The amazing indestructible quality of Fluidesign single sculls

[kit....@gmail.com]

This morning I sculled straight into Barnes Bridge, going at a reasonable speed with the tide...

Not a scratch on the boat. No damage whatsoever to the bow. Nothing. Unbelievable.

So thank you Gord Henry and the guys at Fluidesign for building such an indestructible boat. I have to admit that this isn't the first time I've hit something in this boat - I've had it since 2007, scull 2 or 3 times a week on the Tideway, often in the dark, and during that time I've hit buoys, other boats (only once!), big bits of driftwood, grounded the boat, etc. without any structural damage whatsoever.

The combination of a big strong rigger behind you and the 100% single-shell carbon fibre construction (including the fin) means that the sculler is protected and the boat is super-robust. Despite the abuse it gets, my boat is essentially in exactly the same condition as it was when I bought it 7 years ago (second hand), with no loss of stiffness or visible wear and tear.

IMHO anyone looking for a long-term purchase of a single scull for regular use could not do better. (And no, the boat isn't for sale, and I don't work for Fluidesign - I'm just a satisfied and relieved customer, ruing his own stupidity).

[LakeGator]

Did you get a picture of the damage done to the bridge? :-)

[Charles Carroll]

Kit,

Fluidesign — one of my favorite shells!

We have at least 2 in our Club. They take quite a beating. As your recent
experience demonstrates, they are very rugged. I have never sculled one, but
people who do tell me they enjoy them very much.

My only concern is Fluidesign’s decision to use a bow mounted rigger. There
has been a lot of discussion on RSR about this. If memory serves me, Carl
has posted that bow mounted riggers do not help a shell go faster, but they
also don’t do anything to slow it down. So far I have never read a post
disputing Carl’s assertion.

My problem with bow mounted riggers is that this design makes it harder to
climb back into your shell in the event you capsize. On a river this is
probably not much of a problem. In open water, however, it could be a
serious problem.

I will say, though, that this doesn’t seem to be a problem for some people.
One of our best scullers sculls a Fluidesign. The other day he smacked into
a buoy. It was just one of those silly accidents. I mention this because he
was able to climb back into his shell on the first try. He was only a couple
of hundred meters from the Club, so he sculled back in, got out of his
shell, emptied it, and went right back out.

By the way, this brings up the other problem I have with Fluidesigns. They
don’t self-bail.

But as I say, bow mounted riggers and an inability to self-bail may be minor
problems on a river. In open water, however, it seems to me that these are
factors should be taken into consideration.

Glad to hear that you are all right and did no damage to your beautiful
shell.

Cordially,

Charles

[John Mulholland]

I prefer one aspect of bow-mounted riggers; they deflect impact in an offset head-on collision. A friend was bow of an eight that had a collision with a quad, both crews at race pace; the hulls missed each other but the mid-line of the boat was absolutely aligned with the pins of the other boat. The block supporting the pin on the bow rigger of the quad cracked his vertebra and broke two ribs; an inch over and it would have broken his back. The bow man of the quad was hit first by the backstay, which pushed him sideways and prevented an impact with his spine. Fortunately both are back rowing but it drove home to me the dangers of a rigger design, like most wing riggers, that has the first impact with the block supporting the pin. I'd raised this as a concern about five years before, but I hate to be proved right by an injury to a friend!

[John Greenly]

On Thursday, October 24, 2013 4:05:15 AM UTC-4, kit....@gmail.com wrote:

Two years ago in the Blackburn Challenge, during the first part of the race in the Annisquam river, I got into a Zen-like state going along very fast with the current in my Maas Flyweight, neglected to look directly behind me and hit a nun buoy (big steel channel-marker buoy) dead center. I was launched forward flying off my seat, somehow managed not to fall out of the boat. I collected my wits, peered around at the bow as best I could, saw nothing scary, and continued out onto the ocean for the next 17 miles to finish the race. When I got the boat out of the water and inspected it afterwards, there was no sign whatever of the collision except maybe a bit of a rusty smudge on the bow ball. I think the fact that I went flying forward helped the boat, since it did not have to absorb all my momentum instantaneously at impact.

Cheers,

--John G

[Carl]

The point so well illustrated here is common knowledge to builders of
sound shells. Row head-on into an unyielding object and the boat will
normally survive undamaged. It may seem amazing, but it's what arrows &
javelins have to handle & a sculling boat is not so very different.

It helps, of course, that the sculler is quite loosely connected with
the boat (& sometimes goes flying), so it's not as if there is the full
mass of crew + boat rigidly behind the impact.

Cheers -
Carl

--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing Low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: Harris Boatyard, Laleham Reach, Chertsey KT16 8RP, UK
Find: tinyurl.com/2tqujf
Email: ca...@carldouglas.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1932-570946 Fax: -563682
URLs: carldouglas.co.uk & now on Facebook @ CarlDouglasRacingShells

[thomas....@googlemail.com]

On Thursday, October 24, 2013 9:05:15 AM UTC+1, kit....@gmail.com wrote:
> This morning I sculled straight into Barnes Bridge, going at a reasonable speed with the tide... Not a scratch on the boat. No damage whatsoever to the bow. Nothing. Unbelievable. So thank you Gord Henry and the guys at Fluidesign for building such an indestructible boat. I have to admit that this isn't the first time I've hit something in this boat - I've had it since 2007, scull 2 or 3 times a week on the Tideway, often in the dark, and during that time I've hit buoys, other boats (only once!), big bits of driftwood, grounded the boat, etc. without any structural damage whatsoever. The combination of a big strong rigger behind you and the 100% single-shell carbon fibre construction (including the fin) means that the sculler is protected and the boat is super-robust. Despite the abuse it gets, my boat is essentially in exactly the same condition as it was when I bought it 7 years ago (second hand), with no loss of stiffness or visible wear and tear. IMHO anyone looking for a long-term purchase of a single scull for regular use could not do better. (And no, the boat isn't for sale, and I don't work for Fluidesign - I'm just a satisfied and relieved customer, ruing his own stupidity).

The timing of this post couldnt be more unfortunate, last night one of the guys was out sculling (with lights) and crashed into the side of a cruiser that had apparently moved off its moorings and into his path, his Fluid didnt come off as well as yours unfortunalty and about a foot of the bow has split and splintered with a couple of cracks running furher down the bow section. Repariable but a real shame, thankfully no injuries and no dunkings, although the cruiser apparently just drove off after the impact

Second incident like that ive been aware of with a fluid, the other was in similar circumstances (hit a cruiser) and that one was completely written off by the impact

[John Greenly]

On Sunday, October 27, 2013 4:51:14 PM UTC-4, John Mulholland wrote:
> I prefer one aspect of bow-mounted riggers; they deflect impact in an offset head-on collision. A friend was bow of an eight that had a collision with a quad, both crews at race pace; the hulls missed each other but the mid-line of the boat was absolutely aligned with the pins of the other boat. The block supporting the pin on the bow rigger of the quad cracked his vertebra and broke two ribs; an inch over and it would have broken his back. The bow man of the quad was hit first by the backstay, which pushed him sideways and prevented an impact with his spine. Fortunately both are back rowing but it drove home to me the dangers of a rigger design, like most wing riggers, that has the first impact with the block supporting the pin. I'd raised this as a concern about five years before, but I hate to be proved right by an injury to a friend!

This reminds me of a question: would it be possible to come up with a simple, light and unobtrusive item that could be attached to guard the extremity of the rigger, perhaps held on by the pin nut, something that in a collision would present a blunt or even soft surface to help mitigate the damage of impact? Such a guard would need to have no significant weight or windage to be accepted, but it seems to me that a rather small change in the direction of smoothing out the typically sharp contours of rigger end fittings might be a very big help, especially in a collision with a person's body. Could it even be made aerodynamically favorable in terms of some tiny reduction in drag, as a selling point, or inducement for people to use it?

Carl, any thoughts??

--John G

[Carl]

Yes, lots of thoughts. Designs? That'll need a lot more thinking.

There's a snag: rowers will only adopt something if they think it has
"style". Real "content" is, I fear, much less important.

There might be mileage in the aerodynamic aspect that you propose (&
it's just the kind of practical suggestion I'd have expected of you,
John), but it'd still get nowhere if sold as a safety enhancement.

Still, riggers remain a secondary safety concern in a sport in which, we
go everywhere backwards & unsighted in craft which, with crew, can weigh
more than a small car. Our first concern should be the bows, but that
gets short shrift in nearly every boat - consider how useless is a
typical bow-ball, often badly perished & held on to a lethally pointed
bow, as it so often is, by a bolt, screw or Duck tape.

The best contribution from rigger-makers would be to remove all points &
sharp corners. Sadly, it's always cheaper to weld or bolt a rectangular
block of metal onto the outer end of a rigger than to invest, as we do
in my firm, in CNC-machining that part into more kindly & effective shape:
http://www.carldouglas.co.uk/downloads/2012riggers.pdf

[kit....@gmail.com]

Thanks Charles for your comment, and apologies for the slow reply. Along with some of the other respondents, I will take a bow-mounted rigger every time for the additional protection that it gives to the rower in a collision. I have heard people talk about the difficulties of getting back into a capsized boat with a bow-mounted rigger - glad to hear a first hand story of someone being able to do this without problems.

[John Mulholland]

Something similar to the basket on a sword that protects the swordsman's hand, fixed to the top an bottom nuts of the pin, and flexible enough to spread the impact load, might be one answer. It could be made of plastic similar to a child's toy and could be made more aerodynamic than the existing system.

John

[John Greenly]

On Thursday, November 7, 2013 5:05:36 PM UTC-5, John Mulholland wrote:
> Something similar to the basket on a sword that protects the swordsman's hand, fixed to the top an bottom nuts of the pin, and flexible enough to spread the impact load, might be one answer. It could be made of plastic similar to a child's toy and could be made more aerodynamic than the existing system.
>
>
>
> John

Yes! I was beginning to think about something like that too. Seems like a very good idea to me.

Cheers,
John G

[harne...@gmail.com]

I have an entry level fluid design (fluid first)

I went bows first into a muddy bank ( I scull on an estuary)

When I looked round the bows were crumpled. Like a crease you find after crushing a tin can.

I thought I had a swim home ahead of me.

I wriggled free of the crash site, heard a loud pop and looked round.

The bow had snapped back into shape. There has been no loss of the integrity some months on.
I did loose my bow ball.

It is a great boat.

I have suffered quite a few scratches and wonder about how to get them fixed.

Patrick