Keel protection

jimi

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Dec 2001
Messages
28,660
Location
St Neots
Visit site
would'nt it be a jolly good idea to have a proximity alarmed airbag attached to the front of the keel to activate when about to whack into a rock? Any ideas how I can test this brilliant new invention?

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
I really don't think keel hauling Claymore is a good idea.. I'm sure there are laws against this kind of action..

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Get a well known charter company in Port Solent trial it for you, they will of course need onsite engineering support and plenty of spare.

Iota

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Would the invention be required to absorb impact or use it's post activation bouyancy to float the vesel majestically over the obstruction? I think we should be told before dedicating too much cerebral matter on this.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
well it is multifuntion .. so that impct absoption occurs first followed by the ability to rise majestically over the underwater obstruction. Manual activation is also feasible thus enabling fast roll tacking or hull scrubbing without having to find some piles .. always a pain in the ass.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Leave me alone
I've thought for some time but nothing happened

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>regards
Claymore<font color=purple>
/forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
I do apologise but I thougth Jimi was developing Captin Blythe tendancies... I was merely trying to put a shot across his bows..

PS things rarely happen when one is thinking... I noticed that when I think nothing ever gets done.. if everyone started thinking the world would probably grind to unalterable halt..

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: Keel protection Plus

Presumably, with minor modification, the design could enable a variety of pre-programmed shapes to be adopted. Thus a fin keel could add a bulb shape when required or perhaps become a quasi long keeler when guests of a certain traditional tendancy are aboard, emergency holding tank, that sort of thing. Turned sideways on, its application as a drogue is obvious. The ability to inflate the cushion with warm air attached to tethers on the toerail could also enable the vessel to become airborne and avoid treacherous seas and the like entirely, though this probably has colregs/air traffic control implications. I'll call the patent office for their OK on this and get back to you as soon as I hear....

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Why half measures?

...fit the system to the rocks!
All of 'em.
And wrecks.
And lobster pots.
And SCUBA divers.
And whales.
And all ship-born containers on 'cos they might fall off.

There could be some REAL money to be made here!

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Nobody is perfect.
I am nobody.
Therefore I am perfect.</font size=1> /forums/images/icons/wink.gif
 
Perhaps a plastic crumple pole, extending forward from the keel, say a nice safe distance, about 30 feet, attached by guys to the rudder. If it strikes a rock on its right hand side it pushes the rudder to left, turning the boat to left and vice versa. Maybe some electronic gizmo could cope with a head on crumple, by emergency starting the engine, slamming it into reverse, while rolling away the genoa and scandalising the main?

Mind you it would make coming onto a pontoon somewhat tricky - the crew might have to stretch a bit.

<hr width=100% size=1>Nickel

Being paranoid simply means - having all the facts.
 
Re: better idea: the BowDigger

An airbag is a rubbish idea. There's massive drag for a start and if you accidentally sailed into a lagoon you would be left bouncing off rocks forever AND since its an airbag it only works once, something that really accident-prone car drivers discover when their car whams into another one and is deflected into the air at plenty of miles an hour, but then there's no second airbag to cushion them once thiv landed on the opposite carraiageway and three minutes later a big truck hits them.

So much better to connect the proximity sensor to a high-speed trenchmaking digger at the bow - The BowDigger. Obviously, this would take up all the forward cabin BUT the digger doubles as an engine as it simply does a sort of one-armed butterfly to make headway when there aren't any rocks, which frees up a load of useful midships space AND since the bowdigger can extend a good 20 metres, no need for an anchor, just dunk it down and it grabs a lump of rock or whatever at the seabed. The new bowdigger (patent pending) also removes the need for a propellor, thus massively reducing drag AND by replacing the digger attachment with a big brush and selecting the arse-scratching mode, no need for antifouling either. The digger could be activated in non-emergency mode to dig a quick trench ashore if there's a beach so another massive saving on crap dinghies. Best of all, with a bow digger, your boat is elevated to a commercial vessel, possibly even a minesweeper, and even if it isn't there won't be any more issues about close calls with other vessels, even ferries, as the elevated bow-digger has a PGS mode (punch, grab and sink) to dispose of anyone in range. Good eh? It's a demonstration of this sort of contraption that the boring boat show is missing, imho.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: better idea: the BowDigger

What about sticking a "large" prop on an articulated retractable arm.. this would mean that you could create your own nav channels.... right thro islands where necessary.. and the articulated arm could turn corners in advance of the yacht..


This could completely revolutionize navigation.. just think you could be sailing up the North Sea and hit fog so all you do is turn W and you get to the Pembroke (ish) or vice versa... Instead of getting storm bound in Scrabster all you would do is turn SW or SE depending on which way round you were going..
 
Re: better idea: the BowDigger

That really is a very stupid idea .. just what I'd expect from a Mobo driver, no regard for the environment or energy conservation. Much better to have a large wind farm rotor at the mast head. When at rest you can be busy generating power and when in a hurry or wishing to avoid obstacles you just power up the blade, take off, and sail through the air.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: better idea: the BowDigger

A girly rotor thing sounds a right load of rubbish. Yet again the raggies are gonna be left behind with whirly windpowered rubbish, instead of getting a decent lump of kit. And, like raggie boats, yerl still need an engine - and also a spare mast for when your's has buggered off, cos a single rotor would just rip the mast out when in use, and when it was at rest it would knock off yer hied. I mean head.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: better idea: the BowDigger

think the best thing about that would be being able to play with a bow derrick on your foredeck whenever you wanted ..

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Daft idea. Attach that to a Benbavjan, and before you know it the boat would be floating upside down.

Dont you remember what happened the last time you ate curry flavour baked beans before getting into the water in your dry suit? /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.
 
Top