The challenge for this project was to design an attachment system for mounting the thrusters onto any kayak, canoes or SUP’s without any modifications. The thruster should also be removable from the attachment system with ease for storage, maintenance or replacement.
Solution:
The attachment system consists of the mount plate and the thruster holder. The mount plate is to be mounted onto kayak, canoe or SUP and the thruster holder is screwed onto the thruster.
The most ideal way to attach the mount plate without any modification was to either glue or tape it to the watercraft. After extensive research on case study, 3M VHB tape was found to be the most effective solution in terms of easy application and cost. 3M tape can be stuck to wide range of watercraft’s materials, even polyethylene (PE) with a surface activator to enhance surface energy. Testing on polyethylene kayak showed that 3M VHB tape can provide strong bond between the mount plate and kayak under salt water. The use of flexible vinyl allows the plate to conform to varying contours of watercrafts.
To quickly snap on/off the thruster onto the mount plate, Stainless Steel Spring Plunger with an extractable nose is used. In its natural position, the plunger’s nose is extended into the hole of the thruster holder, keeping the thruster affixed to the mount plate. When the plunger’s ring is pulled and the nose is extracted, the thruster can freely fall off the mount plate.
