Well that's what we've been working on, isn't it Gromit, and if we are ever to cross over between high-speed planing on water and ground-effect flight above its surface then it's likely to look more like this than not. Probably a best use of foam laminate tile backing-board you're likely to come across, and something I have put out there in this month of October by way of a show-and-tell and which I shall double in size during the month of November, prior to powering up for testing come December.
It weighs just 2.50 kilos ~ although those are not real motors swinging those 11" propellers ~ and is around 18" wide and 67" tall stood on end. There's a panel that forms an inclined ramp beneath the forward end of the main-deck, which it time we shall use as a foot-rest to accommodate a seat on its upper side. We can use what we have here for static flotation tests, principally to determine the best location for the motor... which we have the flexibility to add to the rear of the main-deck or else the leading edge of the tail-assembly.
I may take it up to Coniston speed week at the start of next month, as I suggested to you some time back; but then again I might not be bothered. Fuel's getting little cheeper nowadays, which is one reason I design such things as these. Fact I would like going forward for people to adopt such data as kt/kW (knots per kilowatt) else kt/kg (knots per kilogram) when it comes to the speed of such things, to emphasise how little energy should need to be required by fast watercraft.
Because the way we build now for movement on air, land or water seems designed to maximise use of resource and emissions of carbon, even if we kid ourselves that it doesn't.
Proud of what I see though: proof it might yet be that I'm not altogether useless.
Ed. Cockpit an empty bottle of Prosecco meantime that I call 'the cockpit of shame'.
