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Tetrahedron Super Yacht Aka Stealth Bomber Yacht?:
I came across this very superior yacht because it was written up and pictured up in the Daily Mail, among many other www places.
It is the work of this guy:
Long distances are achievable with reduced out-of-water drag and stormy ocean conditions would incur virtually no slamming. Improved efficiency is driven by elevated hydrofoil propulsion and would be an inherent performance benefit of this type of design.
Long distance, smooth travel through rough water at high speed: the key performance attributes of this new motor yacht design.
Yes, sadly this is only, as yet, a yacht “design”. This is a “concept yacht”.
Notions like this are why the world needs rich people. Their job is to check whether stuff like this actually works, at their own risk and at their own expense. The rest of us can then pile in and share the fun.
This thing should star in the next Bond movie, “smooth travel through rough water at high speed” being the very definition of James Bond’s world.
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Its already been in a Bond movie – Tomorrow Never Dies.
I recently watched (on youtube) an old top gear episode where May (in a very fast boat) races Hammond (in a classic Ferrari Daytona) across the French riviera. May won, but he complained endlessly about the discomfort of continually crashing into waves at high speed. So this, if it works, would seem to be an obvious step forward.
Isn’t this a re-born Caspian Sea Monster?
‘rough water’ is a VERY subjective term !!
Bet it wouldn’t sail smoothly through some of the seas I’ve seen !!
Interesting concept though and I agree with the justifications.
The rest of us can then pile in and share the fun.
The “rest of them ” don’t deserve to “pile in and share the fun”
Even if “rich people” did none of they above, it’s our property, our money, we own it, we get to spend it on whatever we want. That’s the whole fucken point of being rich.
The designer needs to read “Seaworthiness, the Forgotten Factor” by C A Marchaj to learn something about wave dynamics and stability.
If it has to slow down in a storm (and it will), then it becomes a surface effect craft subject to normal wave dynamics and it doesn’t look like it is designed for that. Chances of survival? Bot a lot …
It looks like the seagoing vessels that Kipling mentioned in “With the Night Mail.” Cool!
Where have I seen this before?
My guess is my uncle by marriage (my Dad and he married sisters). Uncle Bucky figured this out long ago because in the 1950’s I remember him talking about the many uses of tetrahedrons – here is one of them from 50 years ago. He was fooling around with these geometric shapes in grammar school over 100 years ago.
So, if I hit the lottery, I want one of these – the ship that is.
http://www.neatorama.com/2015/07/17/Buckminster-Fullers-Proposal-to-Build-a-Giant-Floating-Tetrahedron-in-San-Francisco-Bay/
Phil B, I’m no engineer, but that pyramidal shape suggests the it would be very stable floating on the water in rough seas. It appears to have a very low center of mass, and thus it would take a far more severe angle to tip it over than an ordinary craft. Am I wrong?
The problem with a shape like that is unless the ship is absolutely massive passengers will have very little room.
It does say on the naval architect’s website:
If he can’t make a lasting website, why go to sea in his aquaplaning Toblerone?
“Small Waterplane Area Single Hull- SWASH
Prof Hellmuth Walter designed one in the mid-30s as a torpedo boat or small destroyer.
For a description: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a006270.pdf
Also: http://www.bluebird-electric.net/SWASH_Small_Waterplane_Area_Single_Hull.htm
Cheers
Yes, but it is not solar powered, and it looks like it was made out of metal! What’s wrong with recycleables, like wood?
The ocean isn’t an open road. It’s full of floating trees, large mammals and other objects.
Stil eco-shit. Give me something big with a couple of nuclear reactors, and an Aegis any day.
Does it come with its own Goa’uld?
My favorite book in this area is the classic “Heavy Weather Sailing” by K. Adelard Coles. I think this designer has not read it. (By the way, isn’t that a great name for an English yachtsman?)
Displacement 75 tonnes?! Yeah, sure.
Chip:
That’s one of the main problems that this guy cited.
Good post Brian.
Looking at the design, I see that it is to be driven at high speed by one propeller in a small underwater fairing with the entire visible hull balanced on a strut above it. The stresses would be enormous.
Another question is: what wave height can the beast surmount? The ocean does produce some mountainous swells.
Rich: You might be right, but take a gander at the hydroplane arrangement on the big cats (AC72) from the last America’s Cup race. At speed (35 knots), those boats were entirely supported by a single “bent centerboard”, the horizontal (lifting) portion of which was about the size of a small surfboard. All forces from this wing were transmitted up to the hull across a 90 degree bend, through a section no more than 15 cm thick and about 70 cm wide. All carbon fiber / epoxy, of course. Pretty amazing stuff.