With both of the lats attached ~ which help support the mighty hydro-skis ~ and a bead of silicone finishing off the buoyancy packs, this baby's good for bed for now.
Foam provides not just buoyancy but the shear-resistance to keeps things in shape. Remember we've yet to fit fasteners to each deck, and as yet it's held together by leftover adhesives that were lying round the 'shop.
You can still smell the pinewood resin off those booms, which is nice, and as things dry off the laterals will come to love the shape their in, as timbers do in time.
We'll be using this mock-up for three separate tasks:
(1) Tidying up our patent drawing, which is decidedly ropey.
(2) Undertaking static flotation tests, sadly with my waders.
(3) Fitting the motors and props for static run-ups in the ARPs*.
Also we need something to look at besides a sketch, to know whether or not we can live together in a loving relationship; for boats are not for Christmas, they're for life.
Jury's out on whether we'll need a tensioner like that spar at the front end, because the lats will want to pull the booms apart. This however will be compensated for by the hydro-skis, which act like joists in the perpendicular plane, and by the fact that the seat will bind the whole together.
Those booms will need trimming too... but that's probably a job for a rabbi.
* Not sure what they are, but used to be quoted a lot in briefings at RAF Finningley.
