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| 'Other' pedal-powered kayak prototypes | | Print | |
| Wednesday, 03 September 2008 | ||||
Pacific Tailboat and Native Watercraft Multisport Propel concepts Native Multisport Ultimate 14  Much to the dismay of some paddling purists, pedal-powered kayaking is really catching on. Ever since Hobie burst the bubble with the invention of the mirage drive a decade or so ago, I've seen several alternative pedal propulsion system concepts. Some on the web, one or two others on inventors programs on TV. For one reason or another none of these have hit market yet (that I'm aware of) but recently I stumbled upon a couple of interesting concepts currently in development and they do make for some good speculation though. There's really not much media available on either of these right now (that I can find), so it's a bit early to be certain if they'll ever make it to production.The Native Watercraft Propel kayaks do, however, appear to have an advanced prototype of a pedal-powered concept that looks quite interesting. As the name suggests, it's a propeller based design and I'll be very interested to see how it performs. According to the Nativecraft website, it offers similar benefits to the Hobie mirage drive: respectably fast and very efficient, offering the additional feature of on-the-fly reverse. A propeller is precisely what many curious onlookers expect to see poking out from underneath a Hobie mirage kayak and this propeller does look pretty sleek, so I think it will attract some attention when and if it becomes available. There are also electric-powered versions in their Multisport range (12 and 14.5'). It is interesting to note that the hull designs of their Multisport kayaks are not a sit-on-top design as such, nor a traditional sit-in kayak, but more of a dug-out canoe design. Although I think that's fine for sweetwater conditions, I'm not a fan of that style of hull in choppy water. If a large wave crashes over the sides it's going to take on a fair bit of water... one would want a good bilge handy at the least. The pedalling position is much more like that of a recumbent cycle (than a Hobie for example) and I'm not so sure how well that would suit active fishing. Time will tell... maybe.  The Pacific Tailboat uses a different system altogether and much like the Mirage drive, seems to have found inspiration in nature. The reason they call it a tailboat is that the propulsion system simulates the action of a shark tail. There doesn't appear to be any photos on the website, although there are concept images and a few small clips of a prototype in action. I'm actually surprised how quickly it seems to be moving along in the side view clip, but while I watched the front and rear clips I picked up how much the bow is snaking left and right. Obviously this would be caused by the sweeping sideways movement of the tail fins and would have to impair efficiency to some degree I imagine. Either way, it's pretty hard to discern much from those videos and even less from the concept drawings, so it'll be interesting to see if this one ever makes it to market.Here's a description of how it works: The propulsion fin is the rear-most fin suspended from a carbon-fibre "boom". The boom sweeps, or "heaves", from side to side by pedalling. The foot pedals are located in front of the recumbent-style drivers seat. The rudder, or "pectoral fin", is mounted at the stern of the boat. The pectoral fin is used during steering and braking, and is controlled by the side-mounted joystick. Thrust is generated as the airfoil-shaped propulsion fin slices edge-wise back and forth through the water, just like a fishes tail. The fin generates lift and "flies" through the water like the tail of a shark, or wing of a bird.    
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