Quote:
Originally Posted by miket
Would a large long tall boatail always deflate and fold up correctly? I could imagine it bending or twisting and the deflated flattened tail fabric flapping around on one side of the vehicle. Especially if the tail deflation was at low speeds or in a crosswind.
The idea of self inflating boattails with a high pressure air inlet is popular here. I can imagine a comedy scene in a very busy parking lot when a 50mph windstorm comes through and all the tails of those parked and parking start inflating lol.
I thought of three ways of using springs to autodeflate a self inflating boattail at low speeds.
The first had a series of eyes sewn inside and a cable threaded around the inside of the tail in a spiral pattern. One end of the cable would connect to the hinged bottom panel and the other end to a drum powered by a torsion spring. The spiral would constrict and fold the tail fabric inward an then the bottom panel would lift up.
My other idea involved two spring powered drums on opposite sides inside the tail and numerous threads tied across from the drums to various points on the tail.
My third idea had the whole tail rolling up like one of those party toys except that the centered roll would be vertically oriented instead of horizontal. As the tail deflated and rolled the tail could get wider if horizontal and it would be better to sag downward than outward.
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miket,I've got a U.S. Patent for an inflatable boat tail which illustrates a coil-spring for the stowing operation.I'll try and dig that out of my rat's nest.