New Equipment: the hover ski

jedion357's picture
jedion357
August 21, 2009 - 5:28am
The Hover Ski was originally conceived to be the hover equivalent of water skiing but towed by a hover cycle or hover craft but it works behind any vehicle.

Its basically one cycle hoverfan with a gyro-stabilizer and a parabattery. most models have stowage for a tow rope.

There is even one report of a ship wreck survivor staying afloat on one at sea (un-able to maneuver or move but kept him out of the water) till rescue arrived.

Anyone want to sound in with ideas about cost and wt for this? or even some art work?

a hover cycle cost 2000 cr so I was thinking 25% of that or a little less. Anyone have an idea what just the hover fan off a cycle weighs?Smile
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!
Comments:

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
August 21, 2009 - 7:34am
HoverSki's are a little larger than HoverBoard's. They are typically 2 meters in length and weigh approximatley 7kg. Width varies depending on the species; Vrusk models are twice as wide.


My quick-2-minute jorb!
Hover Ski


Bottom View

Accessories:
HoverSki's can be equipped with a Forward Fan Assembly that will push the ski up to 30m/turn. Constant use will drain the Type I parabattery in a single day.

Rum Rogue's picture
Rum Rogue
August 22, 2009 - 1:03pm
Nifty gadgets!!
Time flies when your having rum.

Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time.

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
August 23, 2009 - 5:35am

I'm just wondering if the parabattery might outweigh the device itself (25kg for a type 1 batt, about 55 pounds). Naturally anything designed to hover is going to be anything but heavy, after all efficiency is determined by how easily the fans can lift it off the ground and toss it around in such a "suspended" state. I'd be more inclined to power such a device with two to five parallel linked "massless" powerclips (0.2kg each in my campaign despite canon's listing of " -- ", or 1kg at most for 5 powerclips).

As far as the weight of a single hoverfan...put into perspective a modern day motorcyle's heaviest component is the engine, followed by frame and swingarm, followed by the wheel/tire combo. Considering that a modern day bike ranges from 300 to 900 pounds depending on size and style...we'll just use an average of 600 pounds for the sake of comparison (which is still uber heavy for a modern sportbike), I would guess the typical weight of a wheel and tire would fall between 40-50 pounds.

Now theoretically, on a hovercycle the formula would still ring true --- the heaviest component would be the powerplant, followed by the frame, followed by the hoverfans. Since a hovercycle is set up in a trike configuration, albeit with lighter components, I would surmise mass to be equivilent to the run of the mill two wheeler ground cycle counterparts. I wouldn't foresee a hoverfan massing as much as a conventional wheel/tire though, after all it's little more than a shroud and a fan along with a junction to transfer power from the motor. In the case of a single fan for "hover ski" use, it wouldn't evenhave the power transfer junction. Although I would surmise it would need a second fan to counter the torque from a single fan, else the thing would spin on itself and never allow a constant facing...so mass would probably still be the same as a cycle fan.


In all fairness, I'd probably lump that at 15-18 kilos, round it up to 20kg tops for maneuvering vanes, foot straps/pivot controls, safety frame (don't want your feet slipping into the fan after all...) and tow attachments etc. Which would definitely be impeded with a 25kg type 1 parabattery...

I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website