Amphibious Boats

[Ty Tan Tu]

I have what I think would be a fun idea, build two bases on Laythe on two different islands and run a ferry boat between the islands. It has not gotten past just a vague idea. I have never built a boat before and I am struggling with the design. I am thinking it would have to be amphibious, otherwise I would have to come up with some type of shore docking system which raises all sorts of level of docking ports problems. Maybe I could just have my Kerbals wade to shore, but that does not seem an elegant solution. I am thinking I could use two Structural Fuselage capped on either end with Aerodynamic Nose Cones as pontoons, with something like a MK2 cockpit and Mk2 Crew Cabin powered by a jet engine. But I am not sure how to do the wheels. So, I was hoping some of you might share your boat designs to get me started.

What does your amphibious boat look like? Or, maybe you have a better solution?

[bewing]

Are you willing to go with mods? I think Kerbinside would allow you to place images of docks on Laythe.

And I use the small retractable landing gears when I want to be amphibious -- they have a lot less drag in the water when they are retracted. MK2 parts are nicely shaped for floating and boating, for the fuselage and fuel tanks.

But in general any airplane can be a boat. They all float -- you have to do really special things to make them sink, especially in low gravity.

You don't really need any wheels, though. Laythe's islands have really steep shorelines, so you can drive in really close. Then all you need is a gangplank on the nose that reaches a few meters to the shore, for your passengers.

[Ty Tan Tu]

"gangplank on the nose that reaches a few meters to the shore, "

I kind of like that idea. Argh, walk the plank matey. 

I sent my resource probe to Laythe, and almost crashed into Tylo! I was just trying to get an orbit around Jool and then transfer to Laythe. I did not even think about the other moons. It caught me by surprise, so I just decided to orbit Tylo and figure out what to do next.

I love this game. I figured out how to get from Tylo to Laythe directly and am doing that now. My fear is that there will not be any ore on Laythe...

[Ty Tan Tu]

OK, there is ore on Laythe. Now I have to land a rover on at least one of the islands with a resource scanner to find a place to land.

 

I guess I don't have to give you a blow by blow by now, but I still want to see your boats. :-)