Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Drift Boat History
I am doing a project for school about drift boats, also how to make them more efficient by adding a shark skin like texture to reduce drag. So I was wondering if any one wouldn't mind sharing all they know. I do have Drift Boats and River Dories and have read it a couple of times. Any information will be helpful but I am mostly looking for the history.
Thank in advance for all of the info.
Jacob
Views: 831
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greg Max on
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Hi Jacob,
Sounds like a fun idea, I hope you discover some great new tech for us! Drift Boats and River Dories offers a pretty good dose of history. Can you tell us specifically what type of info you are looking for regarding the history of these boats? Person accounts, factual details, restorations, etc.? Hopefully somebody can offer some help if you provide a little more guidance. Thanks!
Greg
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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on
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There's a lot of drift boat history here Jacob. Ask away.
About the shark skin. They reason the shark skin is so efficient for swimmers (including sharks) is that it reduces friction in the forward direction making less effort for max speed, and adds more friction in the reverse direction minimizing any inefficient movement that causes propulsion in the non-forward direction. Drift boats are double ended for a reason. Rowers want them to be efficient in both directions. Just a thought, it will be interesting to hear what you come up with.
Here's an idea. Look into the stories and engineering history of the America's Cup Yacht Racing. There is a lot of information about increasing the efficiency of hull speed of a boat mixed in with history of the yacht races.
Have fun and spin up some questions that we can all rib each other about.
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Permalink Reply by Jacob P on
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This is what is being designed by the medical field and is 20 microns = 0.0007874" wide The ones I am designing are around .25" or 317% larger. This design unlike actual shark skin works in both directions because it is symmetrical. The bottom pic is actual shark skin and shows why it feels smooth one way and ruff the other (the points face the tail).
As of right now I can not get my CAD drawings on but I will try later. I also will show the boat models I have built with my two designs on them + one control.
As for the history of drift boats I am looking for first person accounts, factual details, and the progression of drift boat design.
My first Question is: When and why was the first drift boat made? I think I some what know why but I would like a more in depth. It was by some British or Scottish person a Mr. Mckenzie who did not like dug out canoes right?
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That is very cool Jacob. The lower shark skin is exactly what I was talking about. Your skin is going to get into the laminar flow conversation which is very interesting. Most hull speed boats have approached this by painting matte paint and using the paint texture to be the collector of the water layer. Your skin would be more aggressive.
Are you going to run some hydrostatic models over this? I would be very interested to find out the size of indents and how they relate to when laminar flow stops and cavitation starts.
Talking about the first drift boat is going to open a can of worms because it all comes down to definitions and categories of what makes one boat different from another. Form follows function as Roger writes in his book and there is quite a bit of the evolution mapped out in Drift Boats and River Dorries. The earliest reference that I have found in the West is a manuscript written in 1888 where Levi Scott (while blazing for the Southern route into the Willamette Valley in the late 1850s) was remembering hiring a ferry ride from Rogue River Indians in a "a short canoe that was twelve feet long and had a very wide flat bottom" Obviously this boat did not have any influence on the later experiments on the McKenzie River but it does show that a wide double ended boat was a form discovered to serve the Rogue River well.
Don't confuse the explorer Donald Mackenzie (exploring the McKenzie River in 1812) with the evolution of the McKenzie Drift Boat. The River was named after the explorer who left the Pacific Northwest in 1814. The boat was named for the the River and the light weight drift boat evolved from the 1920s to 1950s.
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I will be doing some test on my models but that will need to wait a little bit because I have to modify the my schools water tunnel so that it fits my boats and so the water has a smoother flow. Also some way to see the water move easier and don't have to change water out every time something like smoke in a air tunnel but in water so I can see the change in water flow around the boat models.
And as for the history I will be open to any information from the beginning to some of the current trends. If I open Pandora's box than so be it I will be learning more than I ever thought I would and have a fun time doing it.
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I just got my test results the other day
and I got some interesting results.
As a control I had a boat with no skin texture and had in overall force applied was about 0.020N(Newtons) over 3 tests (1 Newton=0.225lbs)
On the skin to the left the overall force applied was about 0.018N
The last skin on the bottom the overall force applied was about 0.012N
On each of the drawings the distance between the lines is 1/4" the bottom one I had to zoom in to show what it looks like.
What my tests have shown is that there is a slight improvement that on a larger scale could be significant. Which means easier rowing, motoring and you can go farther with less energy.
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This is very interesting Jacob. A reasonable test for drift boaters would be to see what the affect of some disruption of the design causes to the overall increase in efficiency. I'm thinking it would be good to know what level of disrupting the design starts to degrade the efficiency and if it matters where the disruption is?
The question I would be trying to answer is if normal use would cause the bottom pattern to return to the efficiency of the control bottom. How much of that use would do it?
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Permalink Reply by Vance Wonser on
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Jacob, the book they mention "Drift Boats & River Dories" is an invaluable tool for the information you are seeking on history, development, & construction. I love my copy!
It is available on the author's website (along with a great deal of information you will find helpful & interesting) http://www.riverstouch.com/ or at places like Amazon
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Randy after a while the coating will deteriorate and return to normal. The major use of this tech would go to the shipping industry where they will not be hitting rocks or other obstacles so the coating will last a lot longer. If this kind of product was used by the US Navy around $2billion+ could be saved every year from fuel and debarnacling the hulls.
Vance I do have Drift boats and river dories and have read it many times I was just looking for any other info.
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