Rick Willoughby's V series boat plans

Hi there, i have looked through the long pedal boat thread but alot of the links are old and broken.

Ricks site is also off line and alot of the info seems to be lost in time.

does anyone have any plans for the v series boats?

 

Welcome to the Forum Tom.

I think you are referring to this thread?
Pedal Powered Boats https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/pedal-powered-boats.23345/page-147

Jamima Paddleduck (mentioned on the last page of the thread) is a very neat paddleboat, and the hull design is very simple.

 

Post #2203, the second last post has the link.
Not really what you're looking for.
Rick's design may not be available but it is dead simple.
I've built many like Rick's but for three paddlers.
What do you want to do with such a vessel?

 

Hi thanks for the replies but the post was asking specifically about Rick W's V series boats; from what i can tell from the posts and the openwaterbike website, they used to be freely available.

I am interested in high performance boats and id like to see how they designed the hulls. i ride performance bikes and i like to go fast.

 

How do you define 'high performance' for a boat that is human powered by pedals?

An optimised rowing shell with a 'round bilge' hull form that is the same length and breadth as the very simple Jamima Paddleduck will go a bit faster than Jamima, but not an awful lot faster.
And Jamima seems to scoot along very well with her paddles - I dare say that they seem to be more efficient than a 'conventional' circular paddle wheel at the stern.

 

i dont really know why we are having this discussion as this post is about Rick Ws boats, while your boat is interesting its not at all what i am looking for. would you barge into someones conversation in real life, change the subject and make it all about you?

high performance means extracting as much energy from the pedals and having as low drag as possible. i build my bicycles with this principle so want to apply it to a pedal boat.

just to reiterate so we dont have to go over this again, im am not interested in your boat.

 

Oh dear Tom.
It is not about me - far from it - and I have no connection whatsoever to Jamima.
All I am trying to get across to you is that the difference re 'high performance' between an optimised round bilge hull form, and a 'simple' hull form is going to be not a lot for the boat length that you are looking at, simply because the maximum speed attained by either vessel is not a lot to start off with, unlike your performance bikes, which can really shift when compared to an 'ordinary' push bike.
And with a pedal boat, it then all depends on how efficiently you transfer your energy (that you put into the pedals) to the paddles (or the propeller, if you go down this route, like Ian Cassell).
And I get the impression that the very unorthodox paddles employed by Jamima are probably more efficient in some ways than a conventional type of paddle wheel.

The ultimate (re design technology) is probably a rowing shell - and there are many examples of these on the internet.
Rick's boat is a bit like a rowing shell, re how skinny it is, hence why it needs the stabilising outriggers as a substitute for the oars.

 

I apologise i thought you pushing your own design on me. I am aware of all your points, but i am more interested in crank, right angle gearbox, to prop boat. I am still trying some designs out but it seems to me the most efficient and simple drive. I'm not trying to clone ricks boats but i would like to see the dimensions for interest. i want a boat i can push hard and sprint, but i can also pedal sensibly for some time. trying to make a fast boat is part of the fun for me. im not really looking for an all day tourer, but i could adapt to that later. i have ridden recumbent bikes in the past including some very low fast bikes. i found the position great for power delivery and actually very comfortable.

this thread isn't about critiquing the finer points of Jamima, i think its a cool design. but ill chip in anyway. it looks like a good drive but looks a bit lossy. too much long chain and changes of direction. as a cyclist i would like the smooth motion through the crank, but there has to be some pulsing from the paddles entering the water. i reckon there's probably a lot of refinement in the paddle motion possible, which already looks good, but the weight and friction must be robbing some efficiency. it looks alot more cumbersome, i need a boat i can transport with a small car. i think all these points could probably be refined and make a nice drive and boat.

i will probably start with a rowing scull before building anything myself, but i would love to have a look over Ricks plans. i am not sure if they were ever freely available or not, but i see people have built thier own versions.

 

Try Google and the search option on this Forum.
All the info you seek is here, but you'll have to track it down.

An electronically stabilized pedal-powered hydrofoil may better serve your purposes.
Start with a surf-ski, add a canard/strut with a couple of wings and you're away.

Good luck!

 

I'm not aware of Rick W ever publicly offering plans, but he is very helpful. I'd try contacting him directly, or through fb or Harryproa (Rob Denney's site). As Bluebell says, the boats (hulls at least) are dead simple. I'd have a look at Rob D's infusion methods on Harryproa if you want superlight, but an old rowing shell would certainly be a good place to start - experimentation and development will get you a more efficient boat in the end rather than busting a gut trying to build the perfect boat straight off (It won't be.) . Rick was going to offer a seat/drive pylon commercially, but the manufacturing deal didn't work out, iirc. In the meantime, Ricks YT channel has plenty of videos, and Greg Kolodziejzyk (adventures of Greg/ adventures of Greg and Helen) has some material on the record breaking boats Rick designed for them.

https://www.youtube.com/user/RickWilloughby/videos

adventuresofgreg.blog http://adventuresofgreg.com/blog/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEIbS5yuWVxWLtJoITKf8A/videos

 

I believe Rick Willoughby did sell folding props for HPBs, a while back. But I never saw anything about boat plans available to the public or for purchase. If you know which particular plans you want, he might send them to you if you can find a way to contact him directly.

Rick did the plans and maybe some of the construction for Greg's successful 24-hour distance HPB record. Rick employed an unsupported flexible shaft instead of a lower 90° gear unit which was similar to the ones I had already been using for a few years in my own one man boats. I should be able to find the video link about the unsupported flexible shaft in action, if anyone is interested.

"I'm not trying to clone ricks boats but i would like to see the dimensions for interest. i want a boat i can push hard and sprint, but i can also pedal sensibly for some time."

Hydrofoils are the way to go for brute Speed, maybe not so much for peddling sensibly. Maybe a folding, out of water (in/out of water) hydrofoil version would work for both things.

 

You need to separate the means of power - propulsion, the peddling and all the mechanisms involved with that - with the hull.

Speaking about the hull, per se.
There is "no magic" to it..it is simple a high length-displacement (LD) ratio hull - that is all.
RW was an interesting chap, but he didn't like reading books or theory and didn't trust something he couldn't produce himself. He trusted computer programmes with colours and numbers but not much else.
As such, he could be very cantankerous and truculent when questioned on his "ideas".

What he felt he "discovered", is nothing new, hydrodynamically....in the sense that the higher the LD ratio, the more slender the hull, the less power required to push it...as the wave making resistance reduces to minimal, and it comes to just simple frictional resistance. And at high LD ratios, the shape of the hull also becomes insignificant too. Endless R&D and papers, classic one from Molland, for example....or just search for series 64 hull forms and many others proving this time and time again... despite RWs protestations to the contrary.

Thus the biggest issue is that the higher the LD ratio...the hull is so thin (beam), there is not much to sit in.and the position of your body raises the CoG to make the hull unstable - hence small outriggers for the stability.
That's it..no magic.

If you can get your hull LD ratio to be anything from 10 and above.. you're doing very well...and then it comes down to the means of providing power and the most efficient method of doing so.

 

My understanding, perhaps incorrect, is as the length - displacement ratio increases the wetted area also increases. If speed is held constant then there is a length which has minimum total drag. If propulsive power is held constant then there is a length which has maximum speed.

Also with multihulls, particularly catamarans, the issue of wave interference between the hulls can become significant but I don't know enough about it to say anything specific.

 

This is ostensibly true for any vessel, not just high LD ratios!

When running at high Fns, the resistance is actually lower than an equivalent monohull, by as much as 50%.
Thus whilst the interface drag is an increase of between 10-30% of 1 mono v 2 hulls, however, if 'designing' a vessel, rather than pure research of just resistance, one should focus on the overall effect on the design.
In the sense that the amount of power for a given speed on a cat is less thus the engine is smaller = less weight so less fuel small drive train etc..., compared to a mono...

 

Likely, the OP just wants to feel like he's going fast.
I learned the difference driving my brother's Mazda Miata.
Not a really fast car but it feels like the fastest car on the road when you drive it!