Hand-Powered Motor Boat Gives Real Watersport Thrills (Jul, 1931)
Filed under: Nautical — @ 10:23 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1931
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1931
| Buy on Ebay
Hand-Powered Motor Boat Gives Real Watersport Thrills
A DIMINUTIVE motor boat powered not by a motor but by a hand crank operated by the swimmer has been devised by a clever home craftsman to provide watersport thrills at the bathing beach. The propeller of this odd craft is geared to a pulley which is in turn belted to the hand crank on the front, as illustrated in the drawing above. Buoyancy of the craft is increased by use of small pontoons fitted between the boards running lengthwise of the craft.
Its all fun and games until someone gets their heel stuck in the propeller.
Comment by revpj — April 7, 2009 @ 10:30 am
She looks worried that they won’t let her stop cranking.
Comment by Rick Auricchio — April 7, 2009 @ 11:52 am
There’s a reason that’s not a photograph: No way in the world could she or anyone going to crank fast enough to raise that kind of roostertail, no matter what kind of illegal/military benzedrine/whatever she’s taken. At best you’d do slightly better than paddling with your feet…
Comment by Baron Waste — April 7, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
I’m not even sure that would work with the crank in that orientation. Horizontal with two cranks would have worked a LOT better.
Comment by Al — April 7, 2009 @ 12:24 pm
No, that’s the most efficient way to use a crank, as the Luftwaffe discovered.
Effective, in this context, is a different story.
Comment by Baron Waste — April 7, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
No wonder the two men in the background are laughing. All that furious cranking, and she’d still be going nowhere.
Comment by Eli — April 7, 2009 @ 4:22 pm
She might go a little faster if she wasn’t dragging her lower legs and feet in the water like that. Also, if she’s running from the feds, she should throw the stash overboard to make the load a little lighter.
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2009 @ 7:05 pm
Besides, the propeller is about 70% out of the water. Sheesh
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
That’s not actually a crank in the normal sense. She grips it and raises her hand up and down quite quickly. It’s a pity most of the mechanizm is obscured by the ‘leg guard.’
I understand some woman could hit 10 knots.
Comment by Toronto — April 7, 2009 @ 11:51 pm
I understand you could achieve a nitrous oxide boost effect buy consuming a can of van de camps beans just before launching
Comment by fred — April 8, 2009 @ 2:39 pm