Microship Status 09/09/93

Overload! As model deadline nears, I have been realizing just how much has to be decided yet... it's going to take a succession of late nights (my most productive hours) to finish this.

Because of the difficulty of visualizing body interface in quarter-scale (even with mini-Steve), I decided to make an actual-size mockup of the cockpit section (a 10' hull segment). The idea is a 4x4x10 foot frame of 2x4 lumber, with cardboard hull and deck surfaces. Inside, the bike will be supported at the right hight (about 2' off the bilge) on a wood platform.

The first step in such an undertaking is a job for... Obtanium Man! Donning my special obtanium suit, I crept out last night under cover of darkness and performed asset-relocation on the requisite scrap lumber. Tonight I've been converting Nickel-Cadmium chemical reactions into sufficient torque to drive drywall screws, cobbling together a decidedly ugly frame amidst a growing sea of sawdust (an unfamiliar sight in the Microwave Lab, I bet). Next is the bike support...

The reason for all this is that knee clearance, console geometry, hatch placement, stowage areas, and the FEEL of the thing need to be done with visceral involvement. First comment after frame completion: this thing is HUGE. It's not really a kayak anymore, and we're surely well over 1,000 pounds. This forces me to reconsider pedaling, and I'm concerned about beaching. At some point in this continuum, it becomes a yacht... at which time, it would make more sense to simply acquire a yacht and outfit it appropriately. Something seems distinctly wrong about that approach, so we need to take a hard look at scale and perhaps push things back in the kayak direction by narrowing the hull 15-20%. Nudging the figures in the OTHER direction, however, are liveability, adequate storage, and safety in rough conditions. We'll see. Soon. Somehow.

Meanwhile... I find myself juggling trade-offs that I didn't even know existed. Good advice from the net continues to arrive (I've been posting in rec.boats), covering bouyancy calculations, prop design, sight reduction, rudder placement, chemical toilets, strip planking, and more. Great stuff. I'll discuss it here as the issues surface for real.

The books I bought last week are now under my belt (or somewhere), another excellent source of input during this critical and somewhat frustrating phase. I'm looking forward to reporting on real hardware progress in this forum soon! Somewhere in the middle of all this, I need to write the BEHEMOTH Technical Manual, keep up with monthly magazine columns and occasional speaking gigs, and launch this little nomadic connectivity consulting business with possible addition of an OmniTRACS email service...

I *hate* being finite.

LITERATURE RECEIVED:

Electric Boat Assoc Newsletter Aug/Sept 93

Multihulls Magazine May/June 93

Scientific Atlanta literature on mobile satellite voice and data terminals

Book: The Monthly Sky Guide (Ridpath/Tirion) for aid in identifying celestial objects

New Age Yacht Restoration flyer on electric motors.