Found this by accident... Odd looking oldie

[Bob Perkins]

Take a look at:

Boat Listing (http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_full_detail.jsp?slim=quick&boat_id=1233447&listing_id=72412&url)

Take Care,
Bob

[ 10-06-2004, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Bob Perkins ]

[Venchka]

The Hickman Sea Sled, another great idea from the Great White North, eh.

That is a nice version.
Sea Sled (http://easyreader.hermosawave.net/news2000/0316/vintage.asp)

Wayne
In the Swamp. :D

[sdowney717]

What a great idea. Why has almost mo one picked up on this sea sled design?
Fuel economy must come from the speed the hull gets for such little power requirement.

[Thad Van Gilder]

They built an aluminum one recently in south jersey that they keep in cape may. It's called Thunder Cat.

Anyway, Boston whaler picked up the design and modified it years ago.

Thad
S/V IVY

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

This 1928 16ft Hickman Sea Sled Outboard is for sale at www.antiqueboat.com (http://www.antiqueboat.com)

Nice boat eh? :cool:

http://www.antiqueboat.com/boats/images/padg16-2.jpg

http://www.antiqueboat.com/boats/images/padg16-1.jpg

Century made this 18ft. "Sun Sled" in 1963.

http://www.antiqueboat.com/boats/images/dewt18-4.jpg

[ 10-07-2004, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: Mr. Know It All ]

[John Blazy]

Now I KNOW that aliens have visited way back in the day. Wierd looking boats. The first boat looks pretty cool though, Kevin. - JB

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

The earthlings came up with this,50'x 12' tripple I/O. Yee Haw!!! :D

http://www.winninghoff.com/images/sled50.jpg

[ion barnes]

There are reasons why the design is not used.

1)The tunnel tends to blow water and air out and into the boat

2)The bow does not have as much bouyancy as you would think, hence Boston Whaler's design with the 'third bow'

3)The tunnel had a tendency to pound in rough seas, also dealt with by the third bow form

4)Sleds have had problems with prop cavitation when using a single prop, probably because of the turbulance created in to tunnel, as opposed to twin props. I am speaking of outboard drives. Hickman developed the early form of piercing prop drive where only the lower half of them prop circle was in the water, as seen on all hydroplanes since the fifties.

I have a set of drawings from an old Popular Mechinx for a 15' sled if anyone is curious.

[brian.cunningham]

Neato!

Modern flat water version:
http://www.hotboat.net/home_page/image_rotator/big/4.jpg

Most modern ofshore racing powercatamarans are actually tunnel boats. They just activate at a much higher speed! :eek:
http://www.hotboat.net/home_page/image_rotator/big/12.jpg

There was a real nice wooden one on the cover of WB a while back.

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

Great photos Brian. :cool:
That first one looks like the "Batboat". :D

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

I've had some experience with this type of design; a barge-like boat that was used for a short time in the Norw. Navy for diving operations. It was perhaps 30' long, and was powered by 2x100 hp outboards.

Although it was able to achieve a fair speed, ~40 knots, the design had some severe limitations in addition to those already pointed out by Ion.

-The air cushion in the tunnel tends to lift the bow to a point where the air is released and the bow comes back down. This made for a very bouncy ride under all conditions on the boat we used. It was not possible to use the forward part of the boat for neither stowage nor passengers for this reason.

-The constant pounding of the bow created a lot of stress in the hull, especially in the area over the "air tunnel". A pretty substantial "bulkhead" was placed across the tunnel, but it eventually cracked due to the stress and we could see the crack open and close when running.

The tunnel did, however, make for some very soft and damped landings when running in bad weather. We actually had the whole thing, propellers and all, airborne a few times when running it in a full gale :D

[imported_Dutch]

didnt wb magazine do an article on them so time ago?

[ion barnes]

Yes Dutch, it was quite some time ago, could have been early '90s. Was a good historical artical and a brief note about someone building a new one. I was dissappointed as there was not enough regarding the details or even a partial set of plans. Later I came across more info in an article by Dave Gerr.