Mud and the Tender

Pity because I came up with a source of raw materials.

Dead treadmills at the tip shop.

PDW

 

Thats a good idea allright. I suspect that they would rot rather quickly in a marine environment.

Years ago, I investigated rubber tracks for an amphibious contraption, and found that special tracks for snow tractors, and even the rubber ones for small excavators got the thumbs down from the suppliers due to salt water etc.

Might be fun for an experiment though.

 

The Inuit people in northern Canada use snowmobiles as their primary transport in sea ice/slush conditions for most of the year. I would not worry about snowmobile tracks - a few minutes digging on the Internet and a couple emails should turn up feedback on this.

--
CutOnce

 

I had envisioned a passive belt of something like fabric, but a powered apparatus for getting across the mud would be swell. Myself, I can imagine a heart attack trying to push or pull a boat through mud. If not actually killed by the experience, even if I managed to not get covered in mud I would be drenched in sweat.

A consideration is, as in this photo,

going out to the boat is usually downhill but getting back to land is uphill. Even at the small incline pictured, it would take considerably more effort to go uphill.

 

Mud wheels

Here's some different DRIVEN wheels compared in the mud portion of a KSR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpY0rFj4gsc

Enjoy

Porta

 

Have they got steel in them like steel-belted tyres ?

 

I throughly enjoyed seeing the mud kinetic sculptures. They seemed to have a firm bottom at about 2 feet, otherwise the very skinny wheels would have sunk too far.

None of them tried to use the sloppy mud as any kind of supporting surface, as you would have to in a tender.

The related video of them coming out of the water was very instructive as well.

That passic belt idea from sam sam is probably a good idea, - if it only didnt interfere with the other functionality of the tender, it would be worth trying.

PDW - that 400 mm PVC pipe could be a good candidate to start with. I picture three wide 'wheels' of it maybe .4 metre each, made waterproof to float, two in the front, and one at the 'stern', and seeing how much it assisted fairly flat mudding with some stout oars on a bit of a sled first. They should help with about 30 kilos floating half way, and assist in rolling over mud/sand out the front. the 'sled' to mimic the boat hull could be 2.4 m * .15m * 1.2 m, to support (displace) about ~200 kilos half sunk.

I could power up the old lathe to create plywood ends, for axles, and some expanding foam for flotation.

The drag of the mud and sand on the hull would be the first objective to evaluate, as 'kinetic sculpture' made the transition from grass, to sand, to mud to water and back again. An old treadmill belt would be easy to evaluate as a potential friction reducer with the appropriate roller devices.

If stout 'oars' didnt cut it - then we would need to look at pedals or some kind of leg actuated additional power. I had images of a substantial sliding seat to assist rowing, but also to power some sort of wheels.

I was please to see some of the lightweigth 'sculptures' making good progress through the mud with two bodies on them, and very skinny wheels. The 'half balloon' device seemed to function really well too.

It just goes on and on ....

 

In Japan a type of fisherman uses a "kickboard" to cross flats

but I think they are working with 1/4 of water on non-tidal flats.

Guy is on one knee and uses other foot to kick along fast enough to skim on layer of water.

Then when stopped they drag fish hooks to snag mud skippers.



I've thought about two short foot powered oars on a kayak to get past mud.

 

In the far north of the Netherlands there are vast mudflats on which fisherman used to fish with a slikslee (mudsled).
Today it is folklore but there are festivals where regatta's are held with the slikslee.

 

Looks fun, but from what I've been reading , needs to carry a bit of gear?
Would also be a pain if ur leg keept getting stuck could be wrong just what comes to mind when see those pics.

 

I tried looking up the sled in wikipeadia, and google, but couldn't get any english information.

Knowing what the used for the bottom of the boat might be useful.

I was thinking something like Dynel for rocks and sand, polished for mud sliding.

PS - i am thinking of trying to get hold of some old ride-on mower wheels as a first attempt. The advantage might be to underinflate them .

 

A swallow sled is a vehicle used by fishermen to move on reclaimed tidal flats.
The sludge sledge consists of a flat wooden platform with a handle thereon.
It is used by placing a knee to kneel and then with the other leg off into the mud. The flat bottom drops away and not at all by the smooth swallow a decent speed are developed.
Presumably the mud sled for thousands of years. Remains of fish traps are found in tidal areas across northwestern Europe from Denmark to Ireland and which are reasonably accessible only to vehicles like the mud sled.
Today this form of fishing hardly implemented.
Swallow Sled Races are held every year in summer in several places, including Delfzijl where traditionally "kraiten" is called and the artificial peninsula at the German Pogum.

The Google translation from the Dutch language Wikipedia on slikslee
To my knowledge it is an all wooden structure. A more modern approach might be even better.

 

I guess hilarity is the better part of the pain.

 

I do remember seeing a Rescue Hovercraft here at Palo Alto "harbor".

Which is mostly a launch pier for wind surfers, out in large tidel mud flats in the southern SF bay.

Yes, I've been up to my armpits in the mud, basically like jello that is just beginning to set.

Quite the problem to cross without high tech, especially when just enough water drains off to make sleds and "mud motors" useless.

Note even these "good old boys" are traversing muddy water, not very soft mud. http://www.mudbuddy.com/


Maybe a "mud anchor" like a sea anchor that could be thrown 10 yards and winched in, but clearing the excess mud off for second toss, without a 100 gals of pressurized water handy, would surely leave you covered from head to toe.

 

putting a set of handles on the back of a light flat bottom dinghy might allow you use use it as a "mudsled" like those pictureed above. when you hit enough water to float it you just climb in and row out to your anchored boat.