Engineering degree project research help

So what sort of inflatable device?? It would have to be more like a drive in bouncy castle to give any sort of stability at all, so where would you store something that big on a boat, or keep the large compressor needed for inflation?
Sorry you need a rethink on this, but good luck anyway.

Steve
 
But if it had wheels on the bottom, and a sort of fan belt arangement from prop shaft to wheels, we could park the boat on the beach and save a forune in marinas. Even drive it home, up the M6, eerr a bit like a tank on the two engines, as the rudders just would not work!
 
Yeah but think how long it would take to clear the debris on the motorway if you got a puncture...ang on lads'Haydn's coming. with his boat-cum bouncy castle. Best get a Marine travelhoist for every services..just to be on the safe side of course,
oh and a cycle repair kit.... large size

Steve
 
Yes but there would be no serious accidents anymore as already got air bags deployed, stearing would not be as important as we would just sort of bounce off each other and the crash rails and find a sort of equelibrium. There would be no longer a need for Yacht master courses, as boucing off rocks would be quite good fun, no need for fenders either. Even David Blunkett could enter a marina, as he would just bounce around till entering the right spot. Bit like he does at the moment I suppose. Wonder if he gets help from his guide dog!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
But it's slightly worse than that, cos the weight distribution in many boats is not even: all outdrive boats and many v-drive boats have the engines (heavy bits) right at the stern. So, in the case of a 30-footer, say 5000kg, of which 1000kg is engines, suddenly you're lifting that heavy bit much further than the waterline, leaving the narrow pointy (unstable & light) bit still in the water, making the c of g so high that a safe supporting platform would have to be HUGE. Either that, or my o-level physics has failed me again.

dv.
 
Re: Hair Brained

HLB may have hit on it. The huge bouncy castle idea might just work. Something like a floating travelift. A sort of floating dry dock with built in boat lifters. Hmmm, why not just use a dry dock. please Ignore this post!!!
 
Re: Hair Brained

Na. I fancy the high speed dodgem car version. Boat enveloped by bouncy castle, with pully and fan belt from prop shaft to wheels. I recon that with the 400/800 HP avalable on most mobo's, I't could easily make at least 150mph. Maybe more. There would be no danger as it would just sort of flop round any obstructions. It would be nigh on imposible for parking wardens to put a sticker on the window screen and not easy to tow away.
 
Haydn, give the guy a break. I know I knew pretty much f all at his age and I did an engineering degree as well, albeit a civil one
In any case, what his examiners will be looking for is not the viability of the proposal itself but the rigour with which the proposal is assessed and tested. Just because a project concludes that the proposal was bollocks does'nt mean in its a bad project in academic terms
Yes, I do agree with you that this idea is probably a non starter from the safety point of view alone. I certainly would'nt want to be fiddling about with the sterngear of a boat precariously balanced on an inflatable bag above my head
 
Sorry I thought I was helping and expounding on the project by inventing a roadworthy version and vastly improving the market.

I've no qualifications in engineering. In fact I set off as a fruit merchant. But I've invented and built loads of machines, that actually work!!
 
Re: Hair Brained

I don't think that it is that bad an idea. I'd find such a device very useful on a drying mooring. I'd be able to service the outdrive without needing a lift-out, would be able to dry out relatively level so more comfortable to sleep on, would be able to scrape more barnacles off hull. It could in fact replace yacht legs/supports when lifted out. In fact I'd only need the stern to be lifted about 750mm.
Don't see that it can be of any use when out at sea though.
 
I agree with Deleted User. I think the forumites are being a bit hard on Chris.

It is highly unlikely that any student studying for any qualification would come up with a novel, workable idea as a project such as a clockwork radio or a cyclonic vacuum cleaner. OK, his idea is likely to be very difficult if not impossible to solve and even if solved may not be marketable. The point is that it will force the student to apply what he has learned in his course to the problems and will also make him think for himself as he tries to solve these problems.

It doesn’t matter if he succeeds in producing the proposed boat lift. Even if he proves that it is not feasible, he will have demonstrated that he can used his engineering skills. The best he can hope for is to solve one tiny problem in the process. Most scientific discoveries evolve from building on scraps of knowledge derived from other researchers. It is very rare for one scientist or engineer to make an earth shattering discovery in a single leap. Many years ago I undertook a student project and even though all I proved was a negative, I still had to work just as hard as I would have done if the result had been useful.

All credit to Chris for choosing a difficult subject for a project. If he had chosen something easy and obviously possible, it would not challenge him in any way.

Go for it Chris. You just might turn up something you weren’t expecting!
 
Re: Hair Brained

Well yer not going to scrape barnicles off hull cos bouncy castle will cover most of it, without multy compartments, nothing says it's going to be anything like level. But how much will it cost, a decent dinghy is a thousand quid., this has to be much stronger and ten times bigger with umpteen otions dependent on wieght distribution. A perpose built one for every boat might work in some situations. Some how I cant see it and would put great demands on the operator of such a device, hardly DIY in this PC world.
 
Is the idea back to front, why lift the boat ?.

Why not put a simple ring with a rigid floor under the stern of the boat, and inflate the ring, this seals to the hull and lowers the floor. You can now stand on the floor and work on the outdrives and props in the dry.

Does the same job, would be a little complicated than outlined, but could work. What lacks with all projects like this, is one solution and go with it. When I had apprentices working on design for me, they always had to come up with four solutions to a problem, this ment they thought out the problem, not the first solution.

Brian
 
Re: Hair Brained

Thought the bouncy castle was your idea. AND what's a dinghy got to do with it ?
All I need is somat to place under the stern that will lift it off the sea bed by about 750mm whilst keeping the boat from heeling over. If you haven't got a use for it then that's fine by me - clear off and stop being so negative. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
This is MY opinon :

I think it is totally unworkable in the 'normal' boating environment, who in their right mind is going to carry all that excess weight just in case. Look at the weight of a 6 man liferaft and multiply that, plus the storage space of the equipment and tool boxes, a non starter and I waste of time I feel. Whoever recommended that idea to you and I am not being funny here, needs to have their heads examined or at least know a little about boating to understand how daft it is. A hydrolift in a marina, I have looked into getting one of those, is a complicated piece of kit that needs careful setting up, how the hell do you expect to do that at sea? Speak to Hydrolift and get the low down, it may save you wasting any more time /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Perhaps if you are into engineering it should be the design of the leg you should look at so that IT can lift higher for maintenance, I know there are a lot of reasons why it can't but then it could be simpler to solve than carrying around loads of life rafts. I do not see this working in the marine environment with people trying to attach such an object whilst bobbing about at sea, then the health and safety aspects of it. Why not just recommend that they join SeaStart.

I do NOT wish to belittle you in any way, I just think it is a plain stupid idea, but will eat my words if I ever see boats in the middle of the solent or English channel balancing dangerously up on inflatable ramps being serviced by their owners /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It's hard enough to convince people to carry a liferaft that is for the ultimate problem, never mind carting around a load of airbags and a compressor 'just in case' I ran over a lobster pot or had another problem with the leg. If it was another problem, let's face it, how many of us could repair it on land never mind bobbing about at sea with a load of wash knocking us over and dropping nuts and stuff.

I can assure you that if I had the choice of taking a liferaft or a blow up ramp to help look at a problem that may or may not arise (and if it did I would only look at it because I would not have the equipment or technical expertise to do anything about it), I would definately take the life raft, don't know about others though.

Good luck if you believe in it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

P.S. I know where you can get floating prop spanners (Ihave one if anyone wants one), but they are about as much use as a chocolate tea pot if you drop the nut or the prop /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
hm. Pain in the bum these engineering projects, inventing things. As far as i know, no english student has to write a novel, nor do economic students have to get rich for their third year project.

Anyway marketwise and engineering wise it's a big call. The market would have to be for diy type people with a boat significantly more than 30 feet else they could use a trailer. In fact, it's gotta be more than about sixty foot boat if the device inflatable, cos it needs a compressor to fill the thing up, else it wil take days.

Can't see how it wd work as a tilt: the lift wd have to made forward of where the props come out CG, hence may as well (in fact, it would needto) lift the whole boat.

Lots of dodgy problems : eg1 the underside of the boat is likely covered in barnacles and cack, which means that anything inflatable would need to be fabulously tough as well - far far tougher than a RIB, for example.

eg 2 it would seem to need to be used in very still water, or be much wider that the boat for stability whilst working on these props - you are significantly rasing the CG hence reducing stability.

eg 3 loads and loads of air needed, so hence a compressor as well. So we are talking bout some significant sized boat to use this. 60+footer could have a compressor lying about but not much smaller unles a dive boat.

eg4 ok so I'm wrong and the stern is up in the air. Yeehah! Now, where are the tools? and howdya gettem out of the boat? Bear in mind that if tilted forwards, the companionway stairs are essentially a wooden cliff. For stability and useability it surely has to be a full lift.

eg5 even if it did work, nobody would ever use it because they can't really be bothered to inflate much more than a small towable donut and even that's a bit of a fag.

eg6 safetywise, as someone else points out, by lifting out the stern, the waterline beam reduces - a large amount of the bows will have to be in the water. A full lift is needed. So...

eg 7 To get the props out of the water needs a lift of about 1 metre, say, or if it's a sixty footer with that compressor, make it 1.5 metres, maybe 2. We're likely looking at sponsons at least 5 metres diameter. yahoo!


Finally, of course, i'm a friggin shedhead with more gear than most chandleries (apart from that weird labyrinth one in antibes but i'm working on it ) and even i wouldn't buy one, and that's saying something.
 
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