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Hi Jurgen.
I've had some thoughts on these over the years but never actually built
anything.
It seems possible to make a highly efficient propulsion design if a "fish
like" concept could be fabricated.
I don't think it would be very useful for close-in maneuvering but could be
good for longer distance traveling.
Vance said once that one of the "Perry" boats he piloted had a large prop
and with just a small rotation could move the boat quite well.
The point I'm making here is that a fish's tail is a large surface compared
to the whole, where as a small but fast spinning prop is a relatively small
surface compared to the whole.
There are some "toys" that you can get that are shaped like fish and
swim by moving the tail.
It could be fun to make a few different fish type models to see how they
perform.
By using flexible materials, and cam type mechanisms, it doesn't seem like
it would be too difficult or expensive to investigate.
Sounds like FUN !!!!!
Frank D.
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