Kotaro Horiuchi book on boat design

[Guru]

I'm not sure whether this is the right place to post this message; if not, kindly direct me to the right forum to post it to.

Since the last couple of years, I have been translating during my spare time, Mr. Horiuchi's book in Japanese, "Locus 1" (I'm sure you are aware that Locus 2 has already been published). I have finished about 6 chapters out of 22 in the book. The translated chapters have been read and approved by Mr. Horiuchi. I will release a chapter or two after obtaining his permission to all those who are interested in a preview of a chapter.

Mr. Horiuchi has retired and is leading a quiet life; I discuss the nuts and bolts of the chapters with him from time to time as I proceed with the translation.

Each chapter in this book contains sketches, photos, design data, test results and so on, on the design of the following:
Sailboat, Hydrofoil, Eight, Airboat for water and snow, Sled, Underwater sightseeing boat, Airboat for rescue, Airboat for swamps, Catamaran, Hi-Flex planing boat, Deep-V planing boat, Row boat, Sleds for leisure, Snow bike, Wasen (Japanese fishing boat), Seaweed harvesting boat, Power boat, High speed rescue boat, Paddle wheel climber, FRP Scull, Motor sailer, Lines and Surfaces.

I am wondering if I can take the liberty of:
1) Conducting a survey in this forum or other forums to have a rough idea of the number of persons who would be interested in purchasing the translated version of this book
2) Asking for suggestions/recommendations/advice for funding the translation project (translation -- layout -- publication -- distribution)

Any suggestions/advice/recommendations/brickbats gratefully accepted. I will try to monitor these forums, but please send a Cc: to honyakusha@gmail.com as well.

Regards,
Guru
honyakusha@gmail.com
Ex-Naval Architect/Technical Translator

 

[Rurudyne]

Sounds cool.

Q: what is a paddle wheel climber or should there be a comma somewhere in there?

 

[Petros]

sounds like an interesting book to study. I would be interested in reading the chapter, if not the whole book. It is not likely a book like this would sell a lot of copies, so be aware that your efforts may not results in much finacial pay back, but done for the sake of preserving some aspect of boat design.

As for funding you might go to a crowd funding site and offer advanced sale of the book for "investors". one of the largest for international projects is Indigogo (not sure of spelling). setting up a funding page is free, you pay a hefty fee to the website after you reach your funding goal.

good luck with the project.

 

[Ad Hoc]

You can try Prof Umeda at Osaka Uni or Prof Ikeda at Osaka Prefecture Uni for possible funding/translation services. I have proof read several papers by Prof Umeda in the past.

As for who would buy it..is another matter...could be a few could be thousands. All unknown.

 

[tom28571]

I am always interested in books or other material on designs, particularly those that speak about or offer different views. Not interested in a coffee table tome though.

 

[Doug Lord]

I have Mr. Horiuchi's book "Locus of a Boat Designer 2" and thoroughly enjoy it. I'd be interested in the new book at some point. What a great and innovative man!

 

[messabout]

I would be interested in such a book, sufficiently so that I might buy it if the price was within reasonable bounds.

 

[Earl Boebert]

if all else fails I'd look into publishing through Create Space.

Cheers,

Earl

 

[Skyak]

I'm not sure whether this is the right place to post this message; if not, kindly direct me to the right forum to post it to.

Since the last couple of years, I have been translating during my spare time, Mr. Horiuchi's book in Japanese, "Locus 1" (I'm sure you are aware that Locus 2 has already been published). I have finished about 6 chapters out of 22 in the book. The translated chapters have been read and approved by Mr. Horiuchi. I will release a chapter or two after obtaining his permission to all those who are interested in a preview of a chapter.

Mr. Horiuchi has retired and is leading a quiet life; I discuss the nuts and bolts of the chapters with him from time to time as I proceed with the translation.

Each chapter in this book contains sketches, photos, design data, test results and so on, on the design of the following:
Sailboat, Hydrofoil, Eight, Airboat for water and snow, Sled, Underwater sightseeing boat, Airboat for rescue, Airboat for swamps, Catamaran, Hi-Flex planing boat, Deep-V planing boat, Row boat, Sleds for leisure, Snow bike, Wasen (Japanese fishing boat), Seaweed harvesting boat, Power boat, High speed rescue boat, Paddle wheel climber, FRP Scull, Motor sailer, Lines and Surfaces.

I am wondering if I can take the liberty of:
1) Conducting a survey in this forum or other forums to have a rough idea of the number of persons who would be interested in purchasing the translated version of this book
2) Asking for suggestions/recommendations/advice for funding the translation project (translation -- layout -- publication -- distribution)

Any suggestions/advice/recommendations/brickbats gratefully accepted. I will try to monitor these forums, but please send a Cc: to honyakusha@gmail.com as well.

Regards,
Guru
honyakusha@gmail.com
Ex-Naval Architect/Technical Translator

If you have done most of the work already you could publish as an E-book for no upfront capital. I think there are limited run options that crowd-funding would fit well. That way you pre-sell and take no inventory risk.

 

[tspeer]

...I am wondering if I can take the liberty of:
1) Conducting a survey in this forum or other forums to have a rough idea of the number of persons who would be interested in purchasing the translated version of this book
2) Asking for suggestions/recommendations/advice for funding the translation project (translation -- layout -- publication -- distribution)...

Put me down for a copy. I have Locus 2 and would like to have Locus 1.

I am also interested in whatever technical information he would like to provide with respect to his designs.

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

A book review of Locus 2 on Amazon

By Ray Vellinga on April 14, 2011
Review of "Locus of a boat designer 2", by Kotaro Horiuchi,

What is the "American Dream"? To some it is having a good job, buying a house, starting a family and voting. Others believe the American Dream follow the examples of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Their compulsion to invent things was as strong as their need for money, shelter, family and freedom. However this form of the American Dream may be more appropriately called the International Dream. The inventive spirit is everywhere, not just in America.

There is no finer example of an innovator and inventor than Kotaro Horiuchi, chief of the Yamaha Research and Development Center during the 1980s, head of Horuichi Laboratory and former director of Yamaha Motor Co. Mr. Horiuchi, like his company, is Japanese, but the R & D centers are in Los Angeles and Minnesota. Little wonder that many of the designs he created have strong appeal to Americans. Yamaha's market successes are well known: motorcycles, personal watercraft, etc. But the real excitement in this book is about the vehicles he created for special purposes and, for one reason or another, where never mass-marketed and therefore not widely known.

The versatile Mr. Horiuchi, in a period spanning over 50 years, designed conventional motorboats, sailboats, planes, helicopters, motorcycles, cars, SCUBA propulsion unit and even a river-powered generator. But his greatest efforts were focused on hydrofoil boats, and this book reveals their secrets. His best known hydrofoil is the OU32 that was feature on the Discovery Channel in 1999. This water-jet powered boat carries two persons in tandem and flies at 40mph. The pilot and passenger are belted in and protected by a locking clear transparent canopy. The submerged foils allow the craft to make balanced turns while banking 45 degrees. The result is a 1.4G thrill ride. There are detailed drawings, descriptions, specifications and measurements to help the reader understand how this boat works.

During the 1990s there was a lot of interest in Japan about setting records with human powered hydrofoils. There were many boats but two stand out: the Cogito and the Super Phoenix. The fastest was the two rider Super Phoenix. It was designed and built by Yamaha engineer, Fumitaka Yokoyama, in Yamaha's facility under the direction of Mr. Horiuchi. In 1998 it flew at 19.51 knots. That is faster than the 18.5 knots of the MIT speed record holder, Decavitator, a one man hydrofoil. Officially, Super Phoenix was awarded the two man record by the International Human Powered Vehicle Association for the fastest flying start run through a 100 meter course at 18.67 Knots. This speed fell slightly short of their 20 knot goal. Not to worry, Mr. Horiuchi generously details the final 5 modifications that were made on the Super Phoenix to permit it to fly faster, but even after these modifications its old record could not be beaten. Still optimistic, Mr. Horiuchi calculates that by increasing the rider power by 15% and decreasing the drag by 35% an otherwise similar boat would smash all records by reaching 24 knots. Sounds easy enough.

There are so many valuable projects in this book that one gets the feeling that Mr. Horiuchi, retired as of 1996, would like more than anything to see the abandoned ideas come back to life in the form of viable, profit making products. Many of his best ideas apparently were shelved because of unrelated circumstances, like the Japanese recession or the surge in product liability problems in the 1990s. Of course the biggest market for these ideas is here in the USA and surely it's no coincidence that this third edition is in English and available to Americans.

The book is important because of the large number of significant projects and the detail in which they are reported. There are very few other good books about hydrofoils and hydrofoil design principles. This one should be in the library of every serious hydrofoil enthusiast and designer. The book is especially valuable to anyone thinking of building a hydrofoil or anyone dreaming of breaking records.

Those not interested in hydrofoils will find plenty of other designs of interest. About 40% of the book is devoted to hydrofoils, 20% for power boats, 10% for rowing shells, 10% two wheel powered vehicles, and 10% for airplanes and helicopters. The book is filled with great designer and engineering ideas with numbers, dimensions and details.

Locus is a large book, 308 pages of 8" X 11.5" print. It is filled with over 360 fine line drawings and photos. The line drawings in particular are works of art.The hard cover edition was priced at $99.00. However, the paperback edition is now available at a greatly reduced price at Amazon.com and elsewhere.

P.S. to see Horiuchi-san's OU-32 and other relevant hydrofoil videos go to Youtube.com and search for rvell7829 or enter my name, Ray Vellinga.

Ray Vellinga is the Author of "Hydrofoils: Design, Build, Fly," also available at Amazon.com.

Locus 2 is also available from AbeBooks.com for $23

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

HYDROFOIL -- The Amazing Boats of Kotaro Horiuchi. Video posted by Ray Vellinga



Sport hydrofoil flies at 40mph; handles 18" waves; banks at 45° pulling 1.4g.

 

[Clarkey]

Based on this thread I bought Locus 2 and would certainly like a copy of Locus 1 if it were to become available.

 

[Guru]

Sounds cool.

Q: what is a paddle wheel climber or should there be a comma somewhere in there?

Let me quote here from abstract of a technical report (the English was a bit off, so I modified it a bit):

"When a long rope, of which the one end is fixed upstream, is adrift freely in the flow, and the other end is rounded several turns to the hoist of paddle wheel axis of a boat, then the boat can go upstream by virtue of water power. The boat is called a the paddle wheel climber."

The report is here:
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE WATER POWERED BOATS—ON THE WATER POWERED FERRYBOAT AND THE PADDLE WHEEL CLIMBER, Pages 583-588, M. Mori, J. Kawakita, K. Horiuchi, K. Ogawa

Cheers,
Guru

 

[Guru]

sounds like an interesting book to study. I would be interested in reading the chapter, if not the whole book. It is not likely a book like this would sell a lot of copies, so be aware that your efforts may not results in much finacial pay back, but done for the sake of preserving some aspect of boat design.

As for funding you might go to a crowd funding site and offer advanced sale of the book for "investors". one of the largest for international projects is Indigogo (not sure of spelling). setting up a funding page is free, you pay a hefty fee to the website after you reach your funding goal.

good luck with the project.

Thanks, Petros. The site seems to be https://www.indiegogo.com/
I'll study it when I find some time.

Cheers,
Guru