Mike, "That seems like a really big set of items that could go wrong in a storm after being exposed to salt and stress for a few years."
Instead of steel the leaf springs could be fiberglass (lighter too). The Proacargo uses ball joints off of a truck I think for the pivot mechanism.
Mike, "The pivot would add cost, complexity, and weight, and since the system would need to be able to support flying a hull while pivoted to its extreme -- the same stress as a normal beam -- I'm not sure this would save anything."
Again I agree, but I wonder : ) The suspension system on a vehicle reduces weight and dramatically improves the ride. Separating the hulls from the crossbeam superstructure would allow for much smaller (not as high) hulls and a much more aerodynamically designed superstructure. Because the wind normally comes at an angle to the boat.
http://www.antrimdesign.com/uploads/3/4/6/6/3466431/_img_6994.jpg
I am pretty sure the biggest stresses come from the leverage exerted at the base of the mast and the torsional forces when one hulls bow is buried in a wave and the other bow is being lifted. Just going through waves at an angle is going to create a lot of force like that.
But it is the instantaneous forces, pounding into a wave, that go off the chart, and I am certain that the travel from the suspension system lowers those forces by an order of magnitude.
Jim Antrim says that there is a little less hull drag through the water with his system.
Talador
Posted by: taladorwood@yahoo.com.au
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