PETE’S HUMAN POWER BOAT PROJECT
Last updated 31/1/07
I have had a bit of a lust for a HPB since I
saw a boat my mate in
Andrew says he gets about 15kmh max and cruises
nicely at kayak pace with his partner Michelle.
Andrew’s HPB
Anyway, the unsuccessful search for a suitable
right hand gearbox pretty much stopped me going any further.
During 2004, I had contemplated shipping in a
Cadence pedal boat direct from the manufacturer in the
The Cadence HPB
Early in 2005, I read about a Chinese
self-contained “twisted
chain” drive unit which would cost about $199 US each. After many email
exchanges with the Chinese manufacturer Seawind
Boat Corporation, I finally ordered two of these.
Transferring money to a Chinese bank account is
a rather tricky concept. The bank fees on the Australian end are all up front
and you know what you are up for. The Chinese bank, however is able to deduct
whatever fee it sees fit from the transferred money, so you don’t really know
how much to allow. It turned out the Bank of China deducted about 5% as a fee.
Anyway, having sorted that out I was in the
hands of the manufacturer and China National Post as to whether I actually got
the units.
Somewhat surprisingly they turned up this week (
Quickly unpacked, I found they had experienced
a little bit of damage on the 6 week slow boat trip, but nothing that couldn’t
be easily fixed. The units came with steel left hand cranks and cheap pedals.
One of the cranks was 165mm long the other three were 150mm. I’ve replaced
these with 170mm alloy cranks. The units are made from good old steel. The leg
is two pieces of folded steel TIG welded at the joins to form a reasonably
streamlined profile in which the 9mm chain runs. The alloy props are approx
360mm diameter and bolt on to a stainless shaft. Weight is about 6kg each – no
lightweights.
Now I have to decide what hull to put the drive
units in.
There are lots of ways to go here. The
speedsters like sleek mono hulls with outriggers or catamarans. There are not a
lot of mono hull HPBs around.
I’m thinking of using a fibreglass Canadian
canoe hull with the drives mounted front and rear and the pedallers
accommodated in mesh recumbent seats. I have figured out that my big plastic
Scanoe could be used as a mould for a clone canoe if all the inside aluminium
keels and stiffening was removed. It’s not going to be a particularly fast
boat, but it will be very stable and be able to carry a lot of gear on a trip.
Coleman Scanoe in Outboard Mode
Today Matt and I took the
Scanoe and one of the drive units down to Lake Burley Griffin for some concept testing.
The drive was strapped to the side of the Scanoe and cranked by hand. All this
really proved was that the drive does push the boat and the drive needs to be
securely attached to the boat.
I messed around with seating positions as we
paddled around and reckon that the rear seat could be right in the very back of
the Scanoe. The front pedaller would need to be about1/4 of the way back, just
behind the existing alloy cross thwart in the photo above.
I’ve had my eye on an abandoned
rowing scull at the back of one of the local rowing clubs. Upon further
investigation, I discovered there are actually five of these training sculls in
varying states of disrepair. I wandered into the shed one morning and chatted
with Steve who was working on another of the skinny rowing boats. I explained
what I was planning and he seemed to think that the sculls might be for sale
and would ask others on the committee.
Steve came back to me and although the price
for the sculls had been increased from the initial guesstimate, it still seems
like a reasonable entry boat.
I’m thinking of getting one of the sculls for
this project.
The problem I can see is the layout of the
scull is for going forwards backwards instead of forwards forwards.
This means the feet face the rear of the boat
and there is a well in the cockpit. The seat of a HPB could be fitted low in
the boat in this foot well.
I’m concerned that the part of the cockpit
where the seat slides back and forth is quite deep, i.e. 200mm and will not
allow enough room for my rotating feet.
Thinking about this more, I reckon I could make
a mould for a new cockpit in fibreglass to be lower at the front and suit the
pedal rotation. The new cockpit could also have some coamings to stop spray
coming in.
We’ll see I guess.
25-4-05 Anzac Day
Matt and I went to the coast with the Scanoe as
pictured above.
With its 3.3hp outboard the Scanoe can only get
to around 15.5kmh.
I really can’t see it ever going very fast with
human power, certainly not over 10kmh.
Click on this photo if you want to see what
it’s like in the Scanoe powering along at 14kmh into a chop.
3-5-05 – Free Boats!!!!
The sculls pictured above from one Canberra
Rowing Club were available for sale.
Initially the price of $200 was suggested which
went up to $500 when the committee considered it further.
I talked the price down to $250 on one that was
a bit beaten up but I still had my reservations given the narrow hull and
possible clearance problems for the pedal drive.
Anyway, another club at the University was very
pleased with my offer to remove two old fibreglass sculls from out the front of
their shed at no cost to them.
That means free!
I collected the sculls today and was a bit cautious
carrying them on my car roof given their extreme length.
One of them is 8 metres long the other is 6.2
metres long.
Both hulls require some major fibreglass repair
work.
I don’t think there is going to be enough room
for my rotating feet to clear the deck of the cockpit.
I think that the Seawind drives would work best
either suspended under a catamaran or through the hull of something big like a
Canadian Canoe.
One option using a Seawind drive in the scull
hulls would be to run a separate set of cranks with a chain off to the Seawind
drive securely mounted in it’s hole through the hull.
Potential Water Lizard Logo.
23-October 2005 – Update
After a relatively long and busy winter progress has been rapid on the HPB.
A week of leave devoted just to boat building helped things along.
Stuff I got done included:
-
moulding the new deck
-
moulding a seat
-
building the mounting block for the drive
-
glassing in two bulkheads front and rear of cockpit
-
building the drive box and glassing it in
-
scraping off 6 metres of lumpy paint with a heat gun on the hull to reveal
a nice smooth gelcoat finish (what was someone thinking?)
-
building the outriggers from lengths of 50 x 100mm PVC downpipe (thanks
Rick)
-
building rear iakos (outrigger holderuppers) from a fibreglass windsurfer
mast ($10 at tip)
-
building front iako from 7/8” aluminium tube – looks very similar to a
certain recumbent bike builders handlebars…
-
building rudder from aluminium sheet wrapped around a aero shaped piece of
LD45 foam and contact glued.
-
glassing in the new moulded deck and screw in access ports
-
fixing the seat in place and bending up rear support from 7/8” al tube
again
-
setting up rudder control string with nylon cord and bungy to ensure rudder
stays centred.
-
putting it all together!
Anyway, this last weekend saw everything actually get on the water with a
preliminary test Saturday to set the outriggers to the correct height.
Several friends called past and took some photos and helped out with the
trimming of supports etc.
On Saturday I was able to get the boat going to 13.9kmh which I am quite
pleased with for the first day out.
Some minor adjustments overnight so I could raise the outriggers even
further and a big trip planned for Sunday.
This trip turned out to be a circuit of the main basin in Lake Burley
Griffin and the 9.8km took me just over an hour with a stop to raise the front
of the outriggers even more.
Surfing behind a historic paddle wheeler was interesting – note to self,
don’t surf in wake of paddle wheelers.
When I was actually pedaling I was maintaining over 10kmh.
I liken the effort to pedaling my Greenspeed trike when I’m used to riding
a somewhat faster two wheeled lowracer recumbent.
Photos from “Launch Day” 22-10-05.
There are still some issues to sort regarding efficiency and these include:
-
fairing the bottom of the drive mount to ensure there is minimal step to
the hull bottom
-
wet & dry cut of the hull and polish
-
going back to 170mm cranks from the 140mm’s I made
October 2006
After a busy year of recumbent road riding, the mind has turned back to
Human Power Boats.
The converted rowing scull hasn’t had an outing for some time.
In a moment of sheer opportunism, friend Alex and I were able to purchase
two very used HYDRO BIKES from the boat
hire establishment at Acton Ferry Terminal Canberra.
Each cost $100 Australian and are in need of some serious maintenance and
repairs.
Basically the plastic floats and drive units are in good condition but each
has some major needed to get them on the water.
The intention is to convert them from an “upright” bicycle position to “recumbent”
positions.
The seating will be lower and hopefully that will improve stability meaning
the floats can be closer together.
I will use a fiberglass recumbent seat like the one on my Water Lizard.
The drive units are a chain driven from a separate crank and are a swing up
arrangement which have internal bevel gear driving a 12” plastic prop.
They are much lighter and more streamlined than the SeaWind units.
The drive will be at the front of the boat between riders knees meaning it
should be easy to swing the drive up for beaching and to clear weeds.
Rudders will be located at the rear of boat behind riders seat.
January 2007
Finally got around to working on the Hydro Bikes and took to them with the “ankle
grinder” removing the section of frame between drive unit and bottom bracket.
This piece will extend out from front stay with a single aluminium tube
between it and rear stay to support the seat, rider and rudder.
Alex’s “mock up” after cutting.
More as work continues….