The plug contines...

The Plug machining continues

Updated image showing a section of the plug

Well! It has been almost four months of planning, designing, re-planning and re-designing. I am finally pleased with every aspect of the design. So today I made the ultimate commitment... the plugs have started carving on the CNC!

Here we go!!

After many wave tank trials, a few small problems with weight distribution have been corrected but the most important problem showed up as as the rear walk out deck. It gets submerged when coming down off an aggressive wave more than 5' tall. Below is a movie showing the issue.

A re-design has been complete, raising the rear deck 12" and moving the rear hatch to a different location.

Decals are on the scale model!

Got the vinyl decals today... adds some life to the model!

Wave Tank - Building and first rough testing.

Although i have zero experience in this field, it seemed appropriate to work out the details on how to build a small wave tank, and do some video of the boat performing in the waves. Amazingly, immediately a couple design flaws showed up! and the test apparatus is not even complete. However here is the start to the whole idea....

First design a 2x4 and plywood structure capable of bearing the weight of the water... The tank is 16' long, 3' wide, and 24" deep.

Once the tank was built, I lined the inside with white EPS foam, and ran a thick plastic liner through the tank. Filled the tank with water and Dyed the water green so it contrasts with the boat. I Built a wave generating box, and an energy absorbing stop at the end of the tank. I had an old CNC controller here. So I spent a day rigging the Z-Axis of the CNC machine to be programmable and move up and down to create waves. Turns out the amount of water you need to displace is too much weight for the motor to push. So we are still creating waves manually.

Still to do, is create a rig that will hold the boat steady, and still figure a way to generate waves in a predictable manner. We'll get to all that, but for now... lets get the boat in the water and slosh some waves over it!

Images of the scale model in the tank

Here is a short video of the first waves... Not at all scientific, but a good proportional idea of how the waves will impact the boat. The Video has been slowed down to 1/8th the speed, so the video represents "real life" on the 1/8th scale model. The video can be viewed in better quality here...
Wave tank trial - Click here

And here is a short clip of some small waves being generated by the CNC controller. A better quality can be watched here
Waves Tank, small waves - Click here

Bigger, better and hopefully more scientific updates to follow!

Building the Scale Model

Well, it has been a long 2 weeks! I have re-designed the entire boat to able to now hold a 22hp inboard diesel engine, and 3000lbs of diesel fuel. I have Constructed another 1:8 scale model of the new design. Designed and built a wave tank, and had a look at some very primary images of the boat performance in the wave tank. Below are some images of the progress..

The completed scale model.

We have some decals out to a local vinyl printer being created, to bring some life to the scale model. Will make for some great images in the wave tank with a realistic model!

Scale model being machined from 22lb / ft^3 Urethane Foam

Sealing the urethane foam, and adding structural strength to the model with a coating of Duratec surface primer.

The scale model has been weighted appropriately to have weights of all components in the correct place. Gas tanks, motor, driver etc... All the weights are simulated with nuts and bolts, precisely weighed to match the 1/8th scale proportion for the model. Then all the bolts are encapsulated in expanding foam to ensure they do not come loose during testing. 

Complete Re-Design

After all the consideration about using solar power, I have finally determined the overall power needs vs the size of the boat (area to place solar panels) just doesn't add up. I can only produce about 700 watts of power in the space I have. (up to 1200watts if I cover the entire top of the boat in cells) The cost for solar power just doesn't make any sense for how little power I will have. So the quest has taken on a new idea. The boat has been re-designed to accommodate a 21hp diesel inboard engine.This can be purchased for almost the same price as the the 2000watt Aquam0t motor!  It burns about 3.5 liters of diesel per hour, which means i need to be able to carry about 3500lbs of diesel fuel now! Hence the complete re-design. I really don't want the sail drive, I cannot pull up on a beach with that leg hanging out the bottom of the boat, so i will be looking into the possibility of using just the 3cyl diesel and adapting that to a standard marine Out drive.

Yanmar 3YM20-SD marine diesel engine 21hp

So the new design has been increased to 28.5' (4.34m) long and has a great new look. Still under development, but here is how it looks. 

 

Time to get another scale model created, and find a wave tank to do some testing. about a month wasted on the last design, but live and learn!

Ok, for no reason but PURE fun... I have discovered Autodesk Showcase with the plug-in Augmented Reality... here is what we can do with the 3D model. The boat is entirely generated digitally onto the paper. Cool or what!

Bits and Pieces

Couldn't resist a stop at a randomly found marina in Toronto. I managed to find a bunch of pieces that I can use to dimension and fit into the 3D model.

A-VHF antenna Holder
B-VHF antenna cable connection
C-Stern Light
D-Oar holders and a larger one for a fire extinguisher holder
E-Random heavy duty hinges
F-A drain for the base of the seating area
G-Drain for the seating area, down to the bilge pump
H-Interior ventilation fan (12v-2.5 amps) about 30watts, but it kicks out so much air at full speed!

Furuno 1623 Radar

Found a sale at a local supplier who was selling a display model of the Furuno 1623 Radar. Added in a GPS antenna for the radar unit and a back-up GPS antenna that will go in the boat as a secondary navigation aid. Rarely will radar be needed so a small simple positioning GPS readout will be used. Low power and simple to use.The radar dome sees up to 16NM, (30kms / 18.5m)

I'm not crazy about the display being black and white, but power consumption is the key here, 12v @ 4amps (about 50watts to power the device with radar on)

I have no compass attached to the NEMA connections, but the GPS seems to give me course info. Do i need a compass? or is the GPS capable of giving me all the course info i need? any input would be awesome!

The entire set-up...

The display with positioning data only...

The display with radar and positioning data...

Portlight Windows

Another eBay purchase has arrived! I have the 4 GEBO portlight windows for the back of the boat. 1/2" tinted acrylic... true beauties!! 

Propulsion ***NOTE... this entire idea has been abandoned!

Want this to be electrically driven, here are some options....

http://www.aquamot.at/en/marine/electric-propulsion/drives/flange-drive.html

or...
http://www.boatersland.com/lew591482.html

Any other ideas? need to keep in the 1000watt range.

First look at Electrical requirments

So much work to do... So many things to consider, but here is a very preliminary look at the power requirements of the boat. Consider this just a brainstorm, nothing final at all. 

Sample of the build process

Vinalester and fiberglass mat? or Epoxy and woven cloth? First I built a sample of the front of the boat from Vinalester resin, and chop mat. The strength was pitiful, and the weight was incredible. Looked cool, but will make the entire boat, 3500lbs. (just shell weight)

Vinalester + Chop mat sample...

Then I choose the shell must be built by infusing epoxy resin to fiberglass woven cloth. I have 3 layers of 32oz woven cloth, then a layer of 1/4" foam core, then 2 layers of 32oz woven cloth. This is topped off with re-enforcement layers around lifting points, and additional ribs constructed of a second layer of  1/4" foam core, topped off with 2 layers of 32oz cloth. I would bet its bulletproof! Best part, is the entire boat should be around 1800lbs now. (still to confirm that though) 

Epoxy infused sample part - (Front)...

Epoxy infused sample part - (Back)...

32oz woven fiberglass cloth, and 1/4" PVC foam core...

Photo taken during infusion...

Solar Water Heater

One thought is the simplicity of having at least warm water. Desalinated water will stay at ocean temperature while stored on the boat. The thought is to create a simple small water "warmer" and store the warmed water in a separate tank. This will be accomplished by running 40' of 1/4" hose through a solid piece of fiberglass. The top of the fiberglass will be painted black, and 4 solar cells attached to the surface. As the sun shines, and warms the block, the solar cells will produce just enough power to run a small windshield washer pump, and slowly pump the water from the warm water tank through the 40' of hose on the heater. The sun should take the chill off the water, possibly even create a warm tank of fresh water.

Uses could be...
-Warm water to start when boiling water for cooking (less energy to heat the water)
-Warm water for bathing. Must be a luxury compared to cold ocean water for bathing!

Here is the design... 

Machining the fiberglass block...

Hose installed into grooves...

Solar panels to be added to the top... (after we encapsulate the hose in fiberglass)

We'll get it all together, put it in the sun, and see if it works! Updates to follow once complete.

Solar Cells

The solar cells arrived! 200 monocrystalline 4watts per cell. this gets 800 of the 1200 watts needed. We'll get into the solar array later! put those on the shelf for now.

One of the thoughts is to keep this an entirely solar powered boat. It's un-likley we will get enough power from only solar to keep any sort of decent speed. Perhaps the solar system will become a back-up system for propulsion if the main system fails.

More thoughts on the solar array later as we progress...

Scale Models

Here are the scale models of the latest 2 designs. Boats are 1:8 scale.

Rev_05 - 1:8 scale model

Rev_06 - 1:8 scale model

3D Design

After many revisions, here is the almost final design.  (Hull is no where complete) but the top of the boat design nearing completion.

Introduction

The mission...

To design and prototype a solo or 2 person expedition boat. Capable of ocean crossings, navigating polar regions, and being equipped to be life sustaining for up to 4 months. 

The 80% complete design. 

 The dream...

To cross an ocean in a boat fully designed and built by myself. Just so I can say i did it!