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Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board
Re: Ever faster, by a decimal
Posted By: Pete W. P. In Response To: Re: Ever faster, by a decimal (Ian Johnston)
Date: Saturday, 27 November 1999, at 4:40 p.m.
Pete, > I'm no expert
Hey , youve done a whole hell of a lot more kayaking than I have!
> The problem was that each surface shape required a different pattern and
> this combined with increased manufacturing costs far outweighed the fuel
> savings.The varying control surfaces on a jet at .80 mach is sure to probably make a nightmare here insofar as the engineering of the actual "turbulators" - hey is that a word? Well you know what I mean... the ripples and such.
> I have thought of this application to a kayak as it should in theory
> provide many of the benifits we would want in a human powered vehicle
> operating in a fluid.> The problems are still the same though. How do you know where and what
> pattern to put on a kayak?Ian, if you had seen the latex suit the cyclist wore with the rippled seams youd see its really wasnt extraudinarily crucial for each ripple to have any exact size or placement. Its the overall effect that was beneficial. Moving around as much as a cyclist does it would be impossible to ever have it THAT exact. But, it worked. I would imagine the static hull of a kayak would be a lot easier to make efficient in this manner than a man in motion.
How much increase in efficiency will you gain
> for the extra building effort?I havent the slightest. I believe its not anything you 'd feel directly, but something that couild be realized in saved seconds off the mile.
> Another big question is how much of a benifit is this going to be on a
> slow moving vehicle like a kayak?Probably REALLY good because even tho the Kayak is rather slow compared to a bike for erxample, the medium of water is profoundly more dense. I'd imagine the density of the water makes up for the lack of speed in terms of effectiveness.
Would it even be perceptable to a
> paddler unless they were in a long distance race? It doesn't exist if you
> can't perceive it!Again I think we are talking seconds saved on the mile.
> It is an interesting concept though! Would be nice if there was a computer
> program that could put you in the ballpark before you started building. It
> would be easy to put a pattern on the kayak and change it as required.You know itd be terrific if such a program existed for boat building - period. The leverage this would offer in design creativity would be something to behold.
Thanks fgor the feedback Ian!!
PS: That day you did the 20 miler where you consumed all that food... howd you feel after all that exercise that night?
Thanks ,
Pete
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