Hello,
Looking for some information. Surface tension with water and textured surfaces. This is in a boat application. Looking to reduce the surface tension with a specific texture. Kind of like a golf ball with more coverage.
Thanks for looking, be safe. schick

 

Most scuff up the running pad. An area of only a few inches.
Usually if your not running fast enough to boil the paint off the lower units (bout 80+mph) doing the hull wont help.

 

Thanks for the reply.
Im familer with the scuffing. And the areas thats its done. Im vacuuming bagging some repairs. It lets a heiring bone type of texture before sanding and finish coat.
This is a tunnel hull, was thinking to reduce the sticky surface tension while getting on plain and till its aired out?
Shot in the dark. I thought becuase this was the "Advanced section" maybe might get some info.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Be safe, schick

 

Holes in the surface of a Golf Ball help the ball to travel straight in flight. Every hole in a surface typically fills with water and once you have a boundary layer, it is what it is.

Food for thought. On a car if the paint is rough the boundary layer is taller and more drag. Polish the car and the boundary layer is not as thick and the car goes thru the air easier.

Just saying. I spend about 3 years doing testing at the Lockheed Wind Tunnel in Georgia so I am not pulling this stuff out of a dark place.

Tom V.

 

What you search the beach for a stone to skip across the pond, what is the best texture for the surface of a skipping stone? What shape and texture do you look for?

 

In days of future passed I had a friend (RIP) who enjoyed water skiing as fast as the boat would go, which was about 110 MPH.

He had a Murdoch speed ski which was his race unit and another he got on the cheap which he experimented with to learn the secrets of why one is so much better than another even though you cannot find or measure any obvious difference between the two.

He played with the fin and attaching screws, learned some leading edge profile tricks, and, surprisingly, the screw slot alignment was a significant factor.

He refinished the bottom surface with Varathane and tried several different grit sand papers, 280, 320, 400, 600, 1000, lightly rubbing the surface only in the direction of flow so the striations formed by the abrasive were parallel with the long axis of the ski.

For his purpose, which was to balance on the board while keeping it pushed in front of himself while hanging onto the rope (for a perspective, imagine hanging on to a ski rope with your feet above you on a vertical wall while being pulled up the wall), the surface finish he found best for skiing 100 MPH was the 400 grit. The 600 was too slick and the ski wasn't as controllable, it would slip forward from under him too easily and he would fall backward. The 1000 grit finish would slip sideways more easily in addition to not have enough drag in the axis of travel. The 400 grit acted to give the ski smooth predictable drag and better alignment in the axis of travel. In his case, depending on the ski to have predictable drag and stability was more important than minimum drag.

 

I guess l could always vacuum bag a few balls. One with texture one sanded smooth, and test how the water clings to each when lifthed from the water. Testing along the way with different grits. Going from coarse to smooth.
Thank for the input, be safe.
schick

 

Teflon