Microship Status 10/23/93

by Steven K. Roberts

Nomadic Research Labs

Circulation of this issue: 50

First of all, a big THANK YOU to Mark Jones and James Gerken for the help Saturday morning! We went to the Microship bay at Seaweed Canyon (next to the Aquarium) and spent about three hours converting it from a cluttered mess to a clean, ready-to-use shop. (I even overcame my tendency to keep everything and, in a rare catharsis, tossed out a couple hundred old copies of EDN, Byte, Electronic Design, PC Week, MacWorld, and various other trade journals.) We set the space up so it will accommodate a 30-foot hull fabrication project, with shelving and workbenches on one side, tables on the other. My Sealution sea kayak is now in there as well, giving the place a distinctly nautical flavor...

The quest for volunteers has been remarkably successful, and my "paper database" of people now numbers 34. There's a wide variation, of course -- some will probably never progress beyond first contact while others will become deeply involved; one person (Jesse Keller) has already informed me that he's become immersed in the human-powered submarine and won't be available to this project until next year. (We'll keep you on the mailing list, Jesse... good luck with the sub!)

Frank Araullo will be handling the monthly print-archiving of these reports, his roommate Dave has offered to tune up the Linear Recumbent, TJ Tyler has offered to be the mechanical third of the management triad, Len Wanger of SDSC will be doing the 3-D renderings of Microship artwork, Isaac Chu offers help with lots of organizational and lab issues, Alec Plumb will be helping with unix file maintenance (though Fetch on the Mac has greatly simplified that problem!), and Andrea Woo is interested in helping with office tasks as long as she gets her hands on some real mechanical engineering. Discussions are progressing with others on specific projects... thanks to all who have come forward to help get this project underway!
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In other news...
I received a book from Kurt Hughes Sailing Designs (Seattle), detailing dozens of catamaran and trimaran plans that he sells for a few thousand dollars each (the plans, not the boats!). What is of interest here is that he seems to be pushing the envelope on many multihull design and construction issues, avoiding getting tied down to old molds that have to be amortized over a decade or so. I delivered this to Robb Walker at Nelson/Marek Yacht Designs (who is newly on the Internet as of Friday -- and on this list), and he's integrating the ideas into his thoughts about our design. He has also offered to contribute some hands-on management of the physical fabrication -- a MAJOR asset since he's been through this process on everything from sleek little racers to multi-million dollar mega-yachts.

While in the Shelter Island area Friday (with Dave Wright, a friend who's off to the South Pacific as crew this season), we also stopped into Pacific Marine Supply. This is a long-distance cruising-oriented store, and one of the proprietors ("Radio Mike," WB6ERA) is an active ham, runs local marine HF and VHF nets, and otherwise knows the maritime communications issues. PMS also hosts parties at which cruisers and crew mingle and form alliances, so we'll have to wander by there occasionally. (If any of you want to get educated on the yachting and maritime culture as background for this project, I highly recommend a day walking around that part of town -- contact me for some specific recommendations or to get on the list for a "field trip.")
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I've added everyone on this list to the nomadness alias, which, like technomads, has just been installed on the UCSD listserv (thanks to Brian Kantor). Back issues, not quite up to date but soon to be, are available via ftp from ucsd.edu -- look in the /nomad directory. The READ.ME files still say Telebit, which was the previous host, and the last 3 or so issues are missing, but Alec and I should have that taken care of in a few days. Anyway, the nomadness alias is a big one (well over 2,000 direct addressees including known reflectors and exploders, plus thousands more via forwards and reposts across the Net), and it carries more polished and abstracted updates on the project of interest to the world at large (less local detail, more stories and "articles"). These are a direct descendant of the "Notes from the Bikelab." You can also get them in hardcopy subscription form by sending a check to my office... but you're on the Net. Why would you want to do that? ;-)
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Quick update on the solar arrays... I spoke with my apps engineering contact at Solarex and told him about NidaCore -- initially to find out the acceptable deflection of the cells so we can spec substrate thickness assumming worst-case loads (not much -- about a centimeter over .6 meter). Anyway, my description of the polypropylene honeycomb quite intrigued him, so we're having some samples sent -- this may be another case of unexpected synergy between two sponsors who had not previously heard of each other. I'll keep you posted.

Finally, I haven't done a LITERATURE RECEIVED update in a while... here's what's new in the Nomadic Research Labs library:

Cruising World, Nov 93 issue, with an excellent article on seagoing women (relationship issues) as well as comments on reverse-osmosis watermakers, what to do when grounded, cruising Tahiti and Chesapeake, working with acrylics, and online yacht clubs (including rec.boats).
Avon Marine catalog, including inflatables, pumps, instruments, lights, and general gear.
Global-C literature (an Inmarsat terminal)
Cruising Guide from Pacific Marine Supply, an excellent, to-the-point compendium of things you need to know when heading Out There (emphasizing checklists, radio, and dealing with the Mexican government).
CCatalog, detailing all sorts of grim accessories for weapons to make them even nastier and more efficient.
Latitude 38 (October)
San Diego Log (Oct 15-28)
Wired, Nov 93 issue. This is an excellent magazine with lots of Internet resources... for example, finger nasanews@space.mit.edu for daily updates on mission status and recent discoveries.

That's it... cheers from the lab! --Steve