On Nov 23, 12:18*pm, Tim wrote:
On Nov 23, 10:17*am, wrote:



On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:57:18 -0600, Vic Smith

wrote:
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:31:53 -0500, I am Tosk
wrote:

I remember an Americas cup boat at one time that tried a dimpled design
like a golf ball. IIRC the idea was to introduce air bubbles across the
bottom. They suggested it was like the laps on a viking ship which
apparently kept air bubbles under the surface along the seams or
something like that.

Saw some discussion of that. *And the engineers pooh-poohing it, since
a golf ball is flying though the air.
Also saw that Dennis Connor was wet-sanding the hulls of his racing
boats and when asked why, he said "Because everybody else is doing
it."
They actually have some claims for this boat, but it might be all PR.
Seems as fuel prices rise, they could get some traction if their
claims are true.
I imagine a big cost of sportsfisher operation is fuel, and cutting
that cost would be a boon to business.
But maybe tradition works against trying anything new.

--Vic

Fluids all act similarly when you are talking about flow across the
surface.
Mythbusters actually did show some improvement when they dimpled a car
body.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hail damage?

Vic:

Unfortunately, when it comes to hydrodynamics, anybody here is more
qualified than me.
From what little I understand about planing boat performance, weight
is the big issue for fuel economy. You are supporting the entire
weight of the boat on that tiny portion of the hull in contact with
the water meaning you gotta push it at a minimum speed to get it to
plane. Maybe it is like friction where the force due to friction is
proportional to weight.
At any rate, Renn Tolman says weight is the primary issue for fuel
economy so his boats are very lightweight. My 20' Tolman weighs about
800 lbs so is very economical on fuel (if you can call 5 mpg
economical) optimum speed is roughly 20 mph with 5 people aboard.
Even using it to take the kids kneeboarding in an afternoon it uses
little fuel.
Tolman also has a design for a "SeaBright" skiff that uses a diesel
that supposedly gets extreme fuel economy at speeds of about 18 mph.
If you do not mind going slow, check out the "Diesel Duck", a 38'
"troller cruiser" that supposedly uses 3/4 gal/hour of diesel at 8
kts. It also has sail assist if you want to use even less.
For me, I thought fuel economy would be a worry but so far with the
Tolman it never has been an issue. I have never used more than 7
gallons of fuel in a whole day. The larger Tolman's (such as the
Jumbo at 23') using 4 cycle motors are supposed to get over 6 mpg with
a 125 hp 4 cycle.