Open Source Anchor Project (OSAP)

h1. Open Source Anchor Project (OSAP) Wiki

h2. Background

h3. Origin

The OSAP is the brainchild of [Insert Name Here] a participating member of CruisiersForum.com.  As active sailors, and especially cruisers, one of the most important and most hotly debated items are anchors.  If you wish to participate in the development of this project you must be a registered member at CruisersForum.

Click "Here":http://www.cruisersforum.com to register

Click to Goto Discussion Thread "Open Source Anchor Project":http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f118/open-source-anchor-project-113732.html

tools that are used for The is Project is discussed and designed on  

h3. The Intent

The intent of the OSAP is to create and distribute the design specifications for a generic new-generation anchor suitable for fabrication from readily available materials and using fabrication methods commonly accessible through-out the world.

The intention is to produce a design whose performance can be considered acceptable given the design criteria. The Intent is not to provide all things to all people.

The intent is to distill the essential aspects of prior art while specifically avoiding the unique and distinguishing characteristics of extant Copyright and Patent protected works, so as to produce an open and unlicensed design with functional utility.

The intent is to express the fact that a freely available OSA design will disincentivize piracy of intellectual property and as such is intended to be counter-injurious to established anchor manufacturers.

The intent is that presently established anchor manufacturers would be free to produce their own version of the OSA for sale in the worlds' marketplace and that the free availability of the OSA design would encourage expansion of the existing manufacturing base to the direct benefit of the end user.

The intent is to provide for the transfer of technology to enhance the safety and self-sufficiency of mariners regardless of class or border be they fisherman, waterman, recreational boater, or world cruising sailor.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

Prior art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Copyright - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

h3. Why Should I Care About The OSA?

Well I can think of a lot of practical, as well as philosophical reasons, why you should care and they are all selfish.

If you find yourself in a far away port with no where to hide from a hurricane or cyclone bearing down on you, and there is a guy on the beach with a stick welder, and you can find some steel plate, and you have a set of OSA prints in your ships papers, then you would at least have the option of making a decent anchor which is larger than your largest and which would otherwise be unavailable to you.

A more everyday example might be the fact that the guy dragging down on you right now, with the undersized plough that came with the boat when he bought it, might not be dragging down on you if an inexpensive but reliable OSAP anchor were available to him.

Beyond the practical, I think there are philosophical reasons as well. A freely available anchor design which more efficiently uses materials and resources to create a better quality anchor will have a direct economic impact on the individual who needs it most as well as on the planet as a whole.

To me, the notion that I, as an American, should discard some steel, have it shipped to Asia to be recycled into an anchor shaped piece of steel, shipped back to the US where I bend it, so that it can be shipped back to the "manufacturer" in Australia or New Zealand, where it is either repaired or shipped back to Asia, to be recycled again, and then shipped back to me in the US, using a transportation system entirely dependent on the use of oil, a non-renewable resource, and a production infrastructure likely fueled by coal in a country that doesn't give a crap about air pollution, is completely insane. We're talking a lump of steel here people.

If I had the option of going to meet a real live person, who lives in my town wherever that may be, and hiring him to personally manufacture an essential piece of safety equipment from materials he has on hand, and who I could in turn trust with confidence to repair, then I could not do otherwise in good conscious. Certified welders are more common than you think and proof-testing an anchor is not rocket surgery.

I sometimes read on this forum people asking what they can actually do in some small way to make the world and the environment a better place? Well here's your chance. You as a cruising sailor can embrace the concept of production by the masses as opposed to mass production as described in EF Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

h3. Design of the OSA

As a lifelong student of both design and design-development, as a designer by trade, and as someone who has examined the designs of most all the anchors patented in the last eighty years, I can tell you with confidence that all of the fundamental design elements of all of the so called "new-generation" anchors was described in patents awarded to Peter Bruce more than forty years ago.

Barring changes in the laws of physics, or a revolution in materials and manufacturing, the fundamental design of contemporary anchors will, in the future, only change in incremental amounts at best. 

You all know what the OSA looks like. It does not look like everybody's idea of the perfect or best anchor, but it might to some.

Given the relatively small fluke-area-to-weight ratio, inherent complexity, and expense required to produce, it does not look like the typical asymmetrical, hollow-shanked, ballasted point, and compound-curved single fluke of the Spade-style anchor.

Instead it probably looks like an asymmetrical, elbow plate-shanked, roll-bar-dependent, single concave fluke typical of the improved Bügel-type anchor.

It doesn't look like a game changer. It looks simple, basic, and without a lot of bling. It looks like something you've seen before, but probably less complicated.

As important as the shape is, the materials will ultimately determine the successful utility of the design. In order to keep the design accessible I believe the material should be specified as mild steel.

For those of you who immediately lost interest, keep in mind a low baseline will allow you to build your own version of the design in either stainless steel or tool steel as you see fit and enjoy the benefits accordingly.

h3. Making It Happen

It would be a lot of work for an individual but I am confident that as a community, this project is within reach. You can help.

Here's my proposal- I am willing to front design time for production of CAD drawings and 3D renderings for use in design development discussion, as well as for final distribution in PDF form as well as vector line art in AutoCAD and Adobe Illustrator formats.

Additionally, I have access to and can program a CNC machine to produce full size mock-ups in MDF or plywood to prove the self-righting geometry and center of gravity before anything is produced in steel.

Further, I should be able to provide a Solidworks model. This would be useful if a forum member has the experience required, which I don't have, to use the software to perform a Finite Element Analysis.

Additionally, if there is a qualified engineer who would be willing lend a hand and crunch some numbers, I think it would be important to see some math behind what we're doing.

While I have experience welding and I know a number of fabricators, I personally do not own or have access to any equipment. If there is a fabricator in the house who be willing to chip in some time and effort, it would be great if the construction of a working prototype could come from within the community.

I certainly know who I would nominate to perform the testing. I hope that Main Sail would consider contributing his experience and expertise.

I believe he has stated he would only purchase his test anchors so as to remain impartial. Maybe we could help him finance having a metal fabricator of his choosing to produce the test piece? It need not be galvanized for testing and should cost relatively very little.

Of course the product of our efforts would need an outlet. Webpages tend to be out of my realm of expertise, perhaps this is another place someone could step in to contribute? I don't think it would take much, just a single page with photos, drawings, some text, and a link to download some files.

The Webpage for the OSAP is also going to need a disclaimer since I don't expect anyone wants to accept liability for use of the information presented. If anyone would like to offer council to the project pro bono, you will likely find yourself the most appreciated of all contributors.

Lastly, everyone can help by participating in a constructive dialogue aimed at seeing this thread produce tangible results and not allowing it to devolve into a tide of disdainful bickering and bruised egos.

h3.