Boating in 1.0.4

[Tazin]

Today i was a little curious so i tried boating in KSP. Managed a whooping 50m/s speed after a few tries. Then i googled "ksp water speed record" and saw people doing anywhere between 250 to 310 m/s on water . . . their designs don't seem al that different, put crash resistant parts underneath as floating devices and build a power and control unit on top. The thing is, all results on my search were from 2013 and 2014. Has water changed since then? or am i doing something else wrong?

Edited July 30, 2015 by Tazin

[Claw]

Yes, results have changed a bit for two main reasons.

- The biggest impact is the reduced thrust from jet engines (which most stock boats use). Obviously lower thrust is going to result in lower top speeds.

- The second reason is that drag is a function of craft shape now. So the big, wide boats don't work so well anymore since there's more aerodynamic drag.

The basic premise of boats still works. You need floats to keep the main portion of the craft out of the water, but you don't want them floating too high or they will create their own wakes (and drag on the water). Here's an example of a land-mobile boat I made for a challenge. It's pretty bare bones because I was fighting a variety of time issues while trying to complete the challenge. Of the designs I had like this (all single engine), the highest speed I reached was around 98 m/s.

You can also read more about how I reached this design here.

Cheers,

~Claw

[Tazin]

Thanks a lot! will keep trying!