Revolutionary Portable Boat

Hello!

I developed and patented, in 1997, a personal aquatic vehicle, that can easily become a multi-user boat. It competes directly with kayaks, canoes, skiffs and indirectly with jet skis, pedal boats and any other vehicle of same size. Due to its maneuverability, it creates new concepts of watercrafts competitions. It is the most portable of all small aquatic vehicles.
Bic sport made a kayak (yakka) with the same concept and design, but it didn´t reach the real revolutionary essence of my vehicle. Yakka even won the Paddler´s Pick for innovation award from Paddler Magazine - January/February 2006!
The royalties rights of my patent are limited to Brazil, where I haven´t been able to produce it due to lack of money and support, because in this country it is easier to break the inventor and take away his patent.
Anyone interested in producing the concept of my patent outside Brazil is welcome to do so.
This forum is intended to debate my invention and, maybe, encourage its production.
If anyone is interested in dominating the Brazilian market, please contact.
Additional information about the project and my email can be seen on:

http://www.vapera.pop.com.br/proj/vamoe

Thanks for your time.
Cesar

 

Olá César,

Lots of creativity... but I have some doubts.

Regarding the blue one, with two separated modules, I don't think it will be very practical. When rowing you put on the paddle not only the strength of the arm but of all body, including the legs, but for that you need to be on a solid platform.

About the other drawings, some of them look more interesting to me, but you don't have a continuous hull and that is going to take a lot of speed from the kayak.

Of course I am sure that can be solved.

the biggest problem to solve, seems to be that all that connections are going to be under a lot of stress and have to be very solid and that will be probably expensive....or maybe not

 

the concept is ...er...interesting and in certain environments extremely inovative and sensible. River lake crossings etc. especially from the explorer / military point of view spring to mind! It's the sort of casual vessel that would have a use in either an emergency or were you don't expect to see or need a vessel (ancient Persian soldiers crossing a river on inflated goatskins spring to mind - but that's just me!)

Other than the casual / occasional use I can't see much use for it but you never can tell, and I'm sure the carriage of one in some otherwise unused corner of whatever would certainly prove useful but maybe not as a rescue vehicle? ........there again.

 

As Vega says, any connections will be under a lot of stress since the individual elements are not balanced, hydrostatically speaking. the blue one especially looks like the stern section will just up-end, dumping the "rider" into the water.
Steve

 

It looked to me that the person in the video was paddling like the clappers and not getting very far. Possibly due to the water turbulance between the front and rear sections.

As previously mentioned a solid base would be better.

The only advantage as you have mentioned is the storage space.

I have an inflatable which is sluggish, so the slim solid craft seems to be the way to go.

Maybe you should for storage, look at the same principle as pre-stressed concrete. Manufacture your kayak in solid polyurathane, in four sections that interlock. Pass a stainless steel cable down a hole in the centre, attaching it to a tensioning screw at the end, something like a turnbuckle.

Tension up the cable holding the sections in position. Same advantage as a solid kayak with the benefits of the storage.

 

Hi, Vega
Thanks for your analysis.
The blue one was the first I designed and it was only a concept, I tried to reach a minimal volume without any prototype. Today I know it is a deficient design, not that it doesn't work, but it's not the best design.
The beam that connects the modules can be very rigid depending on the material and the cost (titanium, for instance). There is no loss when rowing or paddling it , because the beam is always of rigid material (aluminum, glass or carbon fiber, ABS plastics and any other material with great resistance to flex and tortion, because flex and tortion do cause loss when rowing), and to make a skiff model it would be necessary to attach a structure to hold the shaft of the oars and for the sliding seat.
For a better understanding of what I’m saying, all you would have to do is get an old kayak, cut it in two, attach a beam to it (the shaft of an oar or paddle, for instance), with a flat sheet/foil on the edges - to avoid axis tortion - and fulfill the parts of the kayak with expanded polyurethane. Some shaping on the parts of the kayak will make it look similar to the models of the page.
This boat can be foldable, so the beam can have several ways of being bent and or disconnected.
The drag of it is minimal, because the turbulence zone made by the first module (front) “sucks” the second module and, in case you would like to make it like the model I made that bic copied, the drag almost disappears, but with that model there is a great loss in portability, which was the main reason that took me to develop it.
The drawback in performance is minimal, and I believe that if you consider the portability, attachment and multifunction advantages, it should not be taken in consideration, except in speed competitions.
In slalon competition, kayak polo and other modalities that require maneuverability, the front module can pivot, which will give more maneuverability. And even not pivoting, it is more maneuverable because the space between the modules reduces the side drag.
Thanks for your time!
César

 

Hi, Safewalrus
The “strange” design is because it is a novelty, it´s a matter of getting used to it, even I had to pass through this!
As a rescue vehicle, the advantage is in its portability, it can be taken any way to any difficult place to reach. To assembly it, you would just have to unfold it and “clip” the beam (less than 5 seconds). This along with the possibility of being propelled by motor provides a terrific speed in rescue. It could easely replace a sit-on-top, with all the advantages I listed above.
I believe its great advantage is, with additional parts, it can became other(s) vehicle(s), like showed on the images posted by Vega.
And keeping in mind that who lives in small places and or has difficulty to transport a boat will be able to enjoy a good paddle, row, pedal or motor boat.
Thanks for your time!
César

 

César, I like the idea, and from those drawings, the one that looks better to me is the yellow kayak.

I cruise in the summer in an 11 m boat and I have thought many times of taking with me my sea kayak. It would be very nice to explore the shores and seaside with it while the big boat is on anchor...but it is just not possible, it would hamper too much the deck of the sailingboat and in bad weather it could even be dangerous.

I have looked to the inflatable kayaks, but they are very expensive and I would have to inflate and deflate them each time I sailed.

So, I like your idea, and I think that you should concentrate in three points: Inexpensive, low volume and stiffness. I agree that max. performance is not what matters here.

Regarding the yellow one, you could do without less volume and it would be nice if the two pieces could be made in such a way that the two could fit together, forming one single solid piece.

If you manage to produce such a craft at an inexpensive price, tell me, I will be interested in having one.

Boa sorte

Paulo

 

Paulo,

Thanks for the incentive.
I can develop that design, but I would like to remind you that one of the prototypes of expanded polystyrene (EPS - Styrofoam) of my site follows that philosophy - it's the one on the coincidence page.
Some of the designs of the diverse models page follow that idea in a more harmonic way, because the fitting between the modules is only necessary at the water line, to increase the hydrodynamic and eliminate any turbulence. But in a vehicle with a bigger space between the modules the loss in performance is minimal, because like I said before, the front module "sucks" the back one, and even to attach a paddle wheel the space is necessary. Since I am prioritizing its multiple uses, I avoided much development on the concept of fitting modules - I only made the prototype with that concept because one with a more daring design used to "scare" people.
I think the design of the last model of the diverse models page (image below) is the most daring one and I can assure that since I've already paddled a similar one, even with the side fins (of the movie clip), there is no perceptive loss in performance and the design... is my favorite.
In terms of price, a model produced, in large scale, in EPS can cost 1/6 of a normal kayak.
Anyway, I already registered your preference and suggestions and hope to contact you soon with good news!
Nice cruisings and...
Boa sorte para você também.

César

 

Today's strange will be futuristic ackowledgement in days ahead, keep on the good work.....

 

Sorry, but to me this sounds like complete nonsense. What do you mean that the turbulence of one module "sucks" the second module? Have you done any drag measurements or are you just hoping that the flow will behave in the way you would like it to?

 

Hi, Wellydeckhand
Thanks for your words!
César

 

Sorry, I can't change the physical laws, but you can modify your way of studying physics or you can practice physical exercises like water races, always using the vacuum of the person swimming in front of you. If you don't know how to swim or paddle, you can do the same in bicycle, car or motorcycle races or even tracking (always using the vacuum). If you can't do any of that, you can, on a windless day, throw up in the air some feathers and make fast moviments with your hands close to the slugish falling feathers, and observe its behavior (remember, this has to be done in a place without wind or you might still think physical laws are nonsense!). If with all that you still can't understand the physical laws that are ruling... going back to school would work?

 

Vapera,
I suggest you check out this page and then maybe post again.
http://directory.boatdesign.net/detail/127.htm
Steve

 

Hi, Steve

We have reached an impasse, because what I wrote is a fact.
I am not aware of the technical terminology of hydrodynamics in English, but I have all the know-how about my project.
I designed and developed the vehicle, I know almost everything about its behavior and, specially, I invented it. Mr. Lazauskas never studied this concept and judged it without that know-how, and maybe he would have patented it if he had thought of it, because even though the human beings have been navigating on water for more than 30,000 years and invented side-connected floaters/hulls (catamarans) more than 3,000 years ago, no one thought about making a longitudinal connection. Inventions are good to make us re-think the paradigms and to give us new possibilities.
By the end of the 19th century, the idea of a vehicle heavier than air flying was “impossible”, because the learned of that time had already calculated everything and concluded that that idea was aerodynamically impossible, until either the Wright Brothers or Santos Dumont proved the contrary.
The atomic structure is still not defined, but scientists, every now and then in the last 100 years, insist that they have reached the “indivisible” part of the atom.
Academics have information regarding all the calculations, formulas, algorithms, etc. acquired through empirical tests. Analysis of pattern and variants of behavior lead the academics to those equations, that obviously won’t work if all those patterns are extrapolated by new concepts. New empirical tests and researches are needed to reach new academic truths.
From now on the interested ones will be able to analyse the behavior of the vehicle and then write, with know-how, about the hydrodynamics of segmented hulls, because the designs are there, it is only a matter of making the vehicle. This would contribute to make this vehicle reach its excel.
I would like to suggest a test to ease the understanding of the behavior of the vehicle. One should get an old kayak, cut it in two, attach a beam to it, with a flat sheet/foil on the edges - to avoid axis tortion - and fulfill the parts of the kayak with expanded polyurethane. Some shaping of the parts is necessary, then connect the two parts the same way as in my drawings. One will see that drag is minimal, that the “vacuum” made by the dislocation (the space that the water opens due to the occupation of some object) of the front part sucks the rear part.
The only real way to analyse anything is testing it. Tests in vitro and simulated by computer are not enough, because the variants of the real world extrapolate (too much) all those controlled environments.
Inventions are usualy repressed and discredited by the status quo, until the status quo starts to profit from it.
Time will tell if what I invented it is bad.

César