David,
I found your suggested development of a marine grade burner/cooker very attractive, and could personally get quite enthusiastic about it, but as Hon Sec I am obliged to be more circumspect. I was positing a formal JRA project, which might possibly have been allocated some funding. For that to happen I would need certain “business”-like practices to be adhered to, whether formally or informally, and so I adopted the terms you seem to object to, as a shorthand for what I was thinking, not to imply any hope or intention to create anything “commercial”. But neither would I rule out a commercial involvement – after all not everyone has your knowledge, or skills enough to safely turn your ideas into practice, and surely even you can only be expected to satisfy a rather limited proportion of any demand that may be generated for a physical product.
In my role as Hon Sec I would expect any proposal for a formal JRA project to be :-
a) fully thought out, and described in sufficient detail for the Committee to make a decision on it ;
b) demonstrated to be in compliance with the Constitution ;
c) fully costed, in so far as it were possible ;
d) shown to potentially benefit a significant proportion of the membership.
Regarding 'financial viability' – at the very least, someone will need to buy materials for a prototype, and spend time making and re-making it, and would either be willing to fund that themselves or somehow recoup the cost from the “crowd”. Ideally, this would be laid down beforehand in a 'coherent business plan', (or prospectus, or whatever term you feel comfortable with), along with the scope of the project, so making it more likely that everyone was 'talking the same language'. Whether you accept it or not your suggestion would result in a product : whether an idea (a product of your imagination) ; a set of drawings and instructions ; a kit of parts ; or a finished item. At the moment you have presented an idea – to go further (however it were produced, or by whom) is in effect 'taking the product forward'. (Btw, in my dictionary the word "product" is commercial-neutral).
Since you are suggesting developing an item, which would be made by laymen, of unknown abilities, and which is intended to turn fuel into heat by combustion, I would suggest that some kind of prospectus would at least serve to demonstrate to an inquest the degree of forethought you have put into your product. Lest you think I am being sensationalist and overblown I will give you an example from my own direct experience, which might have resulted in my own inquest.
I inherited a Refleks heater installed by an “innovator”. The innovation seemed to me to amount to using inappropriate or inadequate materials to avoid the cost of the right stuff, together with a substantial disregard of the installation instructions. In particular, rather than creating a non-combustible hearth the heater had been mounted directly onto the cabin sole. After some months of ownership, I removed the heater to find that radiant heat from the burning pot had scorched and partially carbonised the wood beneath. Left lit when unattended, or while napping, this would have eventually led to ignition of the boat's fabric, or to carbon monoxide poisoning.
I realise that you had not been asking for official JRA participation, beyond some enthusiastic volunteers from the membership. It seems my (intendedly) helpful suggestion (that it might be formally adopted) was unwelcome. The extra thought I have put in whilst drawing up this further response has persuaded me that my suggestion was unwise. I do not doubt that in the fullness of time you will go on to develop a successful product, which will be implemented by many of our members without mishap, but I leave it to the next Hon Sec and Committee to decide whether to become involved or not.