Stormchasing Car - Storm shield prototype v1.0

[rogeressig]

 

[Jerry Prsha]

When the "rails" are down, how do you get in or out of your car?

 

[Tony Laubach]

My hope is that if the hail is big enough to need the rails down, there is no real need to get OUT of the car.

 

[Wes Carter]

Maybe the question should be once you get out of the car and lower the shields, how do you get back in the car? Or is this your strategy:

 

[David Douglas]

I like the way it looks in the "UP" position. You could just leave it like that, put the helmet on like Wes' post, and hang on during the core punch. Looks like fun.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

The size of the holes is perfect to slice and dice up bowling ball sized hail. Not sure how well it would fare in smaller stuff, since the holes look like a baseball sized hailstone could pass through them.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, those holes are huge.. I'd overlay those grids with some netting.. Won't do much good for your windshield either, or is there something else in the works there?

I would assume the hinges have some kind of resistance since they stand up like that, so you would put the other 3 down, then get in and reach out the window and pull the left front one down. It's an interesting rig though..

 

[Dan Robinson]

With guards of that size, could you just have them lock in a horizontal position, like awnings? Of course you might run into clearance issues then.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Having them straight out would put them like a foot into the next lane...

One other thing, I hope you used aluminum and not steel.. Otherwise that's just a buttload of extra weight that'll eat into your fuel economy..

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I would be more worried about the panels doing more damage to windows than hail...

 

[Wes Carter]

Having them straight out would put them like a foot into the next lane...

I'm not sure that would be an issue. Another chaser has a hail guard that sticks out just as far, and I don't think he has had any trouble with law enforcement giving him any grief.

But I see that the OP is in Australia, so things might be different there.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Interesting design [as I am currently working on building my own.] I too am wondering how you enter and exit the vehicle when they are deployed and also is there anything to secure the bottom edges down to the doors or do they just sort of rest there?

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Is the cage worth more than the car? What is protecting the windshield - the piece of glass most likely to break.

 

[David Wolfson]

I'd be concerned about the stopping effectiveness of what looks to be 3" mesh for 3"+ hail. I personally experienced (Seminole, TX) that size hail pummeling and denting a heavy-duty corrugated steel carport cover to the extent I wasn't sure it would hold up. My recollection is that even Lewison and McPartland's diamond mesh over-screen took a real beating in similar hail. I think it's all about diffusing and diminishing the impulse from multiple impacts. If the leading point of a 3" stone hits a side window, that window is most likely toast.

Also, I'd consider some windshield protection. While the windshield is somewhat more resistant and cheaper to replace, a smashed windshield makes the vehicle undriveable, which can a big safety issue. FWIW, IMO.

 

[Scott MacArthur]

I'm currently working on our design as well. It is a challenge for sure. Tons of variables to think about. Functionality, deployment measures, safety, structural integrity with driving, hail, and high winds, line of site for viewing storms and video, etc... We have the base rack completed and are working on front and side electronic deployment racks that use actuators to drive them out. The only manual thing we will have to do out of the vehicle will be to lock in the front support for the windshield rack once it's deployed. The whole design has changed twice so I'm sure we'll run into more engineering issues as we get further into it but we'll see.