Concept2 Forum

I would like to have boats which are rigged up with Rowing machine driven props. Who can make this? In Europe you can go rowing up and down rivers go out of dinner, spend the night at a local Hotel and keep rowing the next day. The only problem with that is you need to know how to row on the water.
Would it be possible to drive an alternator that is connected to an electrical engine that drives a prop?
For next summer I would like to plan round trips on Lake Tahoe.
XENO

xeno wrote:I would like to have boats which are rigged up with Rowing machine driven props. Who can make this? In Europe you can go rowing up and down rivers go out of dinner, spend the night at a local Hotel and keep rowing the next day. The only problem with that is you need to know how to row on the water.
Would it be possible to drive an alternator that is connected to an electrical engine that drives a prop?
For next summer I would like to plan round trips on Lake Tahoe.
XENO

Must be doable, I think!

Otherwise try this one, not on water Xeno!



Cheers

I think it would be easier to have it mechanically driven on the effort of the rower than electrically. Too much efficiency would be lost to generate power to turn an electrical motor. If you went mechanical you could incorporate a bicycle type gear system that you could change on the fly based on your speed. Of course gear changes would have to occur on the recovery with a foot lever or something.

I rowed for four years at Dartmouth, and every so often we saw an old guy who had rigged up exactly what you are talking about. It looked like a bathtub single, and he had basically an erg set up in it, with the chain hooked up to spin a propellor mounted at the rear of the boat. Always looked awkward, as his erging/rowing/whatever-you-might-call-it seemed pretty bad technically, but he'd cruise up a few miles every so often a little slower than a racing single would go. Don't know the guy's name, but he lived near Norwich Vt, along the Connecticut river.

I find that oars are so obselete.

well frankly rowing IS obsolete but we do it anyways because we made a sport out of it.

having imperfect design is a part of the sport. without oars there would be no bladework. without bladework rowing is a different beast. we have to have variables in sport to keep it interesting and also to reward those who work for a more efficent stroke.