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 Canada
Self-Leveling Boat Deck Printer Friendly Version
A friend showed me a YouTube video of a pool table that counteracts the movement caused by waves on a ship at sea (see next post). Why can't they make the entire deck of a boat work on the same principal?
No matter how much the waves rock the boat, the deck would remain level, just like the pool table. It would work using either some type of gyroscope or gimbal, or it would float independent from the base using some sort of counter-weight (possibly like a ball compass). After doing some research, I discovered that there is a device on the market that is basically a gyroscope in a box (see next post). It claims to reduce the effect of waves by 50%. Does anyone else think it's possible to engineer a way to keep the deck of a ship level at all times?
THANKS ALL!


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westfalr
 USA
Kitesurfing Hydrofoil Boat Printer Friendly Version
Main features:

* 2-3 kitesurfing type sails

* 2 catamaran hulls

* hydrofoils under both ends of each catamaran hull

* some kind of deck to hold passengers and cargo
Details:

* the kitesails would be staggered from front to farther back (exact locations need to be worked out)

* the angle of attack of the sets of hydrofoil blades on each corner would need to be controllable to facilitate the boat rising out of the water for less drag but not getting tipped over by gusts of wind

* the vertical members that hold the hydroil blades would also act as daggerboards and be steerable to control sideways slipping and enable tacking against the wind

* a small auxiliary energy system would be very helpful for "power steering" and to power onboard computer circuitry and sensors to respond to wind gusts and make rapid adjustments to avoid tipping over
Background

* boats using kites for propulsion date back to 12th century in China (see http://www.kitesurfingnow.com/kitesurfing-facts/history-of-kitesurfing.shtml)
Reward: A lot of free publicity for California State University, Pomona in advertising, literature, web sites, etc. related to commercial sales of products based on this concept.
 

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