Laser Lock sail boat roof rack accessory
Project Background
Being an avid, year-round sailor, I've spent considerable time transporting my Laser from sailing venue to venue on the roof of my car.
The Laser hull was easy to load onto the roof rack and secure with straps, but the spars were always a time-consuming and tedious task.
This problem was greatly exacerbated when finger dexterity was lessened by the cold and wet.
Being a designer, I knew there had to be a solution and the creative process began.
The Team
Me
The Work
Research
I watched Laser sailors load and spars and discussed the issue with them.
I spent some time chatting with fellow Laser sailors at my sailing club to see how they were handling the scenario. I also visited other sailing clubs in the vicinity.
Researched revealed a few DIY hacks but no commercial products existed for the consumer.
Analysis of the problem
I learnt early on in my design career that a clear understanding of the problem meant a better chance at solving the problem well and acheiving a great user experience.
Exciting the consumer about your design is key, as they are the ones who will be buying the product.
So I immersed myself in the process of transporting spars. I performed some journey mapping to understand peoples' pain points.
And, I shadowed users to underestand their spar loading techniques.
Design Criteria
Research insight created a great design criteria with the following highlights:
- Variety of cars with varying roof heights and curvatures
- Different roof rack designs
- Intuitive and fast to use
- Ergonomcs - hand dexterity and strength, operating height of device
- Storage when not in use
Concept development
With all the information at hand, the designing process began and a wide range of concepts evolved:
Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3
Additional Opportunity
When not in use the spar carrier has to be stored which is a nuisance for most people with packed garages. So, why not figure additional uses for it?
When a Laser is stored on its trolley the spars are laid on the deck under a cover which somewhat keeps them in place. However, in windy conditions the aluminum spars roll around under the cover and consequently they leave rub marks in the fibreglass gel coat, and in severe cases can rub through it completely which is detrimental to the expensive hull. With this in mind, I explored the idea of designing the product, so it could serve a dual role at no extra cost.
Final Concept
After all the concepts were all evaluated, one solution stood out as satisfying the design criteria the most effectively.
Doubling up its role
Key features which made it the winner:
- Simple to use - Lower half stays on roof rack
- Quick release clamping mechanism which could easly be adpted to fit onto a variety of different roof rack systems with only one extra piece.
- Intuitive to use - spars can only fit in designated grooves place spars.
- Promotes safe and secure loading.
- Point contact rubber clamping faces protect spars and allows for curved roofs.
- Upper section could easily be used for spar storage.
- A plain knob would be sold with the base model and a key lock sold with the premium model or as an additional accessory.
Designed for manufacture (DFM)
Everything was designed for low cost assembly from the onset.
Despite the upper and lower plastic clamp casings looking different and performing different roles they were purposely designed so that the main body section of each half was identical so it could be made in the same mold cavity.
Afew extra additional parts corner pieces and clamps posts would allow the same molded part to serve as upper and lower clamp sections. The additional parts were designed around cheap metal stampings, and injection moldings and CNC turnings.
A textured finish was chosen to reduce molding costs by helping camoflague any injection molding shrink marks. Black was chosen to use recycled plastic too:
Fully assembled with spars in place:
The upper clamp section had raised red upper corners moldings with tabs which snap into the upper section for fast assembly.
When inverted the raised feet would allow it to sit firmly level on the slightly convex curved hull deck. The rubber corner feet also completed the overall asthetic design of the upper section.
The lower molding structure achieves its unique functionality by adding a steel rail which attaches it to the roof rack and provides the molding structural strength.
The steel rail is slid into place and in so doing 2 pressed steel barbs snap into slots in mold which secure it permanently in place. (Slots are redundant in upper.) Red feet added to the common big plastic molding to serve as feet and part and part of the clamping mechanism.
Red was chosen so that in would be eye catching so that if the roof rack accessory was positioned directly over a door it would alert to the location and avoid potential head injury when exiting car thru the car door.
It is also the color of the Laser brand symbol, which ties in nicely.
Majority of the parts were deliberately designed to be symmetrical to avoid unnecessary orientation for assembly and so they would snap together to avoid glue and fasteners. Only two parts had to be riveted together for structural reasons.
Branding
My product needed a name. After several days of word smithing, "Laser Lock" emerged as a winner.
Now it needed a logo. Enjoying graphic arts, I played around with some ideas.
Slanted "L" to symbolize speed. Stacked and locked "L's" to imply function - all with clean laser cut simple lines.
Prototyping: The Finished Prototype
Establishing the brand
The finished logo delivered all I wanted...it symbolized everything about the Laser brand. The logo was racey, with clean, simple lines.
Success
This project satisfied the criteria well and test marketing indicated very favourable feedback from sailors. The look and functionality of the product met all my expectations. This product design was selected by Loughborough University to be entered in a product design competition.
What I learned
I learned that designing a product to take on its simplest functional form and look aesthetically pleasing often takes more time to iterate than the first design you ideate that solves the problem. Extra effort spent refining a product design through continued iteration can greatly enhance the product usability and, in addition, lower the cost to manuafacture it - all key elements to making a product a commercial success.
What I would do differently next time
When designing a product which will be mass produced, designing it to minimize material usage wherever possible can amount to hundreds of pounds of saved material when hundreds of thousands of products are manufactured. This is a huge benfit of finite element software tools which help indicate where material is required and where it serves no structural value and can be removed. Reducing manufacturing cost is key to maximizing profit margin.