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Hi All
What about a boat that has as little friction to the water as
possible.
Sharks and a lot of water mammals have a skin with little bumps
in it. They know why... The benefit of this is that the bumps
decrease eddies attaching to the skin. These
eddies are a major brake for any directional
motion and are what
you see behind any ship. What a waste of energy...
Here in Cancun I have seen several painters to use sand and colors
to make semi relief paintings.
So we can make a shark skin on a boat very easy. Any ship painter
just need to add sand before spraying the color on the boat's hull.
I have this idea since some years in my head, but have not made it
public before now.
Cheers and a happy new year!
"sharkskin hull"
http://www.defenset...rchives/001429.html
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 02 2009]
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Welcome. Happy new year.
The concept is good, but sand on your hull is just going to add drag. Check out the [link] for the real attempt. |
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The title on this is pretty horrible when you read the idea. I was looking for a boats having sex and evolving idea, instead I get shark skin boats. Titles would work better if related to the idea. |
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Sooo? What happened? That navy article said it removed 80+
% of the algae. Cool. Do all ships have it now? Did someone
kill the inventor for ulterior motives and to hide the results?
I talk about speed and efficiency. These underwater
creatures have evolved all kinds of little nipples to cope with
drag. See the whale fin trailing edges. Someone already
patented a ship propeller that boosts efficiency by ten
percent. |
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The sand inside the paint would expose some crystal edges
very soon due to wear and tear.
We could also try to embed activated charcoal with it's
infinite surfaces after making the coal water-repellent. |
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I think there is a limit to the benefit of texture. Most racing sailboat hulls are fared to a high degree. there is a product called microballoons that aids in the fairing (faring?) process. At a microscopic level, I think there is a sweet spot that a hull texture can attain. |
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I thought the size of the hallows was more crutial, like the dimples in a golf ball. If roughness made boats slipperier, then speed boats would get antifouling paint (very rough), but instead they get waxed to mirror smoothness. |
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The golf ball is faced with a similar drag problem. Somehow a
small surface pattern reduces the friction.
There are also the lotus flowers that produce a repellent
surface by making little bumps. In their particular case it
keeps them clean.
So maybe lotus flower hulls... |
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I think directionality would also be an issue. Shark skins are rough, and make good sandpaper, so I can see where you're coming from... |
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However, the sharkskin is actually composed of tiny enamel "tooth bumps" that all point the same direction. |
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If you were to skin a shark, and put it back on backwards... and if the shark somehow survived, it would be less aerodynamic. |
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Getting sand particles to all point the right way on a boat's hull would be a rather serious pain. |
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However, aircraft have been experimenting with large stubby "feathers." perhaps a few hundred "fins" welded onto the hull of a boat would work. |
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//If you were to skin a shark, and put it back on backwards... and if the shark somehow survived, it would be less aerodynamic.//
Nice One! |
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Perhaps bond the sand paint together with a slowly-dissolving natural material (limestone?) and really slather it on-- over time the sand bits will fall off, taking algae with them. |
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Or, scrape algae off the hull, dry it on the deck, and burn it for fuel. Perhaps even a revolving deck system that periodically switches the underside and topside hull sheeting. |
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