Re: [Paddlewise] What Kayak to Buy?

From: John Winters <735769_at_ican.net>
Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 06:34:25 -0400
Robert wrote;
(SNIP)
>
>I don't know about boat hulls, but with airplane wings, a rough surface,
>such as  clear and especially rime icing not only increases the coeficient
>of resistance (called drag) it completeley destroys the lift capacity of
>the wing.  A little roughness on the surface destroys the laminar flow...
>In other words... it won't fly.  I would suspect that a boat hull might be
>similarly, although not as drastically, effected.  I mean, it is not going
>to sing.  However, it is not the resistance that is so critical with the
>wing, but the destruction of laminar flow.  The question is John, does
this
>analogy apply to the boat hull and is the 3% therefore, worse than it
>sounds?

No. In the case of the airplane the loss of lift is the serious part not
the drag. In the boat case it is just more drag. Laminar flow only exists
over a very short portion of the boat (rarely more than a foot or two) due
to the constant yawing, particulate in the water, wave action, pitching,
surging etc. The increase I quoted is for an increase over the normal
turbulent flow condition existing for a hydrodynamically  smooth surface.

Note this is turbulence in the boundary layer and not eddy making that may
occur at the stern.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/



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Received on Wed May 27 1998 - 03:54:35 PDT

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