Tonight!

 

Just saw the show. Bummer you guys lost. Watching it I was thinking....what the hell are they gonna do with that tube? the weight distribution is all wrong...but then I realized that hindsight is always 20/20 and I probably would have built something so heavy I couldn't even get it into the water! I am sure it is very difficult to do. Anyway, great job, and contrats on your 15 minutes!

 

damnet you guys, it is just on right now and i got on to post and now i know the answer.

 

damn...sorry 'bout that! I waited to post but I guess not long enough! I thought I had cleared all of the timezones. I'll give myself a kick in the **** to make sure it doesn't happen again!~

 

There are a lot of good materials, some new, lying around for our use. Plate steel, full lengths of angle iron, all our barrels, were brand new. Most of the engines will run, but beware the newer motors that need computers and wiring harnesses for them to work. My choice of motors was an Austin Mini Cooper. It was a small 4 cylinder gas engine, but out expert wanted a diesel.
The thing about the expert is that he has been working on this idea for a month, and we only hear about it for the first time as the show and our 10 precious hours begins. Both teams wanted to build catamarans with barrels and a motor slung between the two hulls. No stuffing box, no stability problems. But the experts and the TV crew, in their infinite wisdom,
contrived a show that was much more entertaining and educational. There really isn't time to contradict your expert. There is basically no time for anything but sticking with plan A. And two nearly unsinkable, evenly matched catamabarrels would be a really boring show.
The show has an interesting set of checks and balances. The team has final say, but is unprepared to pull rank on the expert. The expert and the captain are not allowed to go into the junkyard to scavenge, so even if the expert knows of some special part that may be out there, all he can do is send us to look.
Our expert wanted a single pontoon from the start. We wanted a second pontoon but could not find anything suitable. I was still looking, even after dark, for something to use as a second pontoon. If we had found a second pontoon we could have and would have insisted on using it.
The winning Hindsight idea was to cut the single pontoon in half and make two out of it using sparkletts water bottles for nosecones.
What you don't see is the bow-wave from the pontoon pouring into the engine compartment. This is why the expert was hiking out off the other side which made it flip. He was trying to get the pontoon up out of the water a little bit so it wouldn't make such a big splash and wave right into the engine and swamp us out. The diesel could have run swamped better than flipped though, and he didn't consider rudder torque or torque from the deccelerating prop going into the turn. Like major oops there, especially for a naval archetect. We live in the friggin desert, what do we know about boats? (nice line, but I am a sailor). We felt bad about losing, everybody knew we had the faster boat, but we did our jobs, and put on a good show, and had an absolute blast doing the whole thing, so..
AND it makes much better Television hitting the wall at warp speed than stalling out in the pits. And I loved being stranded with Cathy, while the real co-host was stuck ashore with the judge.
After the race was over and the crew is packing up, a Land Rover with a big winch on the front unceremoniously winched our boat, dragging the prop up on the rocky beach. We too asked what becomes of the creations. Some are to be exhibited, ours was going back to the scrap heap.
But I did get the beautifull Bronze propeller, and Dr. Bill got the toaster hood ornament. Mementos from our 15 minutes...