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Beats the hell outa me Joe. I made steel models of the hull designs ( tube
shape and flattened sphere ) from some old propane tanks and left over steel
tube, and ran some tests on them including buoyancy, power required to pull
through water, and stability. I tried to make the models as close to scale as I
could, with size, thickness, and weight to correspond with the full size
version.
I found that the tube is slightly easier to pull submerged, but more
difficult on the surface than the clam shell shape.
When I weighted the clam shell to ride vertically ( submerged ) it took
slightly less power to pull than when horizontal.
Haven't figured out why, but I suspect it's because it looks more fish
shaped, and displaces the water to the side rather than over and under as the
clam shell running horizontally does.
With about 400 lbs thrust ( 4 Minnkotas ) at full power and draining the
batteries big time, I hope to be able to get the 6 knots.
Again, I have no idea how to calculate the power, except to build the damn
thing, and see what happens.
Not really an engineers approach, but the end result is the same.
Frank D.
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