A bright orange narrowboat

[MHS]

So this mad French guy seems to have built a tiny narrowboat to avoid tax on fuel. It doesn’t require any! 

 

Would it have looked better if it had been blacked? Should he have avoided painting the interior with the London white out look?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46690647

 

[1st ade]

From the news this morning he expects to cross the Atlantic by ocean currents alone, He'll be dropping markers "for scientific research".

 

Won't they drift with him?

[MHS]

5 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

From the news this morning he expects to cross the Atlantic by ocean currents alone, He'll be dropping markers "for scientific research".

 

Won't they drift with him?

It presumably depends on their size, weight and any area above the waterline. Wind would also play a part. 

[Athy]

Pump-out or cassette?

[LadyG]

8 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

From the news this morning he expects to cross the Atlantic by ocean currents alone, He'll be dropping markers "for scientific research".

 

Won't they drift with him?

lol lol lol rofl rofl

[nicknorman]

1 hour ago, 1st ade said:

From the news this morning he expects to cross the Atlantic by ocean currents alone, He'll be dropping markers "for scientific research".

 

Won't they drift with him?

No because movement depends on two things, water currents and windage. A scientific marker thingy is likely to be low to the water and mostly move with the currents. A bloody great fat orange boat thingy is likely to have most of its structure above the water and thus be moved more by wind and less by currents. Wind speeds are of course often much faster than ocean current speeds.

 

This was all brought home to me when we had a helicopter ditch off the Dutch coast - the crew went into the water via their cockpit doors but as soon as they were 1 foot away from the helicopter (floating right way up on its inflatable floatation gear, 80% out of the water) they were unable to get back to it because it was drifting with the wind just a bit faster than they could swim. Of course their bodies were 90% in the water and thus moving primarily with the sea currents, barely affected by the wind. They never did get back to it, it was found washed up on the beach the next morning. They were rescued by local shipping.

[1st ade]

1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

They were rescued by local shipping.

Thanks for the explanation - I'm glad they made it; I felt a tragic end to the story on the way...

[nicknorman]

4 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

Thanks for the explanation - I'm glad they made it; I felt a tragic end to the story on the way...

They were very lucky, as were the 18 or so passengers who also ended up the water in the dark due to a catalogue of cockups, and 2 rear crew, all of whom were rescued in time.

[furnessvale]

7 hours ago, MHS said:

It presumably depends on their size, weight and any area above the waterline. Wind would also play a part. 

And possibly drag anchors to detect sub surface currents?

 

George

[Jim Riley]

Of course when he has done with it he can sell it in Calais. Camo painted obvs. 

[Iain_S]

7 hours ago, nicknorman said:

They were very lucky, as were the 18 or so passengers who also ended up the water in the dark due to a catalogue of cockups, and 2 rear crew, all of whom were rescued in time.

I have to ask : if the chopper was fitted with flotation gear, why did everyone bail out? (I assume they bailed after the ditching)

[nicknorman]

4 hours ago, Iain_S said:

I have to ask : if the chopper was fitted with flotation gear, why did everyone bail out? (I assume they bailed after the ditching)

Good question. When you are accustomed to flight motion, and then you plonk a thing with great big heavy engines, transmission and rotors right at the top, and bags of gas at the bottom into the water, and then introduce a sea state, you really think it is going to roll over. Even though it isn’t. If it rolls over it is very stable with the heavy bits now at the bottom but unfortunately the entire cabin full of water. And then you drown.

 

Neither the pilots nor passengers have any experience of what constitutes acceptable motion and what, in a few more seconds, is likely to be catastrophic. The natural reaction is to want to get out before you find yourself upside down under water in the dark.

[Dr Bob]

On 27/12/2018 at 08:58, Athy said:

Pump-out or cassette?

Neither. Direct pump into the sea most likely.

[aracer]

2.1m wide. That can't be coincidental can it?

[MHS]

5 hours ago, aracer said:

2.1m wide. That can't be coincidental can it?

No, when he’s made it across the Atlantic, he plans to sell on EBay. Someone will pay good money for a bijou pad that can be moored in London. Remember that white out interior darling? Only problem will be transporting it back. 

[Bee]

There's a long list of things I wouldn't do, parachuting, potholing, rock climbing pulling tigers tails, that sort of thing. Now there's something else. I wouldn't set foot on that thing even if it was firmly tied to a great big bollard on a harbour wall. Many years ago I went to the boat show in London, there was a tiny boat, Sea Egg? that someone had crossed the Atlantic in and that frightened me.