Pedlo Design

Help.
Can anyone pse give me some advice on the most efficient design for a pedlo?

 

I assume you mean a human powered vessel? What type? Surface?Submerged? High speed? Low speed? Air prop? Water prop?, Paddles?

There never is a "best", only the best compromise for what you want to do.

 

1. I am, of course, referring to the old favourite holiday Pedlo that one pays a fortune to potter around a bay - the human powered (with pedals), surface vessel with paddles in the front and a tiller in the rear.

2. I am researching methods to make this beast of a 'vessel' more efficient in the leg power on pedals to paddles and forward motion; as well as any other top tips for customising a pedlo for a relatively long open sea journey.

3. Is this any clearer?

 

Ok,

The best efficiency is found if the paddle is at the very rear of the craft and the hull is fairly wide and shallow, but this type of hull is only good for very smooth water. For open water, the best hull is double ended, flat floored, continuously curved narrow waterplane with side-wheels set at ~ 3/8ths or 5/8ths the length of the hull aft of the FP . For maneuverability, both types should have split wheels, otherwise the “riverboat” hull should have multiple rudders behind the wheels and the side-wheeler should have rudders fore and aft that work together.

There are very good hydrodynamic and engineering reasons for the old paddle boat hulls looking like they did.

 

Pedlo

Thank you for your top tips, it sounds like we are talking more of a re-build to alter the dynamics from the tug-like features of the pedlo to the racing snake of the sea.
However, if you have a spare weekend and fancy building one like you describe I think you have two willing and able volunteers to test said craft.... it all sounds easier on the legs than the more traditional version.

 

Well I'm on this side of the pond, so a weekend might not be enough .

Try this link www.ihpva.org and check out the watercraft and other HPV clubs. As I recall there are several HPV watercraft clubs in the UK, so you might find them a bit closer to home.