Keep in mind this is a small scale project. :P

 

 

 

So hey Tip.it. I need your help\ideas for a little project I was thinking of building. I've always been interested in boats, especially aluminum boats. They're strong, light, and made from an easy to find material. So I got bored with the standard rectangular boat and it's boring just sitting there. So I thought of building a propeller and a motor - but a motor might be hard to find, possibly expensive, and if the boat sunk or capsized then it could electrify the water and burn out the motor.

 

 

 

Now, I thought all about this last night. How am I going to do this? I came up with the idea of powering a propeller with the help of a waterwheel being moved by a somewhat constant stream of water. Above the center of the boat would be a waterwheel. Under the wheel would be a ramp for the water to be drained to the water beside it. Above it would be a small to medium sized resivoir with a small hole that is big enough to move the wheel but not flood all the water into the ship.

 

 

 

The wheel is connected to a shaft. The shaft spins as the wheel moves, which spins a verticle shaft in one of the supporting beams for the wheel such that the spinning shaft is inside of the supporting beam. The goes below the water onto another spinning shaft. This one eventually spins the propeller. Under the entire propeller piece will be a small room that's connected to the boat. This'll help keep the propeller piece in place and not float off, and help prevent flooding.

 

 

 

For those that had trouble understanding, here's some drawings I made in Paint to help give the idea to people of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, Tip.It, here comes your part. I have some questions for you.

 

1) Is this project even feasible?

 

2) If not, could you give me some tips to help improve it?

 

3) The verticle spinning shaft gear isn't connected to anything, that'll make it difficult to move inside the beam since it'll be grinding along the bottom and will lose power. How can I fix this?

 

4) What can I use as gears? I've tried straws since they were handily near and were light, but no dice, they don't spin easily.

 

5) What should I use to support the whole project on top of the boat? I'd imagine some improvised beams like straws that're glued to the boat.

 

6) What should I use to reinforce the ship? Aluminum Foil is quite flimsy but it's also altered easily to allow things to be built. I was thinking of putting straws on the edges so that there's a foundation on it .

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks TIF for reading so long.

I believe there are some ferries using a similar concept,except I saw it on Scooby Doo so I'm not sure.When I'm home I'll put more thought into your concept...

1) Is this project even feasible?

 

yes of course, just dont expect it to work the first time you put it together and try it. theres a 99% chance something will have to be changed or totally re thought out. if you have the patience to make it work, it would be worth it though.

 

2) could you give me some tips to help improve it?

 

with the whole way you have the wheel driving the propeler thing, it would work great if you could make it water proof, but that could be difficult. if you cant consider an idea where it doesn't have to breach the hull, such as this very basic drawing:

 

 

black dot = shaft being driven by water wheel.

 

other colors = shafts transfering effort to propeller without breaching the hull, meaning you dont have to worry to much about water proofing.

 

good note: purple one could be a belt/chain also! makes it easier.

 

this is just a basic example.

 

 

 

also electric motors are cheep as chips. you will find some in old toys if nothing else.

 

generally they will all be driven by a 9v battery or a couple of 1.5v's but they add weight, and the life of the motor will probably be dramatically shortened if you use incorrect voltage/amperage.

 

best idea is to work out what motor you need from what you need it to power and then work out the circuitry so you provide the proper voltage/wattage. i don't know much about it but you'll probably find the motors will have the voltage/wattage written on them or on the packet if you buy them.

 

if you need any help wiring it up just ask. just remember the simple principle that you have one end of the battery connected to the positive on the motor and the other end connected to the negative or just to the outter metal casing.

 

its doesn't matter what end. if you put the battery in the other way the motor will spin the other way.

 

3) The verticle spinning shaft gear isn't connected to anything, that'll make it difficult to move inside the beam since it'll be grinding along the bottom and will lose power. How can I fix this?

 

could be difficult, but bearings are your best bet. if you can find some really small cheap ones in an old toy or at a shop or something it would be good. otherwise just cut a hole in something and stick it in there and have it driving through the hole. should work good enough.

 

4) What can I use as gears? I've tried straws since they were handily near and were light, but no dice, they don't spin easily.

 

gears are in about every moving toy available. also there are Lego ones you could consider. should be able to buy them for almost free small plastic ones.

 

5) What should I use to support the whole project on top of the boat? I'd imagine some improvised beams like straws that're glued to the boat.

 

plastic maybe better then straws would be good. make it strong and light, and put it in intelligently, you could sue the strongest substance known to man but if its in in all the wrong ways it wont support your water, which is very heavy in comparison to your projects size.

 

6) What should I use to reinforce the ship? Aluminum Foil is quite flimsy but it's also altered easily to allow things to be built. I was thinking of putting straws on the edges so that there's a foundation on it.

 

good idea with straws. maybe also tooth picks or something stronger that wont bend for a frame.

 

 

 

EDIT: wasn't finished writing and hit submit instead of preview lol.

 

anyway, i love to see people make these kind of things. something that challenges them and makes them have to design something that you don't just do in 3 minutes.

 

i made a similar thing a while ago out of mecano. i used ice cream containers cut and hot glued together for the hull/water proofing. it was driven by an electric motor and had a ton of led's lighting it up lol.

 

was way to heavy to float though and it leaked where motor drove propeller. thats why i recommend going over the hull and not breaching it.

 

ill post a pic one day maybe

 

have fun!

Oh wow man, thanks for the help! I really appreciate it. I like the idea of not breaching-the-hull, since you're right that it might be hard to waterproof it. I also like the fact that I can use a rubber band for one part :P. I think I'll try and work on it.

 

 

 

On a seperate note, I made my propeller last night. I don't think it'll work well lol :P. I probably messed it up somewhere .. but we'll see!

 

 

 

yes of course, just dont expect it to work the first time you put it together and try it. theres a 99% chance something will have to be changed or totally re thought out. if you have the patience to make it work, it would be worth it though.

 

 

 

Haha yeah, that's my mom thought too. All trial and error, you know?