prevent breakdown from sun exposure, there seems to be more use of plastics in boats today as they do not rot like wood, with the proper air mixture they can be made lighter than wood and you will be helping the environment, as I said its just a thought but who knows could be a good idea.

 

Another load of ideas:

Sailboat power is often inefficient (small prop, high revs). The Campbell propeller(http://www.westbynorth.com/) suggests that improvements are possible.

Electric boats have a following, but implementation is surprisingly tricky once past the trivial. AFAIK, Phi Bolger is the only one to make his design process public (Lily design). Steam power has a following too, but probably not a future.

Anti-roll schemes for powerboats have room for improvement. Maybe that's one of the 'too-hard' problems.

Multihull recovery from capsize has had some development, but is not yet well-accepted.

Flotation schemes to keep swamped monohulls (e.g. racing J-24's) from sinking could be useful. Perhaps an active method (e.g. inflating air bags).

The movement to open boating to the disabled is gaining ground. Designs for wheelchair access, etc would be welcome.

Phil Bolger has also designed some small boats with no distinction between cabin and cockpit (Birdwatcher design). It suggests that major reconfigurations in use of space are possible. Also points out that protection of crew from exposure is primitive in most small boats and could be improved.

The use of kites as sails is gaining a little ground; a development area.

A careful analysis of the advantages/disadvantages of a heavy centerboards in small sailboats might be interesting. (In other words, I don't think they make a better boat.) In general, an analysis of crew size vs speed could be interesting. (In other words, I think that many boats have too much crew, and the weight holds them back.)

 

The idea about recycled plastic is excellent. Finding cheaper and better core material would be of value.

 

My personal pet projects include a diesel Yacht tender to eliminate the need to carry gasoline to power the outboard on the tender for a diesel boat. There are diesel power tenders for large Yachts, but nothing is available for small tenders that fit on most boats.

Another idea is a small continuous duty DC generator. The idea is to make a
Very small DC diesel generator (i.e. an engine and an alternator) that meets your steady state power requirements and use the battery bank to meet the peak power demands. Since the engine would be very small you could use the unused space to provide a sound proof enclosure and it would be very quiet. Combine the DC generator with an electric outboard and you have an auxiliary for a small sail boat.

Regards;
Mike Schooley

 

Gerritsma et al. have developed formulas for optimum values of LCB and the prismatic coefficient, but is there an optimum shape for the curve of areas? Does it depend on LCB and CP?

 

The Fletnner Rotor.

1912 German invention for power generation - now sadly forgotten.

Electricity generating wind parks, on the coast, seem to cause some public resistance. Why not design a ship/boat/structure - perhaps like a lighthouse ship, that fitted with the Fletnner Rotor, could be used to generate electricity - and have the capability to be moved to different locations.

 

Re the power generating ship:

Mark, I thought the Flettner rotor was an alternative aerofoil rather than an alternative windmill. But there have been plenty of vertical axis windmill designs, they just have not been as successful as the horrizontal axis ones.

Agree that if we have to have windmills as well as/ instead of nuclear power and/or solar power it would be preferable aesthetically to have them well off shore rather than on our beautiful coast line. I expect there have been many studies of this, one was by a Phd student at UCL London who was contemporary with me. His design was an anchored floating platform banana shaped in plan view with a row of horrizontal axis wind mills mounted on it.

The anchoring of such a large floating platform is one aspect which needs close attention. Also, I believe that techniques for planting individual piles into the sea bed have been made better and cheaper in recent times so this seems to be the preferred method, at least in the fairly shallow waters where off shore windmills are now being proposed.

John

 

john - I believe you are correct - the Flettner Rotor is an aerofoil - I will have to re-read the article - I thought they stored electric power to use in wind stills? -

Anyway, the thought of blade-windmill power-generators swaying to and fro on a barge in a swell makes me see-sick! Besides, the Flettner's aren't going to strike birds.

I wasn't thinking so Mega either - more like one of the German North Sea lighthouse ships - the ones with the sailing-ship hulls.

 

Foiler Revolution

Sarah, cnsider doing some work to investigate the application of hydrofoils to larger sailing monohulls. Currently, the Moth and I14 have been sailed and the Moth raced very successfully using just two hydrofoils. Not much current stuff on the engineering or technology behind these remarkable boats. Could this technology be applied to larger boats with ,say, a canting keel? There is a revolution happening in sailing design with small monohulls; will it spred to larger monos? Will it change the accepted speed hierarchy and put foiled mono's ahead of "normal" multihulls? See the October and November issues of Seahorse for some inspiration. There is also a builder of foiling Moths in the UK and several Moths(and an I14) with foils in country. You could compare the multi foilers like Hydroptere, Scat, Spitfire ,the Hobie Trifoiler and the Rave which all use three foils to the new monofoilers
which use just two.. Cool stuff and a new frontier in sailing (and engineering) just waiting for your help! Good Luck!

 

Suggested project

Develop Research on what women want in a sailboat. Define the unique challenges for sail boat design for the women's market.

Few women buy boats when they do they buy power boats. Why?

The answer to that question is worth a pot of gold. Women in the USA are the last untapped market. (They have the money)

I you decide to do the project I can help. I have done reseach design.

Bob

 

metacenter

Hello Sarah, ironically i just posted a reply to a very similar question, simply put... i had suggested a study of the metacentric center of gravity and it's effect on stabillity and safety.
any student project that produces info that could save lives or improve safety at sea should definately earn some extra brownie points, plus it shouldn't be to hard once you understand the principle of it ( it is the center of gravity that moves up down in relation to displacement ). good luck in all that you do, have a great day.

Patrick M.

 

If you can answer this it will end an age old argument. What proportions or types of lines produce a sweet looking hull?

 

Cruising Boat Design

Come join our discussion on twin keels. There is some very interesting subject matter coming up here for very practical use on cruising sailboats..... as well as stability, seakeeping, rigging questions et al. And there is a need to seek out past studies to add to the discussions, as well as a need to perform some relatively simply side-by-side towing test maybe.

I think this idea merits a lot of thought (sure makes sense), but I'm affaid it doesn't fit in with your engr studies