[JoeF]

What are "boated hang gliders" ?

Let us distinguish between a few situations:
1. Hang glider transported as luggage on a boat.
2. Hang glider towed to gliding flight by use of a boat.
3. Hang glider "lands" in water and is then morphed by the operator into being a boat for returning to shore for another cycle of launching from high land points.
4. Hang glider lands on a boat surface or in a boat-operated catch (hook, net, etc.)
5. Hang glider integrates with a boat by crashing into the boat.

This topic gives focus to the designing, building, and operating the "3." sort of "boated hang glider".
The variety of design solutions are expected to be broad and clever. The operating of such morphable hang glider is also expected to have variety.
The other "1.", "2.", "4.", and "5." may be worthy of topic threads all on their own.
====================

Boated Hang Glider
Design and build a hang glider that can "land" in mild ocean. Once in the ocean, the hang glider can be morphed easily to be a manageable boat. The boat will be operated to come ashore in an ordinary safe-boating manner. Boat to shore. Climb to launch again and repeat the cycle. This arrangement will open millions of land launch sites with flight endings on water-body surfaces. The boat might be a sailing boat or row boat or powered boat. Clear the boat with the Coast Guard.
Boated Hang Glider
====================

The topic has been given glances in times past. But increasingly the millions of launch sites coupled with water body "landking" sites beckons.

Have fun designing, building, testing, and operating hang gliders that well morph to boathood.

... the hang glider was then boated ... That is, the hang glider was just morphed to a configuration that then could be called a boat.

[Bill Cummings]

“What are "boated hang gliders" ?
Let us distinguish between a few situations:
1. Hang glider transported as luggage on a boat.”

Where there is a will there is a way. Depending on which design of boat one uses the way will almost certainly be different.
One way that has worked, transporting as luggage on a boat, a hang glider folded and in the glider bag, will transport easily on a Star Craft Capri 14’, with a walk through windshield.

This design of this boat uses an outboard motor so the glider has to be carried diagonally from the port (left) stern (rear) of the boat, going through the walk through windshield, with the other end of the bagged hang glider resting on the bow (front) starboard (right) side of the boat. A flotation cushion is placed under each end to pad the glider from the boat.

At the split windshield a padded two by four is placed on what a landlubber would call a split (walk through) dashboard. This will add support to the folded glider near its mid section.

This method does not require any modification of the boat. Moving from one side of the boat to the other will not be that difficult.

Moving from behind the windshield to the two seats in front of the windshield with the glider in the way will require, good balance, nimbleness, and occasionally the ability to swim.

[Bill Cummings]

“What are "boated hang gliders" ?
Let us distinguish between a few situations:
1. Hang glider transported as luggage on a boat.”

At sunset when the glider should no longer be towed up, returning to the landing or mooring will be no problem with the hang glider securely fastened to the launching platform yokes.
The glider will remain wings spread and ready for the next flight but it will have to be fastened correctly when the boat is up on plane and moving at 30 to 40 mph.
With the base tube or control bar resting in the two yokes, one on each side of the control bar, a quarter inch stainless steel rod can be passed through a hole in the back prong of each yoke, over the control bar, and out through the holes in the front prongs of the launching yokes.

Next a nose over padded rack should be near to touching the front nose wires. On this padded nose over rack will be mounted your nose release mechanism and also a secondary “COLD NOSE SAFETY.” This is a secondary back up nose safety that has to be unhooked at the nose of the glider by hand. If someone were to trip the nose release cord of the primary nose release the secondary cold nose safety will not allow the nose of the glider to become unfastened from the nose over rack.
This has the hang glider safely fastened to the boat without a pilot hooked in and the boat can now transport the hang glider on the boat as luggage. The glider is fully set up and ready for the next day of flying save for the two base bar safeties and the cold nose safety.

[SamKellner]

Where there is a will there is a way. .

Wow Did anyone get a picture of Burke Ewing at the Otto Fly-in?

He definitely boated his glider to get to the fly-in.

I didn't take enough pics.

[Frank Colver]

Back in the day I got a few variometers back for repair that pilots had tried to "boat" back to the beach.

Fcolver

[wingspan33]

As far as a HG converting to a boat, . . . I envision a set of (rapidly) inflatable pontoons on either side of the base tube. A smaller "float" for the rear of the keel would also be important. Certainly you don't want the glider to turn turtle so the system should be designed to resist that. A float at the nose as well could prevent a nose-in (whack) submersion.

Floatation stability would be easier in small lake situations. But even non rough ocean conditions may make stability more difficult with any practical floatation method.

Now the question of how such a floated HG would be propelled is a much trickier question. If the pilot had a mosquito powered harness (linked to the floats to keep it high and dry), that could be used to propel the floated glider back to shore.

Even simpler would be swim fins stored in a pack and put on after landing. Very much duck-like. It may sound goofy but I could see that working. If the distance wasn't too far!

An on shore breeze may also propel the glider toward shore but a rudder may be needed in that case. And beaching a glider ocean side gets hard with even small breaking waves present.

In thinking about this, a simple float system could be rigged where two inflatable tubes could follow each of the nose wires down to either side of the base tube then on back to the keel wire attachment point. In the area of the base bar the inflatable tubes would have a greater diameter (and upon inflation, straighter - as in somewhat parallel to the keel) to better support the glider and pilot's weight.

Enough for now.

[Frank Colver]

Don't forget your shark repellent!

FC

[Bill Cummings]

“What are "boated hang gliders" ?
Let us distinguish between a few situations:

(During beach take off, static tow, or beach take off with a winch/reel payout tow.)
This also assumes that the boat is not rigged for platform towing.

1. Hang glider transported as luggage on a boat.”

This will become necessary if a pilot lands the hang glider near the upwind shoreline of the lake.

Why would a pilot do this? Mostly because on a particular flight the pilot did not encounter a thermal while towing all the way to the upwind end of the lake. To turn and retrace your path, of the recently proven flight path of no lift only accomplishes one thing, --- returning to the take off area at the downwind end of the lake. This is not the primary goal. The primary goal is to stay up by finding a thermal. Hanging out over dry ground at the upwind shoreline increases the odds of finding lift.
After the “Last Dog is Hung,” searching for lift and failing to find any you will not have enough altitude to fly to the downwind starting point for your next attempt.
This will necessitate:

1. Hang glider transported as luggage on a boat.”

One safe way of doing this is to lash the base tube at each left and right end to the boat with the gliders nose facing the bow (front) of the boat.
It will not even be necessary to tie the nose since a person can sit facing backwards on the base tube, hold onto the down tubes and lean backwards toward the nose of the hang glider. Once the boat is up on plane the glider will actually fly while tethered to the boat by its base tube without the need to hold onto the down tubes. When the boat slows at the downwind side of the lake care should be taken to not allow the tail to drop on a boat passenger or have the tail wind nose over the hang glider.

Before reaching the shore the boat should pace the wind (boat speed and wind speed are equal.) the glider can be untied and turned one hundred eighty degrees on the bow in and artificial (Wind Pacing.) no wind situation. (Focus your eye on the boat for balance not the moving water while turning the glider.)

Once the glider is facing into the wind and sitting on the bow of the boat hold the nose wires while the boat driver backs into the wind and fly the glider onto the surface of the water in front of the boat with the glider supported by its floats on the lakes surface. Wade into shore. You are now ready for another beach start.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Bill, the detail of your post assures me that you've done this many many times before.   

That reminds me of your detailed description of how to flip a submerged glider leading to this animation:

flip_all_c.gif (737.08 KiB) Viewed 11988 times

I'd like to see us using Blender (and other tools) to do more animations of our ideas in the future.   

[wingspan33]

Don't forget your shark repellent!

FC

I live in the (fresh water) Finger Lakes Region of NY and didn't automatically think about sharks. But oceans do have their differences, don't they!


PS - My inflatable pontoon (+ nose and rear keel float) idea could be stowed in place, un-inflated, and take up little space. Not dissimilar to an airbag system. Much drag is therefore eliminated during active soaring flight. Rapid inflation, just prior to water landing, could be accomplished by way of a small (aluminum/carbon fiber?) compressed gas cylinder on the keel or connected to the cross tube within the double surface.