outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

multiple sets of various pitch props to deal with the huge weight loss during fuel burn ?

autopilot ?

without a canopy how will the dash be protected against weather?

BigSilverCat

No, we will not be running a tie bar. The top of the twin fin Arneson is well below the tunnel so if you put a tie bar across there it would drag in the water coming through the tunnel. Yes we could build a tall stand to put a tie bar on but it transfers that load to the trim ram ball socket and its not designed for that.

I'm running a hydraulic tie bar. A hydraulic tie bar is basically tying one hose from each steering cylinder together. The fluid does not compress so it keeps the drives the same distance apart. The problem is when you trim the drive up and down the pivot point of the ball socket is on a little bit different plane then the pivot point on the steering cylinder which causes the drives to get a little closer or farther apart when trimmed. The fluid can leak past the seal on the piston in the cylinder and cause them to slowly come together over days of running.

What we have done on my boat is put a trim pump inline with the line we are using for the hydraulic tie bar. I can spread the drives apart or bring them together by hitting a switch. I have a heads up display that has indicator cables hooked to the steering rams so I will know when they are straight.

The cable indicators are for a quick reference so I can glance at them and know they are close but to make them exactly straight we are putting a high resolution linear sender in the steering cylinder and will have a computer that when I hit a button to straighten them it will pulse the pump in or out till it gets them straight to each other. We will use a FARO arm to get the drives perfectly straight to each other to set the computer to know what straight is.

One thing I will be able to do with this boat that I don't think anyone has ever tried is toe the drives out a little bit then in a little bit and see if I get better mileage one way or the other. We will be running for hours at a time at a constant load and speed so I will be able to do lots of testing. I have a Flow scan fuel meter on each engine that will give us exact fuel burn.

BigSilverCat

An Arneson when trimmed up and down does not affect the attitude of the boat as much as a normal drive because of not having a leverage point in the gimbal. With an arneson you can change your prop slip by raising and lowering the drive. So when were full of fuel and running slower but need more rpm we will just raise the drive up and let it the prop slip more, then when were light and want to run faster all we have to do is drop the drive down a little and let the prop bite. So we will not really need a lot of different prop sizes and pitches, but we will have a few spare props and one set that is really low pitch for a limp home mode of 30-40 mph on one engine without putting a lot of load on it.

On really long runs it might be beneficial to change props half way, We will have an air compressor and air impact wrench so changing the props will be able to be done in one minute which might be worth it in the right conditions.

The transmissions I designed for the boat can run full time/full power in forward or reverse so I will be able to flip a switch on the dash and make my props go from turning in to turning out. Depending on the water conditions and fuel load we may run turning in for half the run if its more efficient then stop and swap the props from in to out and run the rest of the way turning out.

Yes we have Simrad autopilot.

The Dash/electronics are designed for center console fishing boats and F1 cars and made to be out in the weather.

BigSilverCat

Our Shockwave suspension seat module with a temporary test seat to see where the seat frame will have to mount, decided to mount it back to a bulkhead instead of down so we will be able to through bolt it. Figuring out what size of a storage box we could put in the middle of the boat to mount the seat to and have storage room since the sides of the boat where you normally have storage I have fuel tanks.

Trying to figure out where and what size GPS screens we can put in it. And Tristan practicing driving the boat.

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BigSilverCat

The console/storage compartment/seat bulkhead mount, being made and glassed in. It has plywood for a core instead of balsa/foam on the front for strength where the seat will mount. We started out with three small openings but decided to change it to two bigger openings so we can get large stuff in it.

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B38

Hello. Killer build, grade A work.
woman pictured test fitting seats, knees will punch dash on re entree. Needs relief cut at base of dash for knees. My 2 cents.

noli

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I think this was asked before, and I along with many are praying you'll never ever need to use these but...

What are the plans about survival equipment and where would you mount the raft?

Double Rigged

iTrader: (1)

Tyson,
We have worked on many border patrol boats and I know the cockpit on some are larger but my question is that in the event you stuff a wave and such their boats had about 3 times the size of drains to let the water out. I assume those drains go out the sides.
When we saw the size of drains I was amazed at how many and how big they were. They had actually done calculations on the flow rate so that it would drain fast enough.
Just curious.

Double Rigged

iTrader: (1)

Also have you guys talked to SeaStar who makes the Optimus Joystick steering for outboards. They as well as mercury use liquid tie-bars since motors move different directions.
They basically use to independent hydraulic systems one on each motor and use feedback sensors to and a fly by wire helm.
Works very well and the control system allows you to configure lock to lock ratios and it can be set up to change automatically as speed increases to be less sensitive.

May be something they would want to sponsor on a cool project like this.

BigSilverCat

Have you seen how tall she is? A normal sized person's knees would not even be close to the dash. I will attach an image for reference.

We ended up moving the seat back about 4 more inches then where it was in her picture. I had a big guy sit in the seat a few days ago and his knees were closer then I would like so we will probably cut the bottom of the dash up a little bit higher. For me and Chris that will be in the drivers seats most of the time there is around 10" to the dash from my knee's and mine are just below the bottom edge. We will have 5 point seatbelts on which will stop us from moving forward that far.
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