Sailboat ideas

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Over the years, I contributed a lot to this forum along with ideas that became reality for example stern rail seats and water ballast sailboats. One manufacturer said it was a bunch of BLANK shooting me down. Well, Warren Luhrs listened and the Hunter water ballast sailboats were built along with the intro of stern rail seats. There are many others but we kept this quiet until built and tried. In the meantime, other sources scoffed at my ideas. There were a few I looked into and one was a telescoping mast. I kept this to myself except for those to include mast manufacturers and felt technology was not there plus the cost to convert over to one. Even then, I was bashed for that idea but the public was never made aware.

I felt the thread on telescoping masts was too early to release but I did advise Stargazer what I was faced with and wished him good luck as . I also know why he did not want to divulge any information during the patent process as there could be someone who would try to steal his idea and beat him to the punch. I asked for all of us to wait but instead the poor responses started to come in which I felt bashing, foul language and on and on.

I never would have thought it would have come to this but civility went out the door. THIS IS A FORUM TO HELP SAILORS, NOT TO CRITIZISE. I too have dealt with this in private messages and a couple names stand out but never said who nor was it worthy to post either. I did in private messages from Stargazer his dismay being upset. It is now obvious he pulled as one said his posts. I am not going there to look again to confirm but I am very dismayed at those responses. I never thought we can stoop this low as those Clowns in Washington, D.C.. I suggest in future threads that everyone step back and think what you are posting. I am beginning to think is worth my time to stay here or move on. No comments please.

 

[Jackdaw]

Controversy on SBO! How did I miss out on that???

Without any judgment, as I product guy I always remember that there is a huge difference between a successful lab PROJECT and a PRODUCT.

 

[Jim26m]

@Jackdaw,
Remember the weird kid in kindergarten? When he walked in, the bully picked on him, then the rest of the class joined in to make sure they didn't join the victim. That's all you missed. The kind of behavior that coined the term cyber bullying.

If the guy is a habitual liar, so what? If he's got problems, as suggested by some, then I'm pretty sure he's no better off for that exchange. Whatever it was, it was no fun to watch.

 

[Johnb]

I suggest in future threads that everyone step back and think what you are posting.

Agree - sometimes you have to wonder if posters were entirely sober when they flew off the handle.

 

[Justin_NSA]

"Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in."

 

[Benny17441]

We have had telescopic masts for years, they are called flag poles. whoops, sorry had not read past telescopic masts. That is one idea that would take away a very large percentage of negatives of sailboats. Having a way to conveniently reduce the Air Draft would greatly enhance our use of the boats and greatly increase their sales.

 

[Head Sail]

Troll or no troll, a telescoping mast is an idea without a market when you can simply keep your boat on the other side of the bridge. Better to have your idea be flamed than to waste your life savings on a boondoggle.

 

[Jim26m]

You're kidding, right? It's a trailer sailer's dream come true, if the price point is right AND it's well engineered. Bridges are just a small part of the problem that sailboat masts create.

As @Crazy Dave Condon pointed out, you really shouldn't float patent ideas in an Internet forum - especially if they're real.

 

[markwbird]

Troll or no troll, a telescoping mast is an idea without a market when you can simply keep your boat on the other side of the bridge. Better to have your idea be flamed than to waste your life savings on a boondoggle.

I could not disagree more. The telescoping mast is not about bridges. It is about being able to trailer a boat without the hassle of stepping the mast. Anyone who has had to do that is interested in a telescoping mast for sure. Also, how is a flagpole the same thing as a sailboat mast?

 

[Will Gilmore]

While I have not had the time to checkout the telescoping mast thread, it is always a good practice to refrain from shooting down new ideas off-handedly. They are new ideas, no one knows of what they speak, all is simply conjecture, ideas and opinions and dreams until the idea has come to fruition. I'm a huge fan of wild ideas and facing the possibility of learning something new through failure. That's mostly how I learn. Not a fan of unconstructive speculative criticism.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Davidasailor26]

I have mixed thoughts about that thread and the course it took. On the one hand I'm all for discussion about what kind of new developments can or should happen to make sailing better. If the thread had been proposed as "I have this idea, and I think I can make it work, tell me why it excites you, or why not", I think it would be great. On the other hand, what we got was "I built this great thing that even highly funded R&D departments couldn't. It's going to be a big success, but I can't tell you any details about it other than this low res (photoshopped looking) picture." If nothing else it's very frustrating as a reader to be presented with what might be a worthwhile idea and then told that no further details could be shared. Maybe we, as a community, took out that frustration in some unconstructive ways and could've done better? Maybe the OP could've prevented that frustration by not making claims he wasn't prepared to back up? I don't know the answers, and I kind of wish the thread hadn't been closed. I didn't think it became that uncivil, and I would've been interested to see if some more worthwhile discussion of new technology could've come about.

 

[dlochner]

No comments please.

Dave, with all due respect and appreciation for your comments, if you don't want comments about a post, then don't post, especially about a potentially controversial subject.

Throughout the thread in question, I kept wondering about the purpose of his announcement. Was he looking for potential investors? Was he looking for engineers to assist with final development? Was he doing some market research? Was he baiting the forum for ideas on how to actually make a telescoping mast? Who knows. The purpose was never clear.

When questions were asked, he gave vague non answers that at times seemed inconsistent. His answers were consistent with those given by hucksters, scam artists, and folks with a tenuous grip on reality. As a mental health professional (school psychologist) I would not diagnose based on a person's posts, so I won't venture a diagnosis here.

One of my ongoing interests is cognition and perception, in particular cognitive biases and common cognitive errors. An academic journal article was shared on BS detection. I found that to be a fascinating article. Some aspects of the article were particularly interesting, especially how willing people are to accept as truth statements made by others, yes, people are really gullible. A second aspect was how poor humans are at critically evaluating statements made by others.

Here's the link to article: On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit

That article seems to have struck a nerve in the Journal of the Society for Judgement and Decision Making.
Looks like I have some more reading to do.

As for the telescoping mast, conceptually it is an intriguing idea and might be welcomed by many trailer sailors or boats going down the ICW. Can it be done in a safe and economical way? Who knows, those answers never came.

 

[Meriachee]

Since y'all are already at the swim up bar, all of the commentary adds up. You have to be prepared for the glass being half full if you're throwing stuff out there. Controversy? On the ol' interweb? Say it isn't so.

 

[Benny17441]

Troll or no troll, a telescoping mast is an idea without a market when you can simply keep your boat on the other side of the bridge. .

The water is always greener on the other side of the bridge!

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

@dlochner
My point is if we cannot be civil to ideas expressed regardless whether or not they can help, we don’t have to tear people apart which that thread did. Yes I pointed out issues about telescoping masts but looked forward to the results if it was plausible to be engineered

 

[dlochner]

@dlochner
My point is if we cannot be civil to ideas expressed regardless whether or not they can help, we don’t have to tear people apart which that thread did. Yes I pointed out issues about telescoping masts but looked forward to the results if it was plausible to be engineered

That point is well taken. Generally SBO is a very civil group even though we have a diverse group. However, every once in a while someone comes along and pushes the limits of civility and that sometimes generates pushback that borders on the uncivil. Imagine what would have been the response to the topic on Sailing Anarchy.

And every once in a while some one types first and thinks later. I've probably have been on both sides of that issue.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

dlochner, Thank you and likewise.

 

[Meriachee]

Sometimes the light in the tunnel IS a train.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Meriachee;
Ordered the new limited express 10 car set with DCC from Kato due out in December. Good response.

 

[Meriachee]

I thought you might like that Dave.