The Inspiration:
We did not start with an idea in mind, instead we started with a problem, allowing us to ideate for the needs of our potential stakeholders. We spent the first portion of this ideation process refining the problem that we wanted to address. Looking at our motivation from a higher level, we sought to improve upon the many disruptive factors that one might face in one of the most common methods of transport and travel: boating. Although boating is an extremely common means of transportation, it is riddled with inefficiencies that make it both inconvenient and expensive. The first issue that we considered was the maintenance that surrounds owning or operating a boat. Because of the salt water that erodes boats, and the bio-life that adheres to the hull of boats, it is necessary to service and maintain boats frequently. Therefore, we decided to place a heavy focus on our territory: the maintenance of boats.
Preliminary Secondary Research:
To get more scope on the territory, we conducted both an internet search and a literature search to get perspective and insight into what the most influential disruptive factors there are in boat maintenance. We found that although the need for frequent cleaning is foundational to the longevity of the boat, it is also to limit the drag that the biofouling produces. This drag significantly reduces the efficiency of the motor and can lead to massive increases in fuel consumption (1). One paper outlined this issue and attempted to quantify the drag that biofouling produces on the boat. In the study they tested the effect of barnacle fouling on ship resistance and powering. They attached barnacles to two plates and dragged them through a test field. Next, they scaled this to large container ships. They found that for a 10% coverage of small barnacles on a full size containership of 230m, moving at 24 knots, the frictional resistance and effective power increased by 27%. For the same conditions and a 10% coverage of medium barnacles the frictional resistance and effective power increased 49% (2). Therefore, we realized that we needed to speak with boat owners and captains to see if they were aware of these disruptive factors as well as to get insight into the current hull cleaning processes.
Primary Research:
Once we had our territory in mind, we decided it was time to go into the field and hear different anecdotes from people who we believed were relevant to our problem. We decided to conduct ethnographic interviews to better understand both our customers and the problems that they are confronted with. One of the interviews that we found to be the most impactful along our journey was of the captain of a 100ft Southern Wind sailing yacht who explained the current methods he uses to clean the hull of his boat, as well as some of the pain points associated with the current cleaning method. This captain stated that he only ever cleans the hull of his boat when he is dry-docked, and that he uses the service at marina to clean his hull using water jets. Additionally, he stated that there are strict regulations in some marinas regarding underwater cleaning because of the marine ecosystem contamination from dumping organisms attached to the bottom of the boat, and that the fouling must be collected first and treated to avoid foreign species contamination.
We followed this up by interviewing the harbor patrol for Bass River in Dennis, Massachusetts. He reaffirmed the sentiment that underwater cleaning was banned in the territory that he oversees, which necessitates dry docking. Finally, we talked to a captain who stated that they cleaned their yacht's hull roughly every 3 weeks, and that he was very aware of fuel savings that could be made from regular hull cleaning. His hull was cleaned manually, where a crew member would jump in the water with a mask and snorkel and scrape algae from the sides of the hull at water level, and the crew member took over an hour to make his way around the boat and scrape off the algae. Therefore, the next logical step was to look into existing hull cleaning methods.
Secondary Research For Hull Cleaning Methods:
Finally, before we began prototyping, we looked at different methods of hull cleaning, the drawbacks of these methods, and where they could be improved. First, we looked at dry-docking, or the method of taking the boat entirely out of the water to clean it (3). This was deemed to be extremely expensive and inefficient. This is because, it costs about $15-20 per foot to take the boat out of the water, $3-5 per foot to take the boat out of the water, various fees that are subject to each marina (including environmental fees), and the boat spends roughly a week out of the water (4) (5). Next, we looked at in-water solutions and found three dominant methods: manual hull cleaning, powered rotary brush cleaning systems, and non-contact cleaning technologies (6). However, the manual hull cleaning and the rotary brush systems were said to be quite tedious, and they did not catch the biofouling, so many marinas do not allow them. Additionally, the non-contact cleaning methods, such as ultrasonic cleaning and cavitating water jets, still need to be done manually, and also do not catch the biofouling (7).
Therefore, we converged on the need for a solution that catches the biofouling. We also determined that the solution should be autonomous, to save the user the inconvenience and/or the expense of either cleaning the boat on their own, or hiring a team to clean the boat. It is important that there is competition out there like the Hulltimo and the Keelcrab, however they are both controlled remotely, has many downsides including forcing a crew member to learn how to use it, and wasting the crew's time (8) (9)
Works Cited
1.) https://boatplanet.com/the-captains-blog/the-dangers-of-cleaning-your-boat-alone
2.) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08927014.2017.1373279
4.) https://www.libertyharbormarina.com/dockage-rates/
5.) https://berkeleymarine.com/about/yard-rates/#
6.) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11804-020-00157-z
7.) https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11804-020-00157-z.pdf
8.) https://services.crmservice.eu/raiminisite?a=FEY9pLHXWFV1XHUy5r0nDqOUKD6w3VRLkQkSahxnWjg=