4 Aug 00:24
Efficiency & Marketability
From: Rick Willoughby <rickwill@...>
Subject: Efficiency & Marketability
Newsgroups: gmane.culture.transportation.humanpowered.boats
Date: 2008-08-03 22:27:37 GMT
Subject: Efficiency & Marketability
Newsgroups: gmane.culture.transportation.humanpowered.boats
Date: 2008-08-03 22:27:37 GMT
Larry < I don't imagine myself, with this ramble, to be telling most members of this group anything they don't know, ...only to be speaking out for more consistent balance in appraisal,... for recognition and keeping-in-mind of the fact that efficiency, as measured by speed-for-effort, is simply one-of, not THE consideration when judging a proposed design, ...unless the activity-scope is narrowed to racing. > I do not disagree with what you have to say. I have both cat and mono. Horses for courses. Not sure if you read Pete's web site. It is directed at efficiency in the narrower sense of speed for power. The comment on the Rocat is based on posts from Christopher Laughton some time ago. I believe it is not widely known that catamarans suffer a 40% power disadvantage. I also have read a race report from a Rocat owner that indicated he was not initially aware he would be giving away so much to a monohull. His expectations were not met. All Hobie do is prove they have high bollard pull and they have used this as a real selling point. Most owners are recreational users just out for time on the water. On the other hand I have seen Hobie owners bitterly disappointed when they have been racing against conventional paddled canoes. My wife just loved Mike Lampi's Nauticraft. She has never tried one(Continue reading)
Best wishes,
Larry
>[[You should try a Cadence with outriggers, Larry.
>
>The amount of flotation is adequate to let people stand in the cockpit
>and access the hatches without worry, too.
>
>The outriggers can be positioned so they are both several inches above
>the water, allowing you that much tilt (at the end of 3 foot akas) for
>leaning turns, allowing small waves to pass without impeding the boat,
>etc.
>
>It is possible to unlock the akas while under way so that if you want
>to have them in the down position, where they brush the surface. In
>this mode there is no twitchiness regardless of how little sense of
>balance you might have.
>
>When I'm going to be alone out on the Sound for several hours and
>there is a chance the conditions will change for the worse I typically
>have them deployed in the raised "high speed/training wheel" mode.
>
>When I'm doing demos for newbies I have them in the "low/more stable"
>mode.
>
Thanks for the reminder of where-to-look, in my files.
Your 5% speed-reduction figure is a small price to pay, IMO for the
peace of mind offered by the "good stability". Speed record seekers
will of course feel differently, but for my own recreational uses,
9.5mph with more stability beats 10mph with considerably less. In any
case, at 68, achieving either "max" would be an extremely short-lived
anaerobic exercise that no longer fits this senior's definition of
re-creating on the water.
I have not re-read all the pertinent exchanges, but a cursory look
suggests that your comments about which designers know what are well
founded.
It is a shame that all the old posts are not available, both to
newcomers, and to forgetful old-timers.
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