Here though is where we left off, and it seems like a lifetime ago but that trip across the sea has been an inspiration to us all. It was so calm enroute Cherbourg that the sails of yachts were reflected as if by a mirror. It was an all-female crew at the helm and as what I guessed was the Second Officer stepped from the bridge for a smoke and a check on her DMs, like Noel Coward I said "Tranquil pour La Manche, non?" in an O-level French accent before we both shared a few 'Ahaaars'.
But as those farmers banding together to create a ferry-line must have asked, what do we want from this? Well at my age that is something of a moving target and the benefit of stepping away from the vehicle as we have done is that it gives time for us ~ like a tiny ocean ~ to do a bit of reflecting at the same time.
And right now I think as much as pioneering new shapes for maritime dronery, it is about building something I'd like for myself and which I figure we can do better. By better I mean more bangs for your buck and I think for our sakes and the planet's we need stop looking at horsepower and thinking about a new formula for boats ~ and this is my invention and I patent it and no backsies ~ that relates to knots per kilowatt or kts/kW as I like that there's lots of 'k' in there as much as anything.
Sadly ~ an excuse Airbus have been known to use at weekends ~ the timber yard is closed on Saturday afternoon and so what I tend to do is either walk round what we have or set up a chair and stare at it for long periods: the reason small children are advised to avoid my driveway.
But we wanted something very narrow and very planar, and then realised it would roll over the second we sat in it. This is something marine architects like to avoid at the get-go, and so we needed something to stabilise it without adding too much in the way of mass or frontal section... which is when we added wiiings. These lie here inverted on the garage floor, as they have the past two weeks awaiting the caresses of their creator. Mwah-ha, mwah-ha, mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Looking at them, you like I will be asking what shall we go for: levity, ease-of-build or modularity? A recent news report stated Russia produces fifteen million drones per annum, whilst the UK inventory stands at around 70,000; frankly am amazed at that latter figure and wonder whose garden's big enough? But wasn't it the lesson we took away from Kursk, how manifold T-34s were able to overrun mighty Tigers?
And looking at this through urine-coloured spectacles, I think we should go down a modularity route as it combines ease of production and I'm lazy (as I said it in the Powerpoint presentation to the board). What we'll do once the timber-yard opens therefore is to reproduce each of the side-decks that we see here, and attach them at ninety degrees so as to form pontoons.
If these were hinged or snap-on unitary parts then the frame could be flat-packed for storage, but at the prototyping stage you needn't be ashamed to be fixing things permanently. It makes for the strongest construct, the simplest manufacture and a lighter framework than otherwise when it's about iteration, failure... and reiteration.
