I think I'd go running for cover, too. It's a little too spiker-like for my taste. I wonder if the head looks around and spits out colorful laser beams like those big Star Wars walker thingies...
online at http://www.theFrankes.com
while ( !( succeed = try() ) ) ;
"Life is short, Art long, Occasion sudden and dangerous, Experience deceitful, and Judgment difficult." -Hippocrates
Weird. I'm guessing it's not well suited to rough seas.
On the contrary, I would imagine the high location of the "wheelhouse" is intended to keep it above waves. The website says the legs and pontoons are conformable to ride over the waves with low draft, and little penetration of the waves causing drag and rough ride. Low draft, high fuel economy, high speeds. definately designed as an ocean-going, inter-continental vessel.
But I'm skeptical about the payload, something like only 4000# for a 100 foot vessel. Not much payload per trip.
The website says the legs and pontoons are conformable to ride over the waves with low draft, and little penetration of the waves causing drag and rough ride.
Yeah, I saw that, too. It might ride the big swells, but a 30-foot breaker abeam is a different story. Floating on top is not always possible for any vessel, and this thing just doesn't look like it can take a punch. Hope it can fly.
Where was the picture taken. Looks like San Francisco Bay with the Bay Bridge in the background. There is wedge shaped steal ship/boat the was being tested there at one time also. The would be a scary thing to see after you had a few to many.
The reason most ships are bottom-heavy is because they're relatively narrow compared with their height. This contraption has a much broader effective beam than a conventional ship. You'd have to raise one leg up to the point where the wheelhouse was atop the other leg before it would tip and if you imagine something similar on land, you can see why it is much more stable than a ship.
This one's a prototype. I think they have something much bigger in mind for hauling stuff.
But I'm skeptical about the payload, something like only 4000# for a 100 foot vessel. Not much payload per trip.
Oh I don't know. That ought to be enough to get me and my closest friends to London for a pub crawl...
Of course, having been first in the Surface Navy and later a Submariner, this is a little more to my taste: http://boardroom.deepblue.com/db/uss...enix_1000.php3 Nothing like submerging to 1000 feet to eliminate that whole "waves" thing...
Comment