CATransplant
Admiral
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 6,319
Re: Unique Boat Idea (I think) needed
You'd have to find someone who does unusual mechanical things. Someone who'd take the job on as a lark as much as a money-maker. The kind of guy who builds a miniature steam train in his backyard for his kids.
Such folks are hard to find. As for the homeowners' association...that'd be a hard sell, I'm sure, but...if you could convince them that your cable would run deep enough to prevent any problems with other boaters, they might go for it.
Such a system would use up your $20,000 budget, I'm quite certain, but it's really a simple thing to design. Nothing high-tech at all. That site I linked to discussed hand cranked cable ferries, which let me to think about putting the power on the ferry, rather than on land, using a simple slack cable that would simply rest on the bottom, getting raised by the drive unit on the boat itself as it traveled, then sinking back to the bottom as the boat reaches the other side.
Using wire cable, a simple friction deal would work, powered, perhaps by a small, electric start gasoline engine..think Briggs&Stratton 10hp. A gear reduction gearbox, with a reverse gear (not hard to come by) and a couple of grooved wheels (cable sheaves), and you'd be home free. How long the cable would last is something I don't know, but replacing it wouldn't be that big a deal. Steel cable does surprisingly well when submerged in fresh water, and stainless steel cable is available (at substantial cost).
The actual craft could be a simple pontoon boat, with the drive system mounted midships on one side or the other. Pontoons boats go, used, sometimes for an amazingly low price.
I'd love to design and install a system like this, but I'm nowhere near you. It would be a fun project.
Think about a university engineering program. In most of them, students must come up with and realize a project before graduation. Your system would make a good one, I think.
You'd have to find someone who does unusual mechanical things. Someone who'd take the job on as a lark as much as a money-maker. The kind of guy who builds a miniature steam train in his backyard for his kids.
Such folks are hard to find. As for the homeowners' association...that'd be a hard sell, I'm sure, but...if you could convince them that your cable would run deep enough to prevent any problems with other boaters, they might go for it.
Such a system would use up your $20,000 budget, I'm quite certain, but it's really a simple thing to design. Nothing high-tech at all. That site I linked to discussed hand cranked cable ferries, which let me to think about putting the power on the ferry, rather than on land, using a simple slack cable that would simply rest on the bottom, getting raised by the drive unit on the boat itself as it traveled, then sinking back to the bottom as the boat reaches the other side.
Using wire cable, a simple friction deal would work, powered, perhaps by a small, electric start gasoline engine..think Briggs&Stratton 10hp. A gear reduction gearbox, with a reverse gear (not hard to come by) and a couple of grooved wheels (cable sheaves), and you'd be home free. How long the cable would last is something I don't know, but replacing it wouldn't be that big a deal. Steel cable does surprisingly well when submerged in fresh water, and stainless steel cable is available (at substantial cost).
The actual craft could be a simple pontoon boat, with the drive system mounted midships on one side or the other. Pontoons boats go, used, sometimes for an amazingly low price.
I'd love to design and install a system like this, but I'm nowhere near you. It would be a fun project.
Think about a university engineering program. In most of them, students must come up with and realize a project before graduation. Your system would make a good one, I think.
