TECHNOLOGY GIVES MARINERS PLENTY OF CHOICES
Fred Dyson – Dyson's Starboard View – Messing About in Boats
The twenty years after World War II provided the boating industry the technology for a marine revolution. Aluminum construction techniques developed for aircraft quickly spread to boats, and from there it was but a short jump to fiberglass.
These new materials drastically reduced the cost of new boats and minimized maintenance. Tough, durable, and relatively cheap materials allowed many landlubbers to get their feet wet without destroying a beautiful wooden yacht as they bashed, willy-nilly, into docks, rocks, and one another.
Aluminum's resistance to being bent into complex shapes did, however, produce some boats that looked more like pontoons. After a time, their rivets also leaked and the boats could sound like pots and pans in a scullery sink.
Fiberglass boats were more easily mass-produced and could be molded into complex shapes. At best, this produced some excellent boats. At worst, it meant vessels that tried to imitate cars, spaceships, or plastic refrigerator food storage containers.
In time, all of the technical problems were solved and America went boating in unprecedented numbers. Aluminum boats are now mostly welded and some of them have decent bow sections. Fiberglass technology has advanced and new synthetic materials are producing ever stronger, lighter vessels.
Interesting new developments haven't stopped, either.
INFLATABLES
The blowup boats have progressed from life rafts and pool toys to tough, high-performance craft that are usually only deflated for end-of-season storage. A decade ago we started seeing separate shaped bottoms and now many inflatables have rigid bottoms of fiberglass or aluminum. The latest evolution appears to be RIBs - rigid, inflatable boats. These are essentially an inflatable rim around a rigid hull. These hybrids offer a good planing surface with the floatation and cushioning effect' of an inflatable.
There are some inflatable utility craft that hold inflatable tubes in position with an aluminum framework to make work platforms or landing barges. Many of these disassemble and deflate to become air transportable. These are genius ideas that appear very useful.
TUNNEL HULLS
Running Alaska rivers is problematic because big rocks tend to bend propellers and small rocks tend to make jet impellers sick. A couple of local dealers have riverboats with a tunnel in the aft part of the hull that allows the propeller or jet intake to sit higher in the boat. I have fished with semi tunnel hulls in Bristol Bay for eighteen years and appreciate the concept.
The shape of the tunnel is important, and it must be configured to ensure the prop or jet intake is supplied with enough water. If the design is inadequate, cavitation, with attendant performance loss and prop/impeller erosion, will occur. A proper tunnel should act like a venturi that channels and concentrates the water flow to the prop/impeller. Check it out.
INBOARDS AND INBOARD/OUTBOARDS
Outboard Marine Corp. is offering an outboard jet coupled to a two-cycle outboard powerhead that is mounted inboard. Advantages include the lightweight and small size of a two-cycle engine, with better weight distribution and engine accessibility.
An old shipmate once had an outboard running full tilt inside his skiff, but that was the result of hitting a log at night. The impact tore off part of the transom and somersaulted the outboard into the skiff.
Having been involved with gasoline fires on boats, I have a pathological fear of inboard gas engines, but these power-plant configurations still offer some interesting possibilities.
OVERBOARD IN A SAVAGE SEA
An excerpt from the book "Albatross" by Deborah Kiley, published in the April 1994 issue of Readers Digest, is terrifying and informative. It is a story of a 58-foot ketch that sinks and leaves five crew members adrift in a rubber raft. Two survive. As with most marine disasters, several things contribute: a boat improperly maintained, a crew unfamiliar with the boat and each other, a storm, reducing sail too late, a mayday signal delivered incorrectly, no abandon-ship drills, a life raft that was unstable and poorly equipped, and bad luck.
One person died of infected wounds and exposure, two drank saltwater and went nuts before being eaten by sharks. Or so the story says. The survivors were fortunate to be picked up by a Russian ship. The author struggled for years to deal with the deaths of shipmates and the terror of the shipwreck and days on the raft. There are lessons for all boating people in this story.
PRIVATE SUBMARINES
The popular press has been carrying some interesting articles about private submarines. Sovereign Submarines of Redman, Wash., is building two 72-footers for tourists. The boats feature two dozen 3D-inch ports for underwater viewing.
U.S. drug cops working in the Caribbean report that imaginative drug runners are using semi-submersibles with stealth technology on the above-water portion.
I can see submarine possibilities for the commercial fishermen who insist on fishing in closed waters and are tired of making personal appearances in District Court.
How about for the cigarette smugglers in Southeast Alaska or the walrus tusk poachers? A submarine might be the ideal way to get away with a fifty-horsepower boat on the Kenai River. This may be a growth industry.
SAD SEAS
The crabber/tender Nettie H was lost in the Bering Sea last December and the body of a crew member in a life raft washed up on Cape Constantine last week. If it is the same vessel that has tendered salmon in Bristol Bay for years, I have delivered loads of fish to her in the past. We mourn the deaths of all who perish at sea and the loss of most vessels, but the ones we know are more painful.
Psalm 107 says, "They who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters; they have seen the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep." They might also get to see Him face to face sooner than they had scheduled if they do business on Alaska's great waters. Keep your survival suits handy and the zippers waxed.
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