Rudder

I covered my Styrofoam rudder plug with a few layers of light weight fiberglass cloth and two layers of Kevlar, whetted it out with epoxy resin, then vacuum bagged it. When I removed the rudder from the bag, a couple of outside layers of fiberglass had bunched up and made a very small crease along the leading edge of the NACA0020 airfoil. After grinding this ridge off, I noticed that the composite skin was especially thin and weak along the leading edge which is not good because that is the edge that will need to withstand debris, weeds, rocks and the occasional shore.

To reinforce the leading edge, I added another layer of Kevlar and a layer of carbon fiber. This time instead of vacuum bagging it, I wrapped it with shrink wrap which worked WAY better. It resulted in a very tight, hard and smooth surface. To further toughen that leading edge, I could insert another layer of carbon to the inside of the rudder after I dissolve out the Styrofoam.

The next step is to cut the top of the rudder off at the correct angle so that it meets up flush against the bottom of the hull. Then I dissolve the Styrofoam plug, weld some branches onto the end my 1″ OD stainless rudder tube, place the tube into the hollow rudder, and fill the rudder up with an epoxy/micro/carbon strands mix.

Stand for Within

I realized that I needed a better stand for the kayak hull, so I made three wood stands to support it. It’s just high enough off the ground to allow the prop to spin, so I will be able to climb in, sit in the seat and do some stationary dry-land training and testing of the drive. After i get the drive leg and seat in, I would like to re-visit my original power test:

http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/HPB/2006_11_20_archive.html

With my SRM power meter, I had measured the following efficiencies for power transmission from the cranks to the spinning prop:

STRAIGHT CHAIN = 100% (set to 100% as baseline)

RIGHT ANGLE GEAR BOX = 94.1%

TWISTED CHAIN = 93.3%

I would expect to maintain 94.1%, but I will probably lose a % due to the chain clinking along the stainless steel tube guides. Then again, the right angle gear box has not been run in yet, so I may gain some efficiency.

When we added the two layers of fiberglass roving to the Nimbus kayak hull, we hot glued a 1″ wide x .5″ thick strip of Styrofoam to the perimeter of the kayak just under the thin lip. Then we tapered (by sanding) the lower edge of the foam so that it met flush with the hull. After this was glassed, it provides a solid edge to matte with the 1/2″ thick edge on the deck.

Rudder plug

stack-o-foils

I printed out NACA0020 foil that Rick suggests using for the rudder –
man it looks tiny, but I guess a stern hung rudder, like the typical
ocean rowing boat is about 1/3 rd the effectiveness for a given area
of a non-aerating position under the hull. The rudder is 12″ long x 5″
wide by an inch thick.

I used my micro scroll saw to cut the tight curve at the end of each airfoil because the cut needed to be squarer than my x-acto knife would cut.

I cut twelve NACA0020 foil shapes out of 1″ thick Styrofoam and hot
glued the stack together using a guide that to ensure that the stack
was perfectly straight and square.

I sanding the stack down with a sanding block and sculpted out the
trailing edge of the rudder. I was pleased with the outcome. Then I
spray glued about 6 layers of fiberglass fabric to it, and I’ll wait
until the hull is out of the vacuum bag before I epoxy and bag the
rudder.

Then I will dissolve the foam with some gasoline, and insert my 1″ OD
stainless tube. The rudder tube will have smaller ‘branches’ welded to
the end where it is inserted into the hollow fiberglass rudder fin to
grab onto the epoxy/micro mix that will I fill it up with.

Deck Fiberglass

Ben and Helen were my helpers today. We got messy with epoxy and
wetted out the entire 2 layers of fiberglass roving in the Hyak deck.
We finished in about 3 hours which must be some kind of record. I’ll
pull it out of the vacuum bag tomorrow and start thinking about the
drive leg well. I’m thinking of building it with Marine plywood, then
glassing it. It needs to be super strong.

Hello from me – circa 1983!

Phil Events, a good friend of mine scanned and emailed me this photo from his dusty photo archives. We used to spend the weekends cycle touring around the mountains in the area getting into all kinds of various trouble. For those of you who weren’t around in the 80’s, and didn’t live through the “one size too small shorts crisis”, the fluffy hair was just an effort to draw attention away from the hideous short shorts.

Our weekly “shop day” was pretty easy yesterday. We sanded down the inside surface of the Hyak kayak hull, hot glued strips of 1/2″ Styrofoam around the perimeter, and cut out 2 layers of Fiberglass roving to be epoxied down. Compared to the deck, the hull is pretty feather weight and as it is, we are planning on adding about 30 pounds of ballast to the hull floor, so I don’t see the harm is beefing up the kayak skin. In total strength, it should be about the same thickness as the deck with has 2 layers of heavy fiberglass roving with 2 layers of Kevlar. The kayak hull will have 2 layers of heavy fiberglass roving, one layer of Kevlar and another lighter layer or two of fiberglass.

Matt and Ben

OK – I think I have finished the new BLOG site, and I’ll stop messing around with the URL’s and stuff. Here is the final location for everything. Please take a few moments to update your Bookmarks, Live Bookmarks, Address Book, and RSS feeds.

This is the new main URL for the PedalTheOcean.com BLOG:
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/HPB/HPBmain.html

This is the new URL for the RSS and ATOM feeds:
(the old RSS URL will no longer be used)
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/HPB/hpv.xml

This is the URL for the weekly PedalTheOcean podcast:
(or you can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes – search “pedal the ocean”)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PedalTheOcean

To sign yourself (or a friend) up to receive (or remove) these email updates:
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/hpv.html

——————————————————————

If you would like a very convenient way of following my blog updates, consider using LIVE BOOKMARKS in FireFox. Here’s how:

1. click on the RSS icon in the Address Bar and select “subscribe to…”

2. select the “Subscribe Now” button

3. Create your Live Bookmark in your Bookmarks Toolbar folder

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Contact Greg:

Greg Kolodziejzyk
Executive Director & Expedition Leader

e. greg@pedaltheocean.com
i. http://www.adventuresofgreg.com

skype: adventuresofgreg

Apple iTunes link (or open iTunes and search
the music store for PedalTheOcean)
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=217386002

RSS Link:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PedalTheOcean

Web version:
Episode 1: Introducing Greg Kolodziejzyk
Episode 2: Technology and Human power

…

3 Million Years

3 million years of evolution has produced an animal whose natural environment probably consisted of walking the distance of a full marathon each and every single day*. Now take that animal (also known as a “human being”), and stick him in a small cage, rob him of natural sunlight, make him sit in a chair all day and feed him a steady supply of chemicals and refined foods.

Is it any wonder that 60% of North Americans are over weight? Described by the World Health Organization as an “escalating epidemic”, obesity is “one of the greatest neglected public health problems of our time with an impact on health which may well prove to be as great as smoking.” Being overweight leads to many serious medical problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and many other health related issues.

An unnatural sedentary lifestyle causes chemical imbalances in our bodies which can lead to a host of psychological problems. Population studies have shown an inverse relationship between physical activity and depression, and there is evidence that active people who become inactive are more at risk of depression that those who remain active. According to a study from Duke University, aerobic exercise was MORE effective than antidepressant drugs in treating depressive symptoms in three study groups.

The cause of the obesity epidemic and skyrocketing rates of depression is obvious in my opinion. We need to become reacquainted with our “natural environment”. Break out of your cage. Get outside and get ACTIVE! Ride your bike, run, walk, swim, climb – whatever it takes.

Greg Kolodziejzyk

Contact: greg@pedaltheocean.com

* this refers to a Columbia University study published in early 2005 that suggested “you would have to walk 5.7 hours a day over fields and hills to approximate the energy expenditure of early humans”. The Article is titled “Low physical activity levels of modern Homo sapiens among free-ranging mammals” by M. Hayes, et.al. published online 9 November 2004 in the International Journal of Obesity.

The Abstract is here:
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v29/n1/abs/0802842a.html

The complete 6 page paper is also available, here:
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v29/n1/pdf/0802842a.pdf

First – welcome to the new look for the PedalTheOcean.com BLOG! Let me know what you think. Pat from RaceRecon and I have been working on a new web site for the PedalTheOcean expedition. We’ll launch http://www.pedaltheocean.com soon! Part of that process is revising the BLOG to this new look! It’s based on Google Blogger, but I will have the pages automatically FTP’ed to the PedalTheOcean.com server rather than Google like they are now (this is just temporary). The advantages to this new approach are many:

1. Using the Google web application to post blog entries is SUPER easy! Way, easier than before. Plus, since it is web based, I can BLOG from anywhere in the world.

2. I can send a BLOG post from email, or from my camera phone, the satellite phone or my rugged Recon PDA.

3. Each blog post is a single html page including the index to the blog updates and does not contain old fashioned frames (my grandpa tells tales of how they used to use html frames a way back in the olden days).

4. Your comments can be posted directly onto the blog update page. I hope this will invite more feedback and even some dialog between all of you rather than just me and you. To leave a comment, just click on the talk bubble icon below the headline for this blog update.

Let me know what you think.

*****************************************************

I was welding so much I got a sun burn on my arms – forgot to wear long sleeves. Well, the stainless steel drive leg is almost done. It works pretty well – The SRM chain ring pulls the chain through a 1/2″ diameter stainless tube which runs down to a cog mounted on the right angle gear box. The two 1/2″ round tubes keep the chain guided all the way around. It fits so tight in there, that it would be impossible to derail the chain.

The square tube ‘T’ that you see in the photo above was to keep everything square until I had it all solidly welded together. Then I welded in a third 1/2″ round tube on top of the square tube and cut the square tube out. This was to keep the profile of the leg very narrow to slip though the water. As it is, it’s only 1/2″ wide down to the gearbox which is sort of big. I’ll build a fiberglass fairing for the struts and the gear box.

The action is OK, there is a bit of chain rattling along the chain guide tubes, but I know that won’t even amount to a fraction of a watt of loss.

I am concerned about making it water tight. The gear housing at the bottom is theoretically water tight – ie: I fabricated stainless steel that fits snugly all around the gear box, but I know there will be leaks – even after I bolt the gear box on using rubber gaskets. I still need to make a removable cap for the front of the gear housing, and this also needs to be water tight.

I could just cover the whole structure permanently with epoxy, micro and fiberglass. that would certainly make it water proof, but it would also prevent me from servicing it which I don’t like. I can’t see why there would ever be any reason to service it unless the chain broke and got stuck in there. As it is, if the chain breaks and can be pulled out, I can thread a new chain through by just spinning the prop which turns the cog which winds the chain around.

The other option is to build the fiberglass fairing enclosure such that it is water proof, but hollow and can be removed to gain access to the drive leg mechanicals. Not sure how to do that easily.

Rick W. was worried that eliminating the heavier square tube and replacing it with the small round tube would allow the leg to flex, but these round tubes are fairly thick and I can’t even bend it or twist it a bit if I jumped on it. I was going to brace the 3 round struts with cross bracing, but I really don’t think it is required. It’s pretty beefy and solid. I was also going to wrap stainless sheeting around the strut, but I don’t think that is necessary- I’ll just let the fiberglass fairing seal that up.

I think I will leave the drive leg as it is for now. It’s ready to be mounted in Within and tested thoroughly. I’ll fair it later when I figure out what to do about making it water proof.

Next on the agenda is to add a couple more layers of glass to the Hayak hull. I weighed the deck and it is about 50 pounds which is right about what I expected. The kayak hull weighs less and we’ll be adding ballast to the hull floor anyhow, so I don’t see the harm in adding some additional weight to the hull in the form of a thicker skin.

Then I want to build the drive leg well (that holds the drive leg in place), the seat and seat rails. Then I need to work on the rudder, then the bulk heads. Last but not least, i need to figure out how I am going to hinge that canopy top and how I’m going to add a window to it.

*********************************************

The KidPower school program is sort of taking off. I am booking a school presentation every two weeks. My sisters Theresa and Carol, sister in-law Jennifer and Helen are managing the bookings, and other logistics for me. If you are in Calgary, have a child in grade school and would like me to visit, just have the teacher send Theresa an email.

The plan with KidPower is to take it nation wide. I’m now in the process of developing a template that we can duplicate across the country. If we raise what we need to make this expedition happen, a percentage of what we raise will go toward making the KidPower national program a reality.

Did you see 20-20 last night? it was a show about risk evaluation and how we are incapable of properly evaluating risks. We are scaring ourselves to death. We are afraid to let our kids go outside to play because of fear that they will be kidnapped. The chances of being kidnapped are less than being hit by lighting TWICE! Yet, the kids stay inside playing Xbox and snacking. They get fat and this becomes a serious problem when they get older because it leads to the #1 most dangerous killer of them all- heart disease!

---

Today I started work on the drive leg for Within. The crank and chain ring is my SRM small single ring unit. The SRM bottom bracket cartridge fits into this super slick item I purchased from Nova Cycle:

It’s an Eccentric Bottom Bracket. The internally expanding part has both positive expansion and positive contraction. You slip it into a shell and rotate the unit in the shell to take up any chain slack. Then you tighten the expansion bolt with a alan key which secures the device into the shell. This type of bottom bracket can be used with a single speed bike where there are no chain guides to take up slack in the chain. It works VERY WELL. I am impressed. No need for a chain guide roller. An objective with the drive leg is to make it with as few moving parts as possible. Simple, robust, water tight and easy to service is the goal.

I tack welded a 1″ square stainless tube to the bb shell so that it was flush to the end of the shell. I have 1/2″ stainless round tubes that I can weld onto this square tube that will house the chain on both sides.

AT the other end of the square stainless tube, I welded on two shorter 3/4″ square stainless tubes and bolted the right angle gear box to it. The chain runs straight from the SRM chain ring down to my 11 tooth cog mounted on the gear box axle.

Next, I will weld the two half inch round stainless chain tubes where the chain runs and build a stainless housing for the small cog. This will keep water out of the chain and the cog and will bolt to the angle gearbox. It should be water tight all the way up to the bottom of the chain ring.

In the drawing I did, I don’t show the 1″ square tube running all the way down to the gear box. I thought that I could support the gear box with the small 1/2″ round chain tubes if I added plenty of cross bracing between them. It would make for a very thin hydrodynamic fin, but I’m not sure it would be strong enough. I can decide later because I need the full length of this square tube to hold everything square and straight until I can weld on the chain guide tubes. They have to be in exactly the correct position, or the chain will rub as it slides through the small tubes.

Greg Kolodziejzyk

This worked out VERY cool and was definitely worth the effort to put it together, as it is totally the high-light of the school presentations. The short video clip above says it all. Thanks to Matt for the awesome video work, and to Jennifer for the photography and help.

Link to Quicktime Video

The simulator is based on an Xbox game called “Midtown Madness”. In the game, you drive a vehicle around a 3D city with other traffic, pedestrians and miscellaneous obstacles. If you hit another vehicle or pedestrian, they will go flying out of the way. People on the streets sense when you are approaching and they scream for their lives and run away. You can drive up onto sidewalks, over grassy parks or even into the ocean. The virtual city seems very extensive and I have yet to explore the entire environment.

To connect the Critical Power steering bar to the Xbox controller, I bonded a plastic lever to the Xbox thumb control and it is activated with a brake cable that is connected to the steering bar. It works amazingly well – very sensitive, but super easy to steer.

The video monitor is a cheap mini-DVD player system I picked up at an electronics discount store. It came with 2 external monitors which is really convenient because as the kids line up to take their turn driving the simulator, they have a blast watching the current driver zoom around the city.

When you are sitting in the streamliner, looking at the video monitor, you get a real sense of steering this streamliner down the street – it really is a blast!

And to add even more realism, I can slip my wind trainer rollers under the front wheel and the rider can pedal as they navigate the virtual course. It is amazing how much more real it becomes when you combine actual peddling with the virtual display.

Unfortunately, the kids have a tough time reaching the pedals. I even added some cranks to the mid drive to move the pedals closer to the seat, but it’s still tough for little legs to reach that far. I’ll keep working on a solution for that – if you can think of anything, let me know.

Cheers,

Greg Kolodziejzyk