Below is shown a series of pictures illustrating how we enter the water and move the pontoons into position.
Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.
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We drive into the water up to the point where the rear-most point of the pontoons will almost submerge to the point of floating. Then we grasp the pontoon control levers and lift the vehicle up onto the pontoons. |
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Here is the half way point with the lifting by the lever. |
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The pontoon control levers lift the vehicle so that only the pontoons are in the water. This minimizes resistance in the water, making Rex a faster water vehicle. |
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Recall that in step 1 we wanted the pontoons still to hit the ground when we entered the water. This was to give us a stable platform during the conversion. So in this step we use our oars to push off from shore. |
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Now we turn the vehicle around to make the oars effective. We want to take Rex out into deep water before lowering the propellor. The prop would be easy to break off if we were to drift sideways while the prop was rubbing the bottom. In 1998 we will add supports to the propeller, making this step unneeded. Of course, that will be much faster. |
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Shortly we will turn the vehicle around and lower the prop and rudder. |
| This site: http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/rex/TimeRex/Arcata1997/TimeRexWater97.html |
My home site:
http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown |
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Last modified 11 Dec 2006 |
Copyright 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 |