Motorising Three Wheeled Dingy

[RaymondR]

I'm thinking of motorising the front wheel on my dingy (impending geriatric-hood), anyone out there already done this and if so how?

[Kim Gregory]

Electric trolling motor. Replace the propeller with a lawn mower wheel?

[HankOnthewater]

Raymond you mean something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOGzB5Bg6Ps

by the looks of it is driven by (low voltage) batteries
or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6_K...KBbkSCdj0wRKSV

nice toy, a bit big maybe, also electrical, but with genset on board

I have seen a dinghy (approx 4.0 mt), that had a small air-cooled petrol engine forward that was driving a hydraulic pump, and in turn that was driving the frontwheel and the lifting rams.

I think a dinghy with wheels that can drive it in/out of the water, will be heavy, complicated and of course more expensive.

To use such dinghy as tender, hmmm, to me not worth the effort.

However, caravan and RV shops sell little contraptions that can move caravans and trailers around, maybe you can clamp such a thing on the bow, if you are physically not able to drag it on the beach anymore.

[Stumble]

There is a company named Sealegs that sells ribs with this installed. I haven't priced them, but it looks like an interesting system.

[captmikem]

Had one of these once, it was fun! Need a bit of room though if you are going to drive it around on the beach.

Michael

[RNW]

Plenty of plans on the Internet to motorize a bicycle with a small chainsaw engine. Should work for a wheelbarrow wheel with a sprocket bolted on

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by captmikem

Had one of these once, it was fun! Need a bit of room though if you are going to drive it around on the beach.

Michael

I love it but don't think it would fit on the for deck.

I have seen some of the larger hydraulic versions around in the Whitsundays on big cruisers. Hydraulically driven but look a little heavy and complex to go on an 8' dingy.

So far I have considered three schemes which I consider the most practical:

(1) Electrically driven using electric bike components and a chain drive.

(2) Hydraulic using nylon gears to implement an all polymer hydraulic gear pump and gear motor with water as the hydraulic fluid.

(3) Mechanical using a vertical shaft motor driving a worm gear with a low pressure tired wheel either side (Sort of like the arrangement you see on the front wheels of large aircraft)

At the moment (3) is the favoured candidate as I have a small machine shop aboard and can fabricate the required components and have the welding done in a shop ashore.

It's always handy to know what has been successful for other folks, keeps one from having to reinvent the wheel all the time.

Thank you for assisting with this project.

[mowerandy]

Last summer I saw a guy riding a big-tyred 4WD Gopher (scooter), tow a tinny onto the beach, and set off fishing.
Course, you'd have to leave the scooter on the beach which is less than ideal.
I am guessing someone took his car keys away - excellent response!

[RaymondR]

Latest thinking on this is a DIY vane motor with a large diameter and fairly wide rotor using water as the drive fluid. Alloy side plates and twin wheels with a common alloy shaft through all. Bronze filled Teflon vanes with power fluid to both hemispheres of an oval rotor cavity. Should be able to generate a lot of torque with fairly low operating pressure.

[OldBawley]

Wintering in a remote bay in Turkey some years ago I met a French sailor who made a motorised wheelbarrow for his friend the local Imam.
A donkey was the normal way of transporting stuff from the bay to the first valley up the hill, have even seen a camel transporting olives from the hill to the bay.


Problem with a donkey is that you can´t park it for a week while visiting the winter house in town.
So that is why they made this motorised wheelbarrow.
Used a derelict mobylette engine. The mobylette had an variable belt drive, sort of automatic. Worked fine but coming downhill was still very dangerous since the dirt road was really steep.
Later the Imam bought a three wheeled motorcycle from Russian origin. Must have been 50 years old. Huge two stroke engine. Imam managed to tip it over coming downhill. Rolled some two hundred yards down, engine still running until it stopped upside down against an olive tree.