Submersible, convertible, hydrofoil cat

I would be worried about being alone, that in itself would be a challange.
Also there would be no one to film your adventure so you could make lots of money from the film rights.

Poida

 

Poida has a great point. I suggest you make a film of the voyage and your adventures BEFORE you start the project ( we have same skilled setmakers and film experts around ), using CGI and papier mache props.

That way, you will have enough money to actually start the research needed for this amazing new craft that is light enough to 'fly', strong enough to submerge, powerful enough to do 40 knots, so simple that only one person is required to operate, so energy efficient that it can go half way around the world without refuelling - on a budget that must use secondhand car or truck motors for propulsion.

 

I would much rather be alone - with an autopilot. And I'm camera-shy so that won't be an issue!

Corley,

Primarily it will be a hydrofoil vessel; the submersible capability is a secondary feature.

 

I didn't say second-hand motors. They will be new.

Yes, yes, I get your point. But I'm undeterred. If you think this is wacky, you'd love my previous idea. It involved a very similar craft but one with an aero prop and para-wing. Need I go on? By the way, I hadn’t mentioned this before: the vessel will also have four removable small caterpillar tracks, which will mount to the crossbeams between the hulls. They will permit limited land travel, such as drive across a beach or up a slipway. They will incorporate electric motor hubs and be powered by either the main generator or battery. They will be similar to those used on regular 4x4 cars to traverse sand or bog land.

 

Well, if they are not new - they will not be cheaper than dedicated marine engines. If you have to marinize newish vehicle engines, I think you will find they work out dearer in most cases.

Everyone loves a dreamer, but with your "skills" I would have thought a better fleshed out study could be expected before trotting out 'pie in the sky' ideas.

You might like to have a look at

http://www.sealegs.com/

to start on a small working concept.

 

Infinitus

How about starting small. Cross the English Channel in a boat of your own design. Go during the mildest weather you can find. There should be no pirates. Refuel on the other side, so fuel for only 2.5x the distance. No hydrofoils.

Just see if you can get something simple together. Car motor, no sail, no submergence.

Richard Woods has several power catamarans. I suggest those because he would be reasonably accesable to you, and a cat could be adapted to hydrofoils relatively easily, later.

If you don't actually want to DO something, I suggest you find the "Tom Swift and His Amazing ....." books. These were 1950/ 1960's science fiction books for teenagers. He had a lots more ideas you could incorporate.

I'll check back with this thread, but without some actual direction, I won't be participating again.

Good Luck,

Marc

PS At a minimum you should have a CAD drawing of your idea. Lots of people who have no engineering training have accomplished that.

 

A few things to consider:

Instead of a diesel engine, you could use a Stirling engine/electric hybrid. A Stirling engine is more efficient than a diesel and can use any heat source. You can carry burners for diesel, propane, used french-fries (that's "chips" to you brits) grease, and alcohol, as well as a firebox for wood or coal and a huge Fresnel to focus sunlight. You can use the electric engines on battery power (or wind or solar cells) to turn the Stirling engine into a heat pump for cooling or refrigeration. With several units you can have all sorts of combinations, including using the energy from one unit to drive the other unit to make it run a refrigerator. You can probably adapt it to compress air, too. You will need to compress air for diving, and you can save a lot of space by doing it all with one system.

Maybe you could pack along a parasail big enough to get the boat in the air. In fact, you could use the parasail as a kite sail as well.

Instead of making the tracks removable, use them as your main drive instead of a propeller. Properly-designed tracks can make great high-speed drives. Several threads on this site discuss it. They might even make the hydrofoils unnecessary.

Having a special-built flame thrower could get you in trouble with the law. Instead, have a high-volume water pump that is capable of pumping diesel, and have the intake hose placed where you can quickly drop into your diesel tank. Keep one of those barbeque lighters nearby to light it off.

Good luck.

 

How about tweaking a design based on the Colombia drug smuggling snorkel vessels?

Porta

 

All sources I have read say that a Stirling Engine is comparable to Diesel in efficiency, but a lot more expensive to buy.

As for making one that is marinised - you are creating a lot of difficulties for a poor man.

 

Hm. I'll have to figure out where I got the idea that they are more efficient.

I think my suggestions are well within the spirit of the original post.

 

WE are yet to see any drawings of the concept Infinitus. Diving more than 10 metres (30 Ft) would be all you would need to dive.

This would get you out of high winds and choppy seas, any large storms you are better not being there at all.

The fear of pirates, 10 metres would probably be enough to stop any bullets and you can reduce the need for heavy plating by pressurising the inside, under 10 metres you would not suffer from bends after surfacing.

 

Poida,

Don't get too excited about being 30' and getting protection. Earlier in this thread I talked about being 300' down and being affected by a Typhoon. I was on a 410' sub weighing 7900 tons and we took 30 degree rolls. The waves in the area were reported at 100' peak to peak, so the wave trough was ~190' above the submarine sail and the waves were still affecting us.

Its very simple to say you shouldn't be there, but it happens. Granted, being able to run at 40kts would minize such a sever storm effects.

Pressurizing the interior seems like a simple thing also, but I seriously doubt it being practical. For one thing you could not use a snorkel to pull in sea level air.

Before you encourage this kind of fantasy, lets find out how much volume will need to be pressurized. Then think how much air is required, how big a compressor, storage bottles, air scrubber, etc, etc, etc......... Perhaps we should know how long we expect to be submerged?

Anybody know how many boats actually get attacked each year out of the total population? This is a bad joke.

Marc

 

upchurch,

Your math is flawed my friend.

A 100 foot wave trough reaches 50 feet below the surface. If you're at 300' then the trough is 250 feet above you not ~190' as you stated. Unless of course your sub was 60' tall, which is entirely possible if it was 410' long.

-Tom

 

Upchurch

If you read my post again I was not refering to waves. The words were, this will save you reading again, choppy seas.

The chop is the wind generated agitation of the sea. And only effects around 1 metre underwater. A few times I have been scuba diving only to surface to find the weather has turned nasty and I had no idea.

Obviously anyone can get caught in a storm that generates a large swell, the only option there is to get pounded and make sure the craft can take it. Even then being 10 metres underwater is probably better.

I'd prefer to be on dry land.

Having a lighter weight craft that can only submerge 10 metres would use less fuel than a heavy craft that can take 100 metres and how much air you need will depend on the size of the cockpit module. 10 metres is only atmospheric pressure.

Poida

 

Tom,

The sub was 60' from keel to sail peak. Depth was measured from the keel, probably to insure all of the sub was at a lower pressure than what the depth meter indicated - safety.

Poida

Sorry I misunderstood the comment. But, who cares about chop in the context of this thread? If you are trying to avoid chop, then you should indeed stay on land, and this whole thread is a waste of time. Actually I don't understand the comment - this is a BOAT design forum, isn't it? Perhaps I missed it and this is really a Bathtub design forum

I have also had the same scuba experience as you.

You greatly exaggerate the simplicty of how much air you need, will you expose the motor, batteries, food and other supplies to the ocean?

Sorry, we are debating sillyness, I really am going to ignore this thread from now on.

Marc