New Cowl Mount Idea

[David Santistevan]

I am working on a new cowl mount system
for my thunderboats. These are pressure plates where the ball will snap into the holes on the other plate. One mounted to the cowl, the other mounted to the boat. If this works it should provide a positive lock while still preventing a lot of damage to the boat and cowl from tearing the mounts if hit. Fun experiment!

 

[David Santistevan]

Here is the prototype, it seems to check out!

 

[FloridaScaleBoater]

Here is the prototype, it seems to check out!

Is it magnetic?

 

[Anthony Asaro]

He says male snaps into female opening. Doesn't sound magnetic. Will it keep cowl on in rough water? We hopefully will have all the answers soon.

 

[David Santistevan]

No magnets, it is all 3d printed. The shape allows is to "snap" into place. This is a pretty solid lock so I think it will hold even in rough water.

 

[Martin Law]

Thanks David for coming up with this...

How will retension integrity wear be affected by the number of times a cowl is removed and reinstalled over time?

Marty

 

[Grimracer]

big challenge between

It staying on -and- removing it

Grim

 

[David Santistevan]

Thanks David for coming up with this...

How will retension integrity wear be affected by the number of times a cowl is removed and reinstalled over time?

Marty

I think there are two considerations here. First we would want to mount these in a way so that they were replaceable. Since they will be composite at some point you will break one and want to replace it. Secondly the material will be the most determining factor. It is important that the edge of the chamfer stays fairly sharp to maintain the lock.

 

[David Santistevan]

big challenge between

It staying on -and- removing it

Grim

Grim, working on that. Again the material will be everything. It will have to have to be a balance between the rigidity to keep the lock and the flexibility to remove it. Like I said I will have to put a thumb tab of some type on the back to be able to exert pressure to disengage the balls from the chamfer.

 

[Martin Law]

The small puck type magnet system seems to work well once you find the right balance of retension strength to removal effort. After removing and reinstalling a cowl hundreds of cycles, I can say I have never had to replace one due to loss of retension strength.

It will be interesting to see how these composite parts hold up over time...

Just my $.02

Marty

 

[John Beardslee]

It reminds me of “Pop Beads” my daughters had when they were young.