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but are not all described in detail in this article. minimal non-zero coefficient irreducible poly-
The format of the burst correction tables facilitates nomial in Marsh's or Peterson's tables is used.
the selection of a particular code or the evaluation A special-purpose computer has been developed
of several codes in that codes are listed in increasing at the Applied Physics Laboratory to perform
order of burst correction capability, increasing multiplication and division of polynomials in the
order of the irreducible polynomial exponent, and binary number system and in the required algebra
increasing magnitude of the check symbols. The when it is desirable to use a shortened code, thus
capabilities of very long codes are retained or even eliminating the need for hand computation of
increased after shortening the codes to mechanize residues. The same device doubles as an encoder
them. This property should be noted. A simple or decoder simulator for generator polynomials
mechanization is available if shift registers are used of degree 36 and less.
J. R. Apel
Ways and
Means of
The two most beautiful forms in To those who know and under- the emphasis on speed boats and
creation belong to a well-designed stand them, there is real beauty in h ydroplanes; and an examination, in
sailboat and a well-shaped woman. the lines of a hull or the set of the a bit of detail , will be maeole of a
A categorical statement such as this rigging of a boat, be it an 8-foot 150-mph Gold Cup h yd roplane. The
would ordinarily bring a flood of dinghy or an 80-foot diesel yacht. presentation of this article will be
abuse upon the person who made it, To those who are untrained in things given from the standpoint of one
but among judges of boats and nautical but who respond keenly whose voca tion (in more fortunate
women, the statement goes virtually to the visual arts, it is apparent that times, perhaps) encompassed much
uncontested. Though both subjects ships and boats have a high degree of this subj ect matter, but who is
would make an interesting discussion, of functional styling about them. It now redu ced to boating and boat
this paper will concern itself only takes only a bit of study and ob- design as an avocation only. So this
with boats. servation by the novice to become will be a " hobby" article.
educated to some of the niceties of Few of the technicalities of the
the business and to become convinced trade will be presented and virtually
J. R . Apel, a physiqst in the Plasma that the old saw about boats being no connection will be made with its
Dynamics Group, co-a uthored a paper called " she" has more truth to it mother-science, fluid d ynamics. This
entitled " Beam-Plasma Interactions " than would appear at first glance. is because first, the technicalities are
in th e May-June 1964 D igest. Com- This article will discuss the de- not too interesting and second, yacht
ing from a boatbuilding famil y, Mr. sign of pleasure boats and the de- design is much more nearly an art
Apel studied boat design at the signers; it will also discuss the con- than a science. With the exception
vVestlawn School of Yacht Design siderations that enter· into designing of a few craft such as the 12-meter
and practic.ed this profession for different types of boats. Examples racing sailboats of recent years,
several yea rs. of a few designs will be shown with orderly research effort in pleasure
November-December 1965 19
enough and the result is sometimes the typ ical cruiser will serve as fish-
less than pleasant for boat and crew.
A Power Cruiser
ing boat, a 2-week vacation retreat,
During the long evolution of sail- Proceeding on from sailboats, the a floating cocktail lounge, and an im-
ing vessels, the shapes of hulls and next hull type on our list is the semi- portant part of the customer-rela-
sailing rigs have been developed to displacement power cruiser, probably tions department of the owner's busi-
a high state of refinement and they the most familiar species of pleasure ness. She does all these things well.
are still evolving. There is a con- boat. This hull partially lifts itself In addition, she must be a seagoer,
sensus that the general type of ar- out of the water as its speed increases for ocean sport fishing beckons. The
rangement exhibited by the sailing hut in the main remains buoyed kind of vehicle that results may look
sloop of Fig. 1 is one of the m ost statically rather than supported dy- much like the yacht shown in Fig. 2.
efficient devised to date for smaller namically. This is a highly seaworthy, 35-foot
seagoing boats, say less than 65 feet It is here that the feminine in- round-bottom Jersey skiff that the
overall. The illustration shows a fluence on yacht design has made author has skippered, built for break-
model of a 43-foot fast racing sloop itself felt most strongly, for while a ing the rough shoal inlets found
designed by the author, but never sailboat is pretty much what her along the Eastern seaboard. Her
built (fortunately, perhaps, since sail- environment demands she be, the cabin lines are somewhat severe and
boat design is not his forte). She is power cruiser in the last few years her grace is not increased by the
rather keen, her beam being only has become more what the skipper's flying bridge used for control while
8-1/2 feet, and of somewhat shallow wife demands it be, at least from the sports fishing. This type of boat
tends to have a narrow stern , and the
keel has a fair amount of rocker,
or f9re -a nd-aft curvature, to allow
the seas to slip under her. They are
usually clinker-built, with one plank
overlapping another, but this one is
smooth-planked. She is extremely
able as cruisers go; twin l25-hp en-
gines make her very maneuverable
and permit a normal operating speed
of about 12 knots. Sleeping accom-
modations are for six and she is
equipped for extended cruising. She
was designed and built by Van Sant
in Atlantic City, where she summers;
winters are spent in Florida in the
company of her better-looking sisters
built by Chris-Craft, Owens, or the
like.
Fig. 2-A 35-foot Jersey sea skiff, Cap's Baby. This cruising boat is comfortable and All in all , the design of a power
stable, though not as highly styled as some. cruiser is a much simpler under-
taking than is the design of a sail-
draft for a boat of her size-5 feet. standpoint of styling and cabin ap- boat of similar size, and the conse-
Her large Marconi-rigged mainsail pointments. Fortunately, hulls suffer quences of mistakes are not so drastic.
and jib present about 900 square feet little in this process- although there
of area to the wind and are counter- is the story about the yacht designer An Outboard Speedboat
balanced by some 8500 pounds of who gave his wife free rein in the
lead on her keel. The hull cross- interior arrangement of his personal My own speciality has been the
sections are of the typical wine-glass high-speed planing cruiser. Such design of speedboats and hydro-
shape. She is designed for racing hulls are very sensitive to weight- planes. These terms are used in the
in rather shoal waters like the Chesa- and the inclusion of items like plate generic sense since a hydroplane is
peake Bay; as such, she is rather glass mirrors in the owner's quarters a speedboat, by necessity. "Speed-
specialized, in somewhat the same and an organ in the main salon boat" or "runabout" is usually re-
sense as an Indianapolis racing car proved more than the good boat served for the nautical equivalent
is specialized. Although beautifully could bear. She failed to plane be- of a sports car; that is, a peppy, open
shaped, the boat would probably not cause of the extra weight and it cost boat that planes on top of the
be too comfortable for long cruises the designer the price of two larger water, is capable of speeds between 25
since her fine lines do not yield the engines and a major reworking of and 45 mph , is safe for skimming
interior space or easy motion that the hull to correct it. around in protected waters, skiing,
cruising comfort demands. On the The important considerations in a fishing, and general waterborne ran-
whole, it is a boat for a racing owner cruiser are seaworthiness, comfort, dom motion.
and not general purpose usage. and maneuverability. In normal use, With the advent of high-power,
CH IN E LWL
BUTTOCK D
BUTTOCK C
BUTTOCK B
BUTTOCK A
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12
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BASELINE
16 14 12 10
Fig. 3-A typical lines drawing showing a 171h-foot, wood runabout suitable for either outboard or inboard-outboard engines.
side views (plan and profile) plus aft where the boat actually planes on tions of seakeeping. Breadth, or
transverse sections, of a 17-1 / 2-foot the water. This evolution is dis- beam, is required for stability; free-
vee-bottom boat designed by the au- played graphically by the buttock board or height above the water is
thor for personal use. The welter of lines. In addition, the keel line has needed to keep water out of the boat;
lines becomes clearer when we ex- rocker, or curvature, so as to minim- similarly, the flare to the sides in the
amine them one-by-one. The sheer is ize the amount of n onlifting bottom forward sections is to provide for in-
the line where the side and deck sur- in contact with the water, by elevat- creased buoyancy as the boat plunges
faces meet; the chine res ults from ing the forward part above the flow . into large waves, as well as to throw
side and bottom intersections; the As with a wing, the hull's angle of spray away from its occupants. The
rabbet is where the bottom and side attack is determined by a balance inward curvature of the sides at the
planking terminate and butt into the between weight and the normal com- after end is termed tumble-home, its
stem and keel. The remaining lines ponent of dynamic pressure inte- origin probably being the need for
are waterlines, buttocks, and sections, grated over the area in contact with the captain of a large sailing vessel
all of which result from intersections the water, at a given speed. Usually to have a clear view upwards from
of various sets of orthogonal planes this angle turns out to be about the windows of his quarters at the
with the hull. These lines are useful 3-1 / 2 ° as measured with respect to the stern of the ship. Tradition has re-
in fairin[! the hull, that is. in making straight buttock lines. The tangen- tained it in small boats.
sure the various complex ,c urves are tial component of pressure leads- to All in all, the craft in Fig. 3 should
be a good-looking, dry, relatively to the smallest inboard with a 48- having 13 as a registry number.
smooth-riding boat for famil y use, cubic-inch engine, up through the Figure 5 is a schematic view of a
capable of some 28 to 30 mph with 266-cubic-inch displacement, loo-mph typical 28-foot Gold Cup boat of
a 45-hp outboard. Her framework IS footers, to the imperious Allison- 1960 vintage, capable of some ISO
will be built of oak and sitka spruce, or Rolls-Royce-powered Gold Cup mph when powered by a 171O-cubic-
and planked with mahogany. The boats. The classes are usually built inch , 2000-hp Allison aircraft engine.
bottom will be sheathed with fiber- around a readily available engine The view is from the water level and
glass cloth and resin. This construc- type-expensive specific racing en- shows th e boat in planing position;
tion, coupled with her size and gines being prohibited as beyond the the stern is ou t of the water by a
power, will be enough to give some pocketbook of most owners. The good fraction of a foot , lifting sup-
comfort to her owner if he should be Gold Cup-Unlimited classes are the port being derived from the propel-
caught in the short, steep seas that most interesting of all and we shall ler, of which only one blade at a
the wind raises in a shallow body of concentrate on them for the re- time is su bmerged . The engine
water. I consider her a happy com- mainde'r of the article. turns the propeller near 9000 rpm
promise between speed and sea- Almost to a boat, the big machines through a step-up gear box whose
worthiness and hope to demonstrate are three-point suspension hydro- ratio varies from perhaps 2.8 to 3.2
this when she is completed next sum- planes, which means they ride skim- to one. The propeller pitch and
mer, provided I can get her out of ming across the water on two for- diameter are both about 24 inches,
my basement. ward protruding surfaces called spon- and the boat makes good a distance
sons or stabilizers, and on their sterns. of about 80 % of this per propeller
This type of hull was invented in the revolution. Supercharging is used
A Hydroplane earl y 1930 's and was used in the firs t on the engines; often the "straight-
At the opposite end of the spec- boat to achieve a mile-a-minute way" boats-ones attempting speed
trum from blue- water sailboats are speed. By 1940, the design had pro- records on a straight course -burn
racing h ydropl anes. These craft are gressed to the state shown in Fig. 4; alcohol for increased power. It was
more nearl y aircraft than boats, and this photograph illustrates a model under these conditions that Slo-Mo-
if the American Power Boat Asso- of the My Sin, later to become Guy Sh un, a Seattle boat, exceeded 200
ciation rules did not require that Lombardo's Tempo VI. Only 24 feet mph average speed on Lake Wash-
they derive their thrust from action long, she was not designed for the ington in a two-way run over a
upon the water, or prohibit movable horsepower installed in her after measured mile; it took several times
control surfaces acting against the World War II and she flipped at 105 this distance to accelerate and de-
airflow, Gold Cup and Unlimited mph while racing in the Detroit celerate, 6f course.
h ydroplanes would surely be jet- River, breaking Lombardo's arm in The characteristic roos tertail thrown
powered low-flying airplanes by now. the process. The sponsons are prom- by the propeller flies some 60 to
These are class boats, each class inent in the photograph and carry 80 feet into th e air as shown in
being determined by engine and boat the identification "G-13." One famil - Fig. 6, and this jet of water is
size, among other things. They range iar with all the superstitions in rac- often responsible for wetting down
from tiny outboards with 9-foot 'hulls ing might wonder at the wisdom of and drowning out any boat foolish
SURFACE OF W ATER
Fig. 5-Schematic of an Allison-powered, ISO-mph hydroplane in running position, as seen from the water level. Only the edges of the
sponsons and one blade of the propeller are in the water when proceeding at this speed.
enough to follow in the wake of the monsters is a thrilling experience, negotiating the racecourse is partly a
first within a few hundred feet. This especially because speed in a boat is matter of pointing it in the general
last photograph shows the two-seat magnified by the action and the very direction and hoping. Over 100 mph ,
hydroplane Dee-Jay IV underway at closeness of the water and spray. They the driver is buffeted by hard, sharp
about 125 mph in slightly choppy are steered from the stern cockpit, accelerations from wave impact and
water. Light is clearly visible under the seat being located behind the reaction to the rudder movement.
the hull and often the boat is com- engine and the twin 6-inch exhaust The boat is permeated by exhaust
pletely out of the water. Her general pipes. At the beginning, the starter noise, gearbox scream , and high-fre-
configuration is quite similar to that is wound up, engaged , and the big quency vibration from the propeller.
shown in Fig. 5 and her riding posi- engine catches and bleats loudly. One .\t 150 mph , one's senses are nearly
tion is about the same. She was one is set back in the seat from the ac- saturated, the remaining contact with
of several big racers that the author celeration, for there is no flywheel, externals being barely sufficient to
assisted in designing, building, and no clutch, no gears to ease the jolt. warn that the course markers' have
testing-in this case not an altogether Underway at 60 mph, the boat is flash ed by and deceleration must
satisfactory experience, since the boat riding well up on the water's surface begin , gentl y now, to avoid pitching
never overcame her bad luck and and the wind brings tears unless stern-over-bow because the foot came
troubles. That amount of bad luck goggles are used. At speeds between off the throttle too fast.
i8 unusual, however, and she was 80 and 90 mph, the stern lifts free
even an exception to the rule-of- under the influence of the propeller, In competition, with several other
thumb that it takes a new h ydro- the roostertail develops, and the boat similar rigs adding to the conges-
plane at least two racing seasons walks crab-like to starboard from the tion , and turns to negotiate and
before she begins to appear on the torque at an alarming rate. One roostertails to avoid, the situation
winner's list in the regatta circuit. realizes that steering the thing is becomes even more confused ; and it
The initial ride in one of these only an approximate maneuver and is tim e for the designer to abandon
dri ving to the race driver and to
sit on the shore, palms sweating,
hoping his man can extract from
his boat all that had been put into
it, and worrying lest the 20 pounds
weight saved hy shaving the thickness
of the main trusswork might cost a
broken boat or worse yet, a broken
driver. If she takes the heat, or
better, the race, the inevitable pride
of having created a winner is the
reward; if not; more art work may
be needed, and musings about bal-
Fig. 6--A Gold Cup hydroplane underway at 125 mph. Light may be seen under the ance, trim , power , and the like take
hull. The propeller throws a roostertail 60 feet in the air and several hundred feet behind
the boat. over.
November-December 1965 23