Hydrofoiling Laser

ktholland

New Member
I am mechanical engineering major who is required to complete a design project in order to graduate. One idea I had was to make a direct replacement of the rudder and centerboard which would turn the laser into a foiler. The hull would not be modified at all.

I am wondering if there is any interest in this idea. I understand that it is not class legal. Has it ever been attempted? Is it even possible? If anyone has any information for me it would be extremely helpful.
 
I doubt you could make it work without putting outriggers on the thing for stability.... but I'm no ME... so give it a try and let us know ;-)

I'd suggest starting with models
 
I thought about this topic last year as a school project but we had financial problems.We were thinking to build our own sailboat with hydrofoils but unfortunately we couldn't.I think you must have a look at the moth dinghy with hydrofoils cause it is what you are talking about.As I understood the calculations will not be a problem for you casue it "was" for us.If you could do it I would like to see the rewsult.
 
I am aware of the moth. My angle with this is that you could just swap out some parts on your laser to make it a foiler, instead of buying another boat. Also using a boat I already own will keep cost of the project down to a reasonable level.
 
My guess would be that the standard laser hull would be much too heavy and you could not generate enough lift from the foils, the moth is extremely light.

Also the sail isnt powerful enough to get enough water flowing over the foils to produce enough lift again the moth has a massive power to weight ratio.

Finally stability and heeling will be a problem, outriggers would probably be nessecery and I doubt if you ever did get it on the foils a person hiking could produce enough righting force, the moth has racks for this.

Im pretty sure there is no way you could make a laser a viable foiler by simply swapping out the rudder and dagger board, the moth is build from the start as a foiler and those boats that have been converted to foilers (google foiling rs600 i think) tend to be skiffs (planing craft) which are light and have massive power to weight ratios, and few of these have been sucsessful.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an engineer, meerly a physicist, these comments come from experience with lasers and seeing foilers, if you can make it work good on you
 
If you could make it work I think that it would be great fun. But as some other people have said, I don't think that the laser is light enough.
 
How about if you used the 8.1 rig and a light sailor? But then, as people have pointed out, how do you keep it upright?
 
Sounds like a fun challenge.

I have tried a foiling Moth and I think it could work. You should try one, the demo boat is in Clearwater, Florida. Too bad they cost $17,000 or we would all be sailing one. They are very light and delicate too. They are tippy, kind of like trying to sail on only one Cat hull.

http://www.radsailing.com/

The RS 600 will be offered as a retrofitted foiler:

http://www.rssailing.com/fleetsnew.asp?fleet=RS600FF&selection=Details and Spec

Weight is similar but it has a bit more sail area than a laser. You may need to develop mountable hiking racks.

Ultimately, if you think about it, if you are foiling, why do you even need a hull? The hull is only to get up to speed and get flying, but maybe a hull for a foiling boat is a different type of beast.

That being said I know the foilers switch to conventional foils when the wind is light.
 
hi i would love to see it work and think it would be great if the daggerboard went form bottom up and had a bolt to secure it and beefed up rudder pintals i think it would be great! you would have to prefect the foil trim like the moths system to get the right angle of attack and then when it on hydrofoil to level out. i would certainly buy 1 and i think the full rig or the 8.1 rig would have enough power to hydrofoil.
 
I think that sounds like an awesome idea for a senior design project- I did a senior design project a couple years ago and I'll tell you, only about half the projects my class did worked as advertised, but that wasn't the only criteria for a successful project (time & money constraints & pushing the envelope were most definitely factored in). I think you should go for it and the worst that can happen is you give it your best shot and have a wicked fun time trying. And that'd be sick if you could make it work...

If you do it, be sure to post your sea trial videos!

-Matt
 
Re-evaluate your goals to make them more modest.

You're not trying to make the laser a faster boat all the way around the course, right?

You're trying to prove the foiling concept.

So, optimize for the laser's most powered up angle - the tight broad reach. Use that as the starting point for your calculations, and you might have a go of it.
 
This is a topic that would suit the Sailing Anarchy (dinghy) forum :). But seriously, Sailing Anarchy has a lot of good info on foiling boats; you just have to jump over all the nonsensical/nasty posts.
 
Go for it I say! You will always get the skeptics. I certainly would pay for a new feature.

I imagine having 2 dagger foils might help in a creative way?
 

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