Stop whining, America!

Well, feeding two 350 cubic inch Chevy engines (as our friends do with their
yacht on Lake Michigan), to go no where at 20 mph, might make any of us
choose to party at the dock instead -- high prices or no.

Tell me again... how much do you pay for a hamburger?

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Well, feeding two 350 cubic inch Chevy engines (as our friends do with
their yacht on Lake Michigan), to go no where at 20 mph, might make any
of us choose to party at the dock instead -- high prices or no.

Tell me again... how much do you pay for a hamburger?

Point taken, but my hamburger is likely to be served in a different *state*,
possibly with relatives I might not see otherwise.

A boat -- especially an ocean-going yacht -- almost never leaves dock. But
when it does, you go very slowly, usually in seas that make our "turbulence"
seem pretty tame, don't get very far, and you had better have a high credit
limit on your Visa card, cuz re-filling those tanks ain't pretty.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Point taken, but my hamburger is likely to be served in a different *state*,
possibly with relatives I might not see otherwise.

A boat -- especially an ocean-going yacht -- almost never leaves dock. But
when it does, you go very slowly, usually in seas that make our "turbulence"
seem pretty tame, don't get very far, and you had better have a high credit
limit on your Visa card, cuz re-filling those tanks ain't pretty.

Well, I don't think the point was fully taken. I don't know about you
folks in Iowa, but for me going to a different state isn't all that
exciting, especially for a hamburger or a stack of pancakes. And I bet
those boat people are saying to each other "sure, but you get into one
of them flying things and you end up going so fast you can't see much,
and before you blink your eyes, you're there."

And if I wanted to entertain 12 people with my (club's) cherokee, I'd
have to have a high credit rating too, and I wouldn't get very far
either. It would be four trips, most of the time they couldn't talk to
each other, most of them couldn't talk to me most of the time, and (if
we actually went anywhere) we'd have to do it again afterwards.

Or I could entertain them with my aerobatics. I'd entertain you folks
too, in the Darwin writeup.

We won't even talk about if we wanted to to go a place that is served by
Signature. I don't have enough credit cards to cover that!

When the only tool you have is a hammer, =everything= looks like a nail.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Boats that go places don't use their engines much.

ObOrganization: Seven Seas Cruising Association. Lots of
circumnavigators there.

Don

Jay Honeck wrote:

A boat -- especially an ocean-going yacht -- almost never leaves dock. But
when it does, you go very slowly, usually in seas that make our "turbulence"
seem pretty tame, don't get very far, and you had better have a high credit
limit on your Visa card, cuz re-filling those tanks ain't pretty.


You know an awful lot about boats for a guy who lives in a place where
the biggest body of water most people ever see has a four legs and a
drain at the bottom

What you're referring to is a motor yacht designed for bombing around
near coastal waters. Aside from the sportfishers that may go offshore,
these boats stay within sight of shore and have their range severely
limited by fuel needs. "Turbulence" out there is no worse than we get
in the air and often less, especially in the summer. Most of these
boats have no business in serious weather.

If you want to see a true oceangoing yacht, look at something like the
Nordhavn 62'. These "expedition yachts" are becoming much more popular
and look more like commercial ships than speedboats. The N62 is
designed to run at 9 knots on a single 225HP diesel engine turning a
40" propeller at very low RPM. A typical 40' coastal stinkpotter will
run 2x450hp engines turning surface-penetrating props that look like
they came out of a blender. The Nordhavn doesn't go fast but with 2500
gallon tanks it can cross an ocean without stopping, and those big slow
diesels are built to run for weeks on end. 2MPG may sound awful but
keep in mind the boat weighs 80 tons (!). And it's bigger inside than
most condos:

http://www.nordhavn.com/62/interiorThumbs.php4

The key is speed. A boat runs most efficiently at "hull speed" which is
a function of length. If you want to push the hull faster than that,
fuel consumption goes up ridiculously, even worse than with airplanes.

-cwk.

wrote in message
ups.com...

Jay Honeck wrote:

A boat -- especially an ocean-going yacht -- almost never leaves dock.
But
when it does, you go very slowly, usually in seas that make our
"turbulence"
seem pretty tame, don't get very far, and you had better have a high
credit
limit on your Visa card, cuz re-filling those tanks ain't pretty.


You know an awful lot about boats for a guy who lives in a place where
the biggest body of water most people ever see has a four legs and a
drain at the bottom

Jay loved in Wisconsin. Lake Michigan and all you know.

What you're referring to is a motor yacht designed for bombing around
near coastal waters. Aside from the sportfishers that may go offshore,
these boats stay within sight of shore and have their range severely
limited by fuel needs. "Turbulence" out there is no worse than we get
in the air and often less, especially in the summer. Most of these
boats have no business in serious weather.

Spend some time on the Great Lakes. They often make the ocean look like
childs play. Ted Turner got humbled and you would too.

The key is speed. A boat runs most efficiently at "hull speed" which is
a function of length. If you want to push the hull faster than that,
fuel consumption goes up ridiculously, even worse than with airplanes.

Only true when talking about displacement hulls. Has nothing to do with
planing hulls which include the vast majority of power boats. Planing hulls
burn a tremendous amount of fuel untill they reach planing speed.

-cwk.

Jay loved in Wisconsin.

Dang -- I *knew* there were hidden cameras around, somewhere!

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Dave Stadt wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...

The key is speed. A boat runs most efficiently at "hull speed" which is
a function of length. If you want to push the hull faster than that,
fuel consumption goes up ridiculously, even worse than with airplanes.

Only true when talking about displacement hulls. Has nothing to do with
planing hulls which include the vast majority of power boats. Planing hulls
burn a tremendous amount of fuel untill they reach planing speed.

A planing hull can still be driven more efficiently (in MPG terms) at
hull speed than at or above planing speed. It is true that a planing
hull is least efficient at the speeds above displacement but below
planing, but even up on the step you'll get lower MPG. Even on a boat
like a Cigarette which has a hull and drive system optimized for
nothing but go-fast, you'll get better mileage running at hull speed:

http://powerandmotoryacht.com/boatte...te/index2.html

Likewise, hulls designed for planing are vary bad when you get serious
weather. The very characteristics which allow them to go so fast also
make them prone to pitchpoling and broaching.

-cwk.

Or get a Seaplane and do both. I have two boats, a right boat and a
left boat :-)

Dave Stadt wrote:

Jay loved in Wisconsin. Lake Michigan and all you know.

Are you implying that he doesn't love in Iowa? Sorry to hear that, Jay!

Matt