That should be about the same power output as the old Evinrude Lightwin. Not gonna move a Hobie _fast_ but it will move it at a useful speed assuming you don't lose much efficiency in the propulsor.
Thanks, John, that's what I needed to know. I'm not sure how well it's going to work out, but that tells me that it's worth a try. The engine isn't anywhere near as big a deal as the tracking system needed to keep the collector pointed at the sun.
Propulsion will be essentially a straight path with a tee connection to the engine between a pair of check valves. During the expansion half of the cycle water will be discharged rearward, and during the contraction half of the cycle water will be sucked in from the forward direction.
I don't need to go fast - I just need to come _back_. :)
ron @ fastlane sailing in san diego
I thoroughly despise jet skis..... to be more precise, I thoroughly despise the Great Unwashed who seem to see the need to get drunk and destroy the very expensive peace and quiet one pays for on the shores of otherwise untainted inland lakes.
-------------------------------------------- Want an arguement?
Change the subject.
If ever there was a time for Darwin to kick in.
Lew
I will entertain you, Lew...for a lark:
We could start an argument on the spelling of argument, but what ARE you talking about?
WHAT subject? The one where Morris mentions his warning off jet-skis, and my distaste for them? (Hinting at running them over instead, or was that too deep for you?)
Explain that, please.
r
I've stashed the link for when I have an engine ready for the job. First I need to get engine and tracking system worked out. The Hobie (spelling corrected) will be a rental boat, so whatever I come up with will be something I can assemble and set in place at the marina, then lift off/disassemble when I'm done.
Thanks!
We could start an argument on the spelling of argument, but what ARE you talking about?
------------------ Try jet skis, then toss in stink boats.
Explain that, please.
-------------------------------- In order to get the keys to one of those pieces of garbage, you have to prove that you have no more than two brain cells, one of which is dead.
Left to their own devices, Darwin kicks in.
Same applies to the SeaRay crowd.
Lew
I'm with you one that.... add to the list anything with unnecessarily loud engines, including Pick-up trucks and Motorcycles.
You Harley riders will take issue with me, but they are nothing more than a "look at me" device. "Ooo, look at me, I'm so cool, I drive a ridiculously loud motorcycle. F#@k the rest of civilization and *your* relaxation, I have a right to be loud. After all, I'm a dentist all week and need an outlet for my inner beast. Oh yeah, and I have a small pecker." :-)
But no fences as the snow mobile folk have. :(
Mark
Angela is convinced that there has to be a direct inverse relationship between the size of a guy's SUV tires and the size of his dick. I mean her girlfriends all just swoon at the sight of a monster truck..:-) I used to drive a MiniCooperS in university. Eh? Eh? =3D0) (Robbie who remembers almost missing a rent payment because he couldn't turn down a deal on 4 minilites. Turns out the guy that sold them to me needed his rent money. I felt bad about that.)
WTF ARE those things? What is the point of them? You can't safely ski behind them because if I swing out, *I* will be turning that 'boat' and not the driver.
That'll give you a theoretical roughly 2HP. Enough to move it around, but -not- with much speed. Think 'trolling motor'.
OTOH, if you can fit one concentrator/fluidyne, maybe you can get 2-3 of 'em on board. Now, you're approaching the capabilities of a 5HP outboard. That should be enough to leave a wake -- at least a small one.
That hurts just to *think* about it.
"Morris Dovey" wrote
Wasn't it Mr Natural who said that you didn't need to move fast. Just look cool.
He also said, "Keep on truckin'."
----------------------------------------- I rode in high school. Sold it to go to school and never looked back.
My landlord was a major supplier to H/D.
He got hit on his bike, saved his foot, but he will never walk right again.
Lew
Two is a definite maybe - but from a practical standpoint, just one will be an accomplishment, and a two-mile round trip on a calm, sunny day should be enough to stir up a bit of interest. It might even be a good thing to set a record that'd be easy for someone else to beat. :)
Here's a video showing a couple of very crude pipe oscillators being driven with a small propane flame:
Always that drowning bunch behind the watertight door, the leaky/ squirting pipe, the sweat, the pings, the mad skipper..... if you seen Das Boot, you've seen all the sub movies. IMHO.
I DO like sub warfare simulation games. Going back to Silent Service on a Commodore 64. Primitive, but fun. Then Wolfpack on a Mac... I now call those games 'time-sinks'.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IIRC, Silent Service was the name of the TV show Larry watched. Another good one from that era was Victory at Sea.
-------------------------------- That was it.
Don't think Larry was old enough to watch.
Lew
Would that be a 'solar-powered boat' record?
How about a _water-powered_ boat record? (*THAT* just might appeal to Guiness! :)
Or, if you *really* want to stir up interest, you find a way use something like like carp, or catfish, for thermal mass. Then you lit it slip that the boat is powered by a "fish/sun reactor" (best said when slurred a little). An 'inherently-safe, non-radioactive' device of your own design. Hang a pole over the stern, and claim you've 'gone fission'.
If you're going to have fun with the idea, you may as well *REALLY* have fun with it.
*LONG* time ago, there was a 'traveling science show' that went around to the high schools. one of the things they brought was a bunch of cardboard tubes (from mailing-tube size up to a 16' long, circa 8" ID, carpet roller). they each had a section of metal screening in them a short distance in from one end. Hold it carefully vertical over a high-output Bunsen burner, and let the screen heat up, then remove it from the heat source. Fairly shortly it would start to 'sing' -- louder, and louder, as it found it's "voice".The carpet roller was -really- impressive; one might say profundo so. :)
With the rapid and frequent movement of the small Hobie, wouldn't a solar tracking system be large, complex and take a good deal of power to operate effectively?
Not necessarily. The control portion can be as tiny/simple/inexpensive as this:
and small 12 VDC automotive motors with appropriate reduction gearing driving lead screws should be adequate for positioning. I'd guess that a marine/deep discharge battery should be enough for the test drive.
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