easy floater

The theory being there’s no physical law saying one man couldn’t build a nimitz class carrier single handed, given time and resources, its all in the details.

This concept is for a 30' class boat that could be driven to the ramp and launched in under 2 minutes.

With only the prime mover to park.

Agreed some performance might have to be sacrificed but what’s more important, speed on water or time on water?

First we do away with the trailer, build the boat to be its own trailer, with wheels that once in the water swing up above the water line and the tongue would pivot up along the stem.

This is just to get the idea rolling, I'll have more to add.

 

I'm with you, use the tires as fenders and drive the wheels

with a winch (just in case you want to have the boat haul itself up the ramp and a little ways on dry land without any PrimeMover).

Are you thinking motor or sail?

 

that could work

after i posted i had an idea, the bow spirit could pivot down to be the trailer tung.

im thinking sail as that presents the greater challenge, and what would work for that would work for power

 

Why not a prime mover with a tilting bed like the trucks that haul roll-off construction dumpsters, only lighter, perhaps on an extended 1 ton truck chassis? You've eliminated the trailer, and the boat doesn't have to carry its wheels and tongue along to hinder its performance.

 

if you could afford that you could afford to keep it at a marina

 

roll on's are expensive

this is for the average weekend sailor with limited time

 

But there are a number of lakes and waterways with no available marina space, or no marinas at all, yet having ramp access. These waterways are often the most scenic and least crowded, and therefore desireable for cruising.

 

narwhal, I don't think the angle would work, too steep

coming off the trunk, even if you backed the truck into the water as much as possible.

Plus, you still need to lower the bow with a cable, just like a debris-box.

Lumber trucks will do actual "drops". They just let the whole load drop after the tail end is sitting on the ground.

Also, I think the general idea is to avoid any dedicated new vehicles.

I can't imagine using a general purpose dump-truck to launch a boat, especially a 30 footer.

Do about 30mph in reverse, then hit the brakes hard, stopping just short of the end of a deep water dock?

 

All good points.

 

to add these features to a boat i dont think would add much to the structure, just at certain stress points

the difference between a fully aerobatic airplane and a normal small plane is not that much it would be the same for this boat after if it can travel on a trailer it could travel on its own wheels just a matter of design details

 

another idea i had was to make the extendable keel with a square tube with aluminum ribs that slide up and down it with cloth of some king forming the shape, sort of like a cloth covered airplane wing when extended

when the spar is retracted the ribs slide and the cloth folds, there could be a recess in the hull in which it folds

the fixed tube for this could also serve as the mast step saving room below

 

Why would you want to burden a design with this level of limited necessity. All boats are a difficult set of compromises. Add increased complexity and convolution to yet another set of concessions, toss in some extra weight and lack luster performance as a result and you have the precise definition of a water pig. Possibly a very cleverly engineered pig, but a pig none the less, with an extremely limited market to boot.

 

It's not what you don't know that creates most problems.

Its what you know that ain't so.

These have been built for a long time and none have been more than curiosities. But, have at it and maybe you will provide the breakthrough. That is, a boat that will meet all restrictions for the highway as well as a car that will be a good and safe boat. All so far have been barely adequate road vehicles and very poor boats. Some fortunes have been expended. Of course, that can be said of many boat builders and dreamers.

 

Why even have to park the prime mover?

I've seen this boat come to our local beach. They park up the ute and trailer inthe car park then drive the boat off the trailer, down the ramp and off the beach into the sea.

 

The underlying boat can still be designed to compete with other boats with what im talking about removed

I spent most of my working life designing and making tooling and my philosophy was and still is make it simple make it adaptable and most often it had to able to be converted in short order for different parts and back

thats the idea im bringing to this concept start with a simple boat but design into it the ability to accept assorted attachments ie wheels and a way to attach it to a prime mover

all of what im talking about here can be lifted out of the way for a day of sailing or removed for extended stays in the water and your back to a basic boat

the dimensions would be about 30 feet long by 8 feet wide and under 13 feet tall, highway ready

I now design and build my own farm implements and my first approach is to find what I’ve already made and see if I can adapt it to do the new job without changing it in a way that it cant still do the original job and I’ve come up with some rather good stuff

thats my concept here start with a boat design that does what a boat is designed to do then see what modifications are needed to perform the new function without changing the way its able to perform the original function

in a way its more complex of course, but the complexity can be removed back to its simpler form

the compromises would come in its secondary modes not its primary modes in that maybe you’ll only be able to pull it at 40 mph and not 65.

As for the keel is it more complex, yes, am I sure its practical no, but it’s a complexity of very simple parts and I have seen the concept used successfully in other circumstances