Cirucumnavigation Boat Design Challenge For You

For a few years now, i have been dreaming about designing and building a vessel to beat the world record around the world in a powerboat. i have come up with a few designs and have made one that i believe will work.

She is about 90 feet long overall and 50 feet wide with a futuristic catamaran design. The main body, where a crew of 5 will live, is a teardrop shape and has a flybridge for when the weather is nice. I call this "the Nest". However, this is no ordinary catamaran. The two wave piercing hulls are only about 35 feet long and are center moutned along each side of the ship with two wings. The idea was to keep as much of the boat out of the water without use of hydrofoils because they have a limited top speed. And one more thing, the boat is solar powered. The record is to promote the use of alternative energies.

So i did it, can you?

I am challenging yous to
1) Tell me do you think this design will work,
and 2) can you come up with ship that can efficiently maintain a high speed, have a awesome top speed, run solely on wind (not sail or kite, use an engine) or solar power, and look like no other boat on the water.

i am excited to see what you come up with. and keep the hating of my design down if you don't like it, im only 14

 

Solar powered speed boat

"Executive Banana!?"

....For a few years now, i have been dreaming about designing and building a vessel to beat the world record around the world in a powerboat.

...90 feet long overall and 50 feet wide ... The two wave piercing hulls are only about 35 feet long...

....The record is to promote the use of alternative energies.

.... im only 14...

....Oh.... from the mouth of babes....

 

A number of issues...

1) Moving the hulls as far outboard as possible will greatly increase stability, and make it easier to contruct without harming wetted surface.

2) do the calculations to determin the amount of power a solar array that is 90x50' can generate. Assume no more than half the theoretical power will actually be produced.

3) take that number and divide it in thirds. One third will be used for running during the day, one third at night, and one third for ships systems and inefficiency losses.

4) figure out the weight of batteries needed to store the 2/3 of the power generated that won't be used as its created.

6) take the amount of propulsion power 2/3, divide it by 24 hours, and see how large the motors can be with that as your power limitation

7) add up all the weight of the above.

8) compare the weight of the ship to the weight of a comparable existing powerboat

9) look at the power that boat is using, compare it to the power you have available... Cry a little when you realize how little horsepower you have comparitively.

10) realize why powerboats aren't driven by solar panels.

11) investigate sailboats that are powered by renewable resources

12) start sailing

13) save the planet, and go faster.

 

EB; your speculative boat represents a commendable desire to think and to dream. The world needs visionaries.

That said, your idea is seriously flawed. Succinctly, it will not work. You have a considerable amount of learning to do before your inventions can become viable. Please continue to learn about physics, hydrodynamics, structures, and math. As stated above, we need visionaries.

 

http://proafile.com/magazine/article/around-the-world-in-584-days

 

Hmm, i see. i have seen criticism before and understand why you siad what you said. however, reading over the post i mentioned that the lenth of the hulls is actually more like 40 or 50 feet. the ship is in the concept phase and wont be seriously designed on a computer or something for a while. but that isnt the whole point. i have taken a whack at a design, and it will evolve before you see it floating your way in a few (quite a few) years. now its your turn. i want to see what outragous designs you can come up with. i find dreaming and designing fun, so if you find it fun to, show me what your dream boat would be, money no object.

 

Executive,

Start with power demands. Figure out how to power the thing, and everything else will be easier. But for now you are relying on the hope that there will be sufficient power, when in reality there isn't. Not even close. This has been done before, and it took almost 2 years to circumnavigate, because they didn't have enough power to keep the thing moving.

Compare this to the sailing record, which I think stands at 38 days.

To make a realistic attempt at this you need to first find a source of propulsion that can move a ship of this size at a reasonable speed. Without that you are doomed to a very, very slow trip.

 

Executive Banana:

Start with "How to Design a Boat" by John Teale. Simple math, lots of diagrams and pictures and everything is explained in enough detail that, if you know what you're doing, you could in theory design, build and launch your own small craft.

Also build a small boat- a small Uncle John's Skiff, Lumber Yard Skiff, etc- or buy a cheap on one craigslist and use it as much as possible to get to know what works and doesn't. I'd go with building myself to get aquainted with the processes; at 14 you may have easier access to cheap plywood for a bang together skiff than fiberglass works, but whatever you prefer, learn it inside and out.

At 14 you have the ability to take a direction you want to go and run with it. I wish I'd done the same; I'd been designing boats as a youngster and then I made the mistake of enlisting and throwing a kink in everything for the next 6 years.

 

My point being, learn the trade and put the horse before the cart, where it belongs

 

He is on to something about 'keeping as much boat out of water" and the small hulls &

large wings. (not that I can fathom what this might look like)



For these "world record" thingys, when does "a boat" turn into "airplane dragging a float"?


On similar note, for things like "human powered flight" is it illegal to fill the big wing with Helium?

What about a black heat absorbing skin and super fat wing?....during noon time record attempt of course.


I've always thought there should be SOME way to use lifting power of He or H2 with either a "wing sail" to inflate it to nice air foil or a 'self kiting' kite sail(its H2 filling would pull it aloaf).

Maybe an upside down triangle sail with H2 filling.

 

Banana, anything other than establishing your SOR for this craft is folly. To design an ocean going racer, capable of breaking records is a job for professionals, likely a team of them. This of course assumes you actually intend to break the record.

The multitude of concerns, in a project like this are tremendous and just can't be envisioned by a bench warmer (no offense intended) want-a-be designer. Even a soildly schooled professional will want to bring in specialized experts to handle the various conflicts and issues that will undoubtedly arise.

I'd be happy to take on a project like this, particularly the money is no object portion, but in reality, a team of designers and engineers would take quite a while, to develop a set of shapes and more importantly well suited systems, to best employ these shapes.

 

By money no object, i meant for your own, purely conceptual design. there need not be a professional AutoCad sketch or anything, just for fun. I wanted to see some creativity.

 

Bananas... you have to start making money to fund such a venture. Look at Richard Branson, Larry Ellison, and the like. They spent many, many years making tons of money so that they can have fun with their toys. A toy like what you are talking about is in the 20 million range. Check the last record solar catamaran. Everyone and anyone can dream, but if you want to do it, you got pay the piper. Good luck.

 

Lets see if I have this right, innovative, record beating concepts, discussed in a public forum and thousands of calculations in support of the equipment and design decisions, all on spec and in the public domain.