Impending Launch.

By Dermot Tynan, about 8 years ago.

Hull #002 is coming along, slowly. The stations are mounted on the strongback and I've been double-checking the alignment. I have time to do this because 1/32nd inch balsa wood is hard to come by, and because I haven't cut the keelson yet. Well, I have, but I need to re-cut it. The original was cut to the wrong profile.

While the work on hull 2 continues, I've been using Hull #001 to test out aspects of the boat design and control systems. In fact, I am very close to launching the hull…

• November 1, 2016
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Robotic Sailboats and Airborne Viruses

By Dermot Tynan, over 3 years ago.

One would think that a global pandemic would be a great opportunity to hunker down and get some work done on one or other robotic sailboats. Unfortunately, this hasn't turned out to be the case. I am still knee-deep in hull work on boat #2, the main entrant. However, due to lockdown restrictions, I can't physically access the hull and so it has spent most of the last twelve months, waiting for more sanding and filling (side note: never let anyone tell you that you can "fix it at the sanding/filling stage"). But it's not all bad news. The lockdown has been good for boat #1, the test vessel.

• March 16, 2021
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Hull

By Dermot Tynan, almost 3 years ago.

It's taken an incredibly long time, but Hull #2 is on the verge of being ready for some layers of chopped-strand mat and woven roving. The image above is of the inverted hull, still attached to the strongback. Some layers of thin balsa over ten or eleven stations, and then coated with West Systems filler and epoxy, and faired to a reasonably smooth surface.

• March 2, 2022
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Plumbers Have Dripping Taps.

By Dermot Tynan, over 2 years ago.

It's a little bit of a cliche, I admit, and I'm sure a lot of plumbers would object to the stereotype. But I can tell you it's true of network people. We end up with elaborate network configurations in our houses, which are never finished. VLANs for guests, VLANs for servers, multiple WiFi networks, firewalls, and so on. All just a few configuration steps away from perfection! I discovered that this is also true of robotic sailboats.

• March 8, 2022
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