Dolphin Address 13
May 30th 2006
Some two weeks ago I found a large PVC container that had been washed up on the rocks. I punctured it with a 2mil drill and it blew out air for 5 mins. It looked flirtatiously flotatious. So I cutwheeled a hole in the hull and sat stuck in it for half an hour. Meanwhile I learned how to get out in 5 seconds. I sawed and cut a plywood all round frame to fit the barrel, mounted it with a plastic tub, a road cone protruding from its bottom. Inside the tub a meadow pole is firmly attached to the barrel grips, it’s point peaking through the cone. The frame flows into wings at the rear. Vertically on the barrel front is a console for levering the wing up and down through the water under the barrel. A horizontal rudder can make it dive or submerge. For air I have a tank and a regulator inside the barrel. From there I can also inflate airbags in the tub and in the cone.
Right now I'm working on the propulsion leverage. I want to consolidate the inside structure on some critical connections and think of coiling epoxy drenched rope around the tub. She should be ready for her maiden trip in a fortnight.
Jan Ploeg, Meadow Fanore, May 30th 2006
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