Installed a boat tail

[basjoos]

I got the 3-piece boat tail built and installed. Installed the first two pieces on thursday and drove through the weekend with it. At 28F, the car coasted as well as it used to at 90F and at 50F it coasted much better than it did at 90F. The boat tail has caused the greatest improvement in coasting ability of any single aero mode that I have installed so far. With the 2 pieces installed, I can still use the back hatch. This monday I built and installed the 3rd part (tail cone) of the boat tail, but with all of the rain today it was impossible to tell if it made any difference. The boat tail is made of an auminum bar frame covered with coroplast (bottom) and clear vinyl (upper portion). The clear vinyl makes it possible for me to see out the back and so I didn't need to relocate the tail lights and license plate. I used the Questair Venture tail cone as a model for the shape of my boat tail and did a quick run with taped yarn to test the air flow over the parts that I can see through the rear window (attached air flow all of the way to the tip). Next project, front wheel skirts.
Lets see if I can get these pictures to work.

2 piece boat tail









3 piece boat tail







Questair Venture

__________________

[tbaleno]

Interesting. I'd like to see that car in person some time.

[Chuck]

Can this make tailgaters back off?

[philmcneal]

YOU
ARE
THE
MAN!

that does look sick! (slang for good!)

[ericbecky]

basjoos ,
Rock on! You defintely have to bring this to Hybridfest next year along with your data.
Thanks for sharing!

[rhwinger]

You know, I see stuff like this and just have to wonder... if everyday guys can dream up and make stuff like this in their own backyard, why the h#$ can't the fine folks in Detroit make this happen on the assembly line??

[tbaleno]

rhwinger. Mostly because of saftey laws, market demand, cost vs. benefit analysis. There are some strange laws on the books about what manufacturers can't do to production vehicles.

Usualy things like this that are radical departures from the norm are scorned by consumers. Sure there will be a bunch of people that will buy the car, but probably not enough to make it profitable for the company.

I remember when rounded corners on the first Tauris was considered cutting edge. Thats about as radical as you can get and attract consumers.

[Sledge]

Another vote for Basjoos bringing his car to HybridFest 2007

[antrey]

I would love to see someone with a Prius II get this extreme with aeromods.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by ericbecky

basjoos ,
Rock on! You defintely have to bring this to Hybridfest next year along with your data.
Thanks for sharing!

Why should I bring my car to Hybridfest? I thought that was a hybrids-only event. My car isn't a hybrid, even though its gets the mileage normally associated with them.

I'm doing all of these aero mods on my car because I got tired of waiting for the car companies to come out with an inexpensive high MPG car. And despite all of the automotive advertising, 40MPG is not "high MPG" in my book.

The tail end of a 2 mile long coast on my way home from work really drove home the overall improvements that the aero mods have made to my car's coasting ability. At the point on the road where my car's speed would normally have dropped down to 35mph in its pre-aero days, I am now doing 50mph and I can roll on for another quarter mile down the road before I have to start the engine.

The PriusII has a lot of room for aerodynamic improvement starting with SMOOTH underbody panelling that also covers the exhaust system, a grill block (possibly an active grill), boat tail, rear (and front) wheel well skirts, rear wheel spoilers, smooth hub caps, side skirts, rerouting the exhaust air from the radiator to reduce its contribution to underbody turbulence (I exhaust mine out through my front wheel wells and the rest out through the exhaust pipe underbody tunnel), video or smaller drag profile rear view mirrors.