>It is also a requirement that the license be displayed near the VHF. We have had several friends boarded by the Coast Guard recently and both were cited for two violations:
>1 No garbage plan written up in the ship's log
>2 The License was tucked away in a locker - not mounted near the >VHF.
Another detail to remember! Somebody remind me to leave a spot in the below-deck comm console for administrivia, OK?
I spoke with Nelson/Marek yacht design again today, and they reiterated their support and helped clarify the steps I need to take first. Basically, it amounts to ignoring issues of hull shape and concentrating on two things: arrangement of hatches and other human-interface components, and creation of a spreadsheet listing items by weight and LCG (relative to station) and VCG (relative to waterline). So the major focus now is on refinement of the center-hull layout to the point where we can do some real drawings and hand them off to the wizards. (Although... I'm noticing that trying to do layout while ignoring hull shape is very difficult... I don't know what depth assumptions to make.)
The other up-front design issue is to define the projects that can be quantized and passed on to student groups. I've already started this, but if any of you want to help brainstorm it let me know. Basically, the interesting projects will be those that meet the following criteria:
1. Clearly defined subsystems or components
2. A scale that can be completed in a school year by mortals
3. Likely industry sponsor involvement
4. Technology that pushes the envelope instead of reopening old ones
5. System integration that helps foster team engineering
6. High-profile, visible, cool stuff that's visible to the media
7. Publishing potential for shared bylines
This leaves out some of the pressing issues like general packaging and device interfacing, but still leaves a number of the more challenging issues available as student projects.
In the overhead department, I've probably found a new place to live, now that the summer sublet is about to disappear. Details when it's real...
That's it for tonight -- another day spent on overhead, long-range planning, daydreaming, sketching... (and a few interesting conversations!)
Cheers, Steve