Four wheeled dinghy

Thanks for the links Sam. Fascinating stuff about Mr Peppard and his circa 1860 sailing wagon. Five hundred miles on the wagon must have been an arduous adventure.

You are right, maybe I'd ought to just buy one or better still try to forget the idea.

 

' A stolen go kart chassis might be in order.' <---- That's what I was talking about.

 

The stolen go kart remark was a feeble attempt at humor. I think that I might be able to find a derelict cart and buy it for less than $50 which could be considered a steal.

Serious kart racers frequently abandon their chassis after a season of racing. SInce it is an unsprung vehicle, the chassis is depended on for providing some flexure as a means for improving handling characteristics. Selective flexure characteristics are, though limited, arrived at by judiciously tightening or loosening the fasteners in the belly pan or body work. Selecting different wheel offsets also contribute to chassis tuning. The chassis is constantly subjected to twisting forces, thus fatigue and or work hardening modifiy the behavior of the structure over time and the number of races. Add to that, even a moderate crash can mess up a competitive chassis but it might still be adequate for use as a sailing toy.

 

"The challenge of utilizing societies discarded goods for fun and instruction provides the greatest satisfaction for the creative soul."

 

I always wonder why race karts don't have roll bars.

 

Sam some of them do have roll bars, cages in fact. They are called Champ Karts. Statisticly that class causes more injuries than the open karts. Not to say the ones with the cages are unsafe. I think that the cage may cause the driver to feel a heightened sense of security that gets them into trouble. The down side of the caged kart is that their CG is moved upward on account of the superstructure ( metacentric height ?). So they are more inclined to flip.

 

Just a plain old roll bar wouldn't seem to be a problem...


This has got to hurt...
http://www.yourdailymedia.com/post/go-kart-crash-compilation/



These look fun! I guess they evolved out of having a couple extra bicycles in the garage...
http://www.cyclekarts.com/CycleKartGallery.html

 

The cyclekart link has some cool toys displayed. It seems that the Brits are inclined in directions out of the mainstream. A surprising number of them are involved in nearshore, extended, cruising/camping with tiny little boats of 16 feet or less. Some of them 12 footers. Some of their boats are very cleverly arranged to suit the purpose.

We have a member, Jeremy, who, together with another band of industrious Brits, drive their race boats with electric drills. Of course we colonists are equally committed to madcap gadgetry such as ........sailing bicycles.

Sam your location, Coastal Georgia, makes me think of low country boil. Yummy! For those of you not familiar with the term, it is not a whirlpool that threatens small boats. It is a culinary delight consisting of a mixture of several seafoods like shrimp, conch, crab, fish bits, vegetables like onion, carrot, corn on the cob, spices, and whatever else one might choose. Boil it all in one big pot, adding components at intervals according to individual cooking times. Drain, then dump the whole concoction on a table top with out benefit of dishes. Everyone dig in with fingers, grab what you like, and almost surely accompany the repast with beer. (In high society circles the table top is usually covered with brown kraft paper or butcher paper before dumping the delicious mess on the table.)

Forgive me for causing this thread to dance around many subjects. In defense, most of the meanderings have had something to do with boats or sails or seafood.

 

When it's your own thread, it's your party and you can do what you want to.

Sausage and potatoes are usually in there too, sometimes some crawdads. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to not have beer involved! A winter oyster roast is also another big opportunity for excitement.

We're scheduled for a July clam bake (not a clam boil) in Warren, Rhode Island, "A Re-union Of All Warren Residents, Past And Present". That has a good chance of bonfires ( burning something up), fireworks (small, personal, pocket-sized bombs) and somebody being arrested for something! I can hardly wait!

 

They have a nice little bed and breakfast in Warren that we had the privilege of visiting back in 2003. If you stop there give them a hello from me. I believe it was the Candlewick Inn.

 

Well, the place is littered with my wife's relatives so a place to stay is no problem.

Hmm, come to think of it, that's probably a good reason to stay somewhere else...

 

Sure and those damn yankees know how to throw a party. I was stationed in Groton/New London Conn. while doing my stint in the coast guard. Little Rhody was only a few minutes north. Having gotten aquainted with some of the local civilians, I was treated to numerous steamed clam fests.

The friendly locals even allowed me, the naive Florida hillbilly, to dig large earthen holes in which to alternately place clams, wet seaweed, clams,seaweed, clams, seaweed and so on. They were kind enough to let me build a fire on top of the whole arrangement. I am indebted to them for having taught me the rudiments of lamination along with the fine art of clam steaming. Since then I have laminated quite a few wooden boat parts but not many clam/seaweed stuctures. I gotta tell you that Connecticut soil is rocky and difficult to dig and I suspect that the digging difficulty exists equally in Warren R.I.

As much as I respect those clever New Englanders and their clam chowdah, I do not understand why they are still clinging to the likes of those elegant but painfully slow Herreshof 12.5s They could just as easily be flying around in a 505 or something.

As long as I have hijacked my own thread by talking about food, then maybe some others will join in the fun and describe their cultural favorite seafood dishes. Michael and Tansl from Spain, Daquiri form Italy, RWatson from OZ, and others from South Africa, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, and elsewhere. Disclaimer: I draw the line with those rottenfish dishes that the Swedish pretend to like.

 

Is that Lutefisk you're referring to? I never ate any, but there was always a 5 gallon bucket of it at the grocery store, in Wisconsin. It looked about as appetizing as 5 gallons of unidentifiable stuff in a murky liquid can. Sometimes the taverns, instead of a bowl of peanuts, would have a smoked carp setting on the bar that you could pick off of. That was good stuff.

 

I watched two 'famous' Ozzie entertainers( Hamish and Andy) try that rottenfish canned stuff ( Surströmming) as a dare - the poor guy couldn't keep it down in front of the TV cameras Even the passing citizens were badly affected

Similar to -


On the positive side, this xmas was a highlight of sea food.

I got invited to some friends who we only see once or twice a year, and we and their family brought along some supplies.

Sandy brought some East Coast Tasmanian Oysters along as their contribution. I got more than my fair share - they were truly epic.

The other big hit was the Tasmanian Scallops. I made a bit of a fool of myself - John, the bbq cook, dropped one on the concrete as we were plating up. I picked it up quick, but by the time he said "Oh, you can throw that one to the dog" I had brushed it off and swallowed it.

He also bbq'd some Ling fish, and lots of Prawns.

It was seafood heaven - I could hardly eat the Plum Pudding and Meringue for dessert, I had so much. I probably wont get invited back next year

 

"sloppy seconds" as they say.