Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation

[purpleivan]

10 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Noooo... we have to wait for the penultimate leg until tomorrow? Good job with the new Juice Goose (or are you calling them SMIRFs now too?)!

Oops... a mistake with the naming, I'm blaming my little break.

It should of course be Mr Goose, post text is corrected now.

Edited May 22, 2019 by purpleivan

[purpleivan]

Hold yer horses...or, this thing ain't done yet.

Well, first of all it looks like the crew of the Coastal Cruiser will be venturing around Kerbin's shoreline a little longer than anticipated. The curvature of the globe and so the distortion of the map, near the poles, gave the previous couple of legs a deceptively long appearance. That and forgetting to throttle down for some of this leg means that the next (60) will not be the last. My best guess is about 2.5 legs to go.

But back to the boat...

With tanks refilled courtesy of Mr Goose and Gusman's landing skills, the crew headed out onto leg 59.

I don't know if it's the break, or just a change in the scenery, but the environment's looking nicer... more beach vacation style.

Bill once again clambered out on deck of the speeding boat to take some shots, this one while hanging on to the top of the jet engine. Looks like he caught something intesting (to Bob at least) off in the distance.

Another photo and another view of that distant mountain.

Here is that mountain in all its glory. Due to his forced break on the beaches North of here, it's Bob's first stab at naming something for a while.

So what do ya think Bob.

"Hmmm... well, it's got to be Mount Tree Stump".

After some nice cruising under the sun, the tanks drop to half full.

Looks like there's some more wiggly coastline nooks and crannies to investigate.

The sky may be getting dark, but the mood in the cockpit is pretty light. Their new companion Staemy has been livening up the after dinner conversation with tales of what's been going on spaceflight wise since they left on this voyage.

Both Jeb and Val are looking forward to getting their hands on something a little faster than the Coastal Cruiser again.

Well that's sundown, so time to hit the shore, preferably not at high speed.

This spot should do.

Still 528 units of fuel left.

At daybreak Val quickly spins the boat around to point out of the small bay they moored in overnight. However Staemy was still putting the breakfast dishes away at the time, resulting in 3 broken plates, two broken glasses and one hurt pride.

For a start this morning the Coastal Cruiser will be heading East along this peninsular, before rounding it and heading... wait for it...

East.

More high altitude photography gives Bob something else to name.

He plumps for "Deeeer dum... deeeer dum... deeeer dum dum dum dum dum dum, dum dum, da, da, da daaa... Island"

Here is the boat having passed "Overly long name Island" (Jeb made a command decision and renamed it).

Meanwhile... back in the rover, Staemy is puzzled why there's not been a sign of cloud this morning.

She also wonders how she knows this, as the rover does not have a glass roof.

As the boat heads South, the scenery takes on more of a tropical appearance, just needs a few palm trees.

Ahem... Squad... it just needs a few palm trees.

Ok... this isn't so tropical, at least the the long golden beaches bit of tropical anyway.

But there are tropical islands to whiz past...

... or pass inside of, just need to watch out for the shallows.

With the boat down to under 100 units of fuel it was time for Val to look for a good spot to wait for Gusman and Mr Goose to catch up with them. This large beach with patchy grass/sand looks like it'll do the trick.

Val hasn't lost her touch with the controls after her enforced break and she brings the boat smoothly into shore. She can see some surfing in her immediate future, and from a beach like this why not.

With just 43 units left, it's going to be pretty much a full load of fuel required from Gusman when he arrives later. But until then it's buckets and spades time for the crew.

[NBDesigns]

12 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Ahem... Squad... it just needs a few palm trees.

The best words to match how I feel, yes!

I wish there was a stock enhancing library 

[purpleivan]

Black Cat... or, dsfsdfdsfsdf

Firstly I have to apologise to Tanford Kerman, who flew Mr Goose to the boat to refuel the last leg, and not her pal Gusman as previously reported.

Then again a quick rename never harmed anyone... right.

With the sun heading towards the horizon Tanford (yep... nailed it this time) took off from the beach at the last meeting spot with the Coastal Cruiser.

On the way out to its new location, Tanford took in some of the sights.

But eventually it was back to business, as the boat came in sight and she prepared for the landing.

You know how I said renaming this never harmed anything... never mind, I take it back.

That will not buff out.

A short time later, after some trundling across the sand, the Goose came into view of Bill and Staemy who had had been waiting patiently outside for Tanford's arrival.

"Er... Staemy, does that plane look complete to you?"

"No... no it does not Bill."

To make matters worse Tanford came in "a little hot" when connecting up with the Coastal Cruiser, sending Staemy tumbling onto the rover platform below, and Bill into the sea.

Staemy was not impressed.

But at least there's a full load of fuel for the boat in that plane, well just about.

With her plane in a less than flyable condition, Jeb invited Tanford to come aboard the boat for the remainder of the trip home. Something that she leapt at the chance of.

"So Tanford... how many payments left on that plane?"

"Hmmmph."

The boat continued on Westward towards the setting sun.

On they travelled, ever Westwards towards new ad...

Hey!... who broke the sun.

Given Tanford's near death style of landing and the misnaming of her in the journey's records, the crew wondered if the Kraken was paying them another visit.

Yep, it's eclipse time again.

Another feature of a near miss with the Kraken is glowing beaches apparently.

With the morning came some good old fashioned, non eclipsy sunlight. As the boat headed along the coast Staemy wondered if Tanford had a real pilot's license, or if she'd found it in a packet of breakfast cereal.

The boat finally stopped heading West and turned northward into the estuary of a large river, one which runs all the way into a mountain range.

On the way towards the river itself, Val decided to buzz between a couple of the larger islands.

Ok... we're in this river at last, just good times ahead cruising up it to those mountains.

With the boat down to the halfway point of its fuel reserves, Val guided it into the first bend.

Bill dashed out on deck to grab a quick photo of the mountains before they dropped out of view... almost succeeded.

Around the bend Val noticed a little problem ahead of them.

"Er guys... does the map show this river having a beach... across it?"

Once more their attempts to ride a mighty river to its source was thwarted by a lack of water in it, or a surplus of land.

One of those anyway.

With nothing to do by head back towards the sea, Val hit the throttle.

Behind them they left the majestic mountains, that they were unable to visit.

I said, behind them they left the majestic mountains.

I

Before long the sun began to sat, at which time a nifty little trick to improve fuel consumption was noticed.

If the fuel in the rear tank is transferred to the one a the front, the trim of the boat is adjusted slightly and that increases the speed of the boat with no extra throttle required.

How much speed I hear you ask... 2.5m/s that's how much.

An 8 percent speed improvement is nothing to turn your nose up at, so I'll be making use of this for the remainder of the trip, just wish I'd found it out sooner.

Not wanting to pull over then have a quick dash on the remaining fuel the following morning, Val decided to continue on in the dark.

Ahead of her was just the slightest hint of the coastline, drowned out by the boat's floodlights.

Back in the cabin area, Tanford looked concerned.

But she needn't have worried, Val drives the boat like she knows it like the back of her hand... well, her glove anyway.

Finally with Tanford huddled beneath her seat, having assumed the crash position (full EVA suit on and surrounded by all the cushions she could find) Val pulled the Coastal Cruiser into shore, with 66 units of fuel remaining.

Well it looks like there are now just two more legs to go until the crew, along with their hitchhikers, make it back to the KSC.

[FleshJeb]

58 minutes ago, purpleivan said:

I said, behind them they left the majestic mountains.

Literally dying 

[purpleivan]

Ultimate Pen... or, is that backwards?

With the planets' space program already down two planes and pilots, it was decided to send fuel to the Coastal Cruiser the old fashioned way... by throwing some to it, just like a rock.

If you rock happens to be a Sr SMIRF and your throwing arm four SRB's, packed with gravity defying fury.

Looks like a little less fury was called for here, the full compliment of 4 SRB's was intended to send Sr SMIRF on a trip way off the equator, but the boat is only a stone's thow away (stop it with that analogy already) and pretty much equatorial.

Fortunately some more the de-orbit stage was available to pull the trajectory back to one that ended closer to the boat.

Look out below.

Ah... close enough I guess, another hair raising descent, with the drogue chutes finally indicated as safe to deploy at only about 1600m.

With Senior SMIRF in the water, it was time to head out and meet it.

Once hooked up to the boat, both Tanford and Bill kept a keen eye on the time while the fuel was transferred.

On their way again, Bill went out on deck for some more photography. He broke out the big lens once more to get this shot along the deck towards the Mun that had risen a few minutes earlier.

In the afternoon the Coastal Cruiser rounded the last major peninsular before the home stretch to the KSC.

The body of water it entered is nicknamed the Sea of Spare Parts, due to the staggering number of them littering the sea bed, from the many launches from the KSC.

Then came the last treck North up the East coast of the sea. It's basically one really big left turn, and they'll be back home.

Bill wonders when he'll the chance get to head up a mountain in a rover again. He's heard that when he gets back home, he's going to be posted to a science station on Eeloo, and that place is not known for it's mountainous terrain.

The day of boating draws to a close... not many more of those to go for this crew.

Val brings the boat in towards the shore, but misjudges the timing for swinging the boat around for the usual, rear end on beach parking position. It looks like it might be beached, but they'll deal with that in the morning if it is.

 

Early in the morning, Tanford decided to get up and do something about the boat, which is indeed beached. She's tired of the ribbing she's been getting for bending her plane and abandoning it on a beach, so she decides to use her head to free the stricken boat... literally.

It's the manual labour equivelent of MOAR BOOSTER, as she runs headlong multiple times into the hull, to push the boat into deeper water. After half a dozen ramming with her head she thinks it's moved enough to pilot off the beach.

She probably should have put her helmet on though, all that ramming has left her a little the worse for wear, as she wobbles back onto the deck, headed for the cabin hatch.

But Tanford's efforts were not in vain, as with some full reverse thrust Val is able to shift the boat off the beach.

The Coastal Cruiser headed North through the morning, passing the half tanks mark aas it did so.

The location of one of the many underground cities that pepper the coastline of kerbin. Although the living space is all beneath the surface, the inhabitants of these ofter paint the ground above them with what they think it would look like if they build them on the surface.

That has no practical purpose, as does them being painted in luminous paint, but it does give orbiting kerbonauts something to look at when on the dark side.

Some nice looking beach front property there. Tanford says that she's like to put a house on top of that island. Well under the ground at the top of it anyway.

More sunny, sandy beaches. This part of Kerbin looks like some kind of tropical beach vacation catalogue.

In the rover Staemy asked Bob if she can has the rover when they get back home, as he won't be needing it anymore.

Bob for once says nothing.

Bill meanwhile discusses a strange sensation he's had for much of the voyage.

"Tanford... do you get the feeling that we're being watched?"

"Yes... yes I do".

More fine golden beaches for the crew to admire as they continue to head North.

Up front, Val and Jeb are looking discussing what kind of high adrenaline, space adventures they can look forward to when they get back to the Space Center.

Val suggests that with the funds that have been spent on this trip, they might be hauling commercial satellites into orbit for next decade. Jeb replies that as long as he's got the negatives, there's going to be an endless supply of crazy trips to far flung planets.

On this leg I've using the trick I discovered on the last one, of weighing the front of the boat down a bit, to adjust the trim for less drag in the water. At first I was moving fuel around to do this, but late on realised that I could just stop the flow from the foward tanks, until the rear ones were down to fumes.

More painted underground cities... I am informed that this one is called Smudgy, Gridsville.

It won't be long until this leg is over, as the sun has almost finished its work for the day and the fuel is down to less than 200 units.

With these factors in mind Val started looked for a mooring spot and picked a nice little patch of beach, that she pulled the boat into at sunset.

62 units of fuel remaining. That'll be enough to get the Coastal Cruiser to whatever bring the next... and final, slug of fuel to the boat.

Well that's almost it now. Only one more leg to go before Val, Jeb, Bill and Bob (and their hitchhiking companions) make it back to the KSC.

Edited May 24, 2019 by purpleivan

[KerballingSmasher]

This is it... should it be arriving tonight or tomorrow?

[purpleivan]

31 minutes ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

This is it... should it be arriving tonight or tomorrow?

Depends where you are... for me tomorrow.

[RealKerbal3x]

We're almost there....

14 hours ago, purpleivan said:

The body of water it entered is nicknamed the Sea of Spare Parts, due to the staggering number of them littering the sea bed, from the many launches from the KSC.

I call that same area of ocean 'Booster Bay'.

[purpleivan]

No place like home... or, all good things come to and end.

After 62 legs and millions of funds, this is finally it!

This day began like most others on this journey around Kerbin, with a thirsty boat in need of a drink. For the final leg a new vehicle was added to the fleet that had serviced the Coastal Cruiser in its route around the planet.

This was partly due to the Juice Geese (that really doesn't sound right) being grounded after Tanfords little mishap. But mainly the engineers at the KSC just wanted to try out a new toy.

Introducing... The Pelican.

This was a very quick rework I made of the 2nd version The Duck, which I put together a couple of days ago, was a death trap that had all the flying characteristices of tipsy duck, with a kite tied to its back. All I did was to add an additional fuel tank to the front end, which shifted the CoM forward a bit and hey presto, a really nice little sea plane was born.

Early this morning Andin and Gusman coasted out from the shoreline at the KSC, then hit the afterburners of their new ride. It quickly got up to speed and lifted smootly off the waves at about 75m/s.

This is a really nice handling little plane, way better than my rapid "well... that should do something" fix to the Duck deserved.

After a shorter than expected flight (this is not going to be a full length leg for the boat) the Coastal Cruiser was in sight. Andin swung the plane round to port, to bring the Pelican in along the coastline towards their waiting customer.

The Pelican is a breeze to land. It flies smoothly even at low speed and can glide in on zero thrust just about the sea for ages. Touchdown was ata bout 45m/s

2357 units of fuel left on board, plenty to fill the boat and get the Pelican back to base.

On board the Coastal Cruiser, Val saw the new boat and radioed it's pilot.

"Looks like you've got a new machine there Andin... how does she fly".

"Like a dream Val."

Andin lined up the Pelican with the deck plates, aiming to grab them and make the fuel transfer the same way a MIRF/SMIRF would do. However this didn't take into account the greater buoyancy that the Pelican has, resulting in the grabber missing the deck and hooking onto one of the seats on the deck.

Well... if it works, who am I to complain.

Some of the crew came out to take a look at the new aircraft.

Val decided to take a closer look, first at the engines.

Then at the cargo bay.

With full tanks once more, it was time to set off on this, the final leg of their journey. Leaving the two colleagues in the Pelican behind them.

The crew chatted excitedly about what their plans were when they got back, as the scenery passed by.

"So Tanford... you think they'll give you a new plane when you get back, a small one, with training wheels, maybe a little bell on it?"

"I'm not going to hear the end of this soon am I?"

"That would be a no."

Back in the rover, Bob had the place to himself, after Staemy had moved forward to the crew cabin. He like the conversation with her, but welcomed a little solitude on this last bit of the trip.

Up in the cockpit, Jeb was back at the controls, with Val in the co-pilot seat, just the way it was when they first left on their round Kerbin adventure.

It would appear that "something" is 97.4km in front of them... I wonder what that could be.

Jeb was going to head around the outside of this island, but at the last moment slew the boat around to point towards the gap between it and the mainland.

With only a short distance to go before this journey comes to and end, let's find out if Bob's in a naming mood today.

So Bob... any ideas.

"Well I think it has to be the Land of Lakes".

Why not Bob, why not.

By the afternoon the boat was down to the half tanks mark, which would normally see the throttles being gradually reduced to eak out some more distance for the leg. But as this final leg is going to be a short one, Jeb opens up the throttles a bit, as they all want to get back to the KSC before sundown.

There something familar about this view... can't quite put my finger on it though. Those mountains, the large very flat area between them and the sea.

Ooo... what's that sticking up about the waves.

Those montains definitely look like I've seen them before (flying over them, crashing into them...)

Ok, ok... enough already, the Coastal Cruiser is almost home, with the VAB in sight, sitting on that nice bit of super flat land, know as the world's widest runway.

Jeb ease down on the throttles and just coasts along the shoreline for the last few kilometres. It's been a long journey and even he is feeling a little overwhelmed by knowing that it's about to come to an end.

But what's that ahead floating in the water. Well it's the transport that took them to the water's edge oh so long ago, so it's a long time since they set eyes on that.

Before bringing the boat into shore, Jeb pulls alongside the vehicle that made their trip possible. Bob clambered out on top of the rover, first to get a better look towards the KSC.

Then to hop across to the transporter.

"I claim this for all the Bobs..."

With Bob back on board and sitting in on of the seats on the deck, Jeb engaged reverse thrust and pulled the boat back towards the shoreline.

The Coastal Cruiser makes nice soft contact with the beach... that's it!

They're home.

The crew, along with their companions for the last few legs, headed out onto the deck for a some celebratory snapshots. Bill sets the timer on the camera before hurrying back to join the rest of them for this shot.

Stamey and Tanford were the first to step onto the beach, to act as an official welcoming party.

Bob leapt off the rover platform, knowing it was probably for the last time, while Jeb was concerned that he wasn't appropriately dress for a homecoming.

Suddenly Val let out a scream, which caught Jeb by surprise.

"I left my stove on" she yelled.

"At home... how long has that been on".

Well the voyage began on Year 1, Day 2, so looking at that timer, it's been 158 days.

That's going to be some kind of power bill.

Well that's it, it's over... no more flying planes, piloting boats, transfering fuel, airdropping tanks from orbit etc. for me for a while. It feels like I need a vacation now

It was actually quite an emotional moment when I realised that the mountains I was taking a snapshot of were those to the West of the KSC. For almost the whole trip I've been using x3 or x4 physics warp when driving the boat around, but I dropped to normal speed for the trip around the bay to the North of the KSC and approaching the old transporter vehicle. Felt like the right thing to do.

I plan to make one more post here in the next couple of days, with some stats on the trip, plus the best of the screenshots of these little green adventurers on their round Kerbin voyage.

But for now, this is the crew of the Coastal Cruiser... signing off.

Edited May 25, 2019 by purpleivan

[MiscelanousItem]

Damn out of likes

[purpleivan]

17 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

We're almost there....

I call that same area of ocean 'Booster Bay'.

I think I like that better.

I should probably have gone for just Sea of Spares.

[NBDesigns]

Wonderful end to a wonderful journey 

glad the kraken didn’t decide to get the boat at the last second 

Enjoy the vacation from the production of this adventure 

[KerballingSmasher]

ITS OVER NOOOOOOO... I can't believe it! This thread was here when I first joined the forums, and it's been a blessing watching your crew explore (and pick up a few hitchhikers) the coastline. Thanks for the series!

[purpleivan]

2 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

ITS OVER NOOOOOOO... I can't believe it! This thread was here when I first joined the forums, and it's been a blessing watching your crew explore (and pick up a few hitchhikers) the coastline. Thanks for the series!

Thanks... I'm sure this won't be the end of the adventures though, I'm sure that Bob's posting to Eeloo will get cancelled and he'll find something else to do to fill his time.

[GDJ]

@purpleivan:

Congratulations on the completion of your quest!

[roboslacker]

I call the water east of the KSC scrap heap bay.

And congrats on pulling off this madness.

[purpleivan]

A couple of days ago I said that I'd post some of the best images from the trip around Kerbin.

So with no further ado, here are the pics (in chronological order).

Welcome to the water

The ISRU gear

Fuel depot incoming

1st proper mountain climb

Val guides in the Goose

Dawn takeoff in the North

Heading for the desert

Goose meet Moose

Taking it easy

Cruising the desert

MIRF on the rise

Happy Bob

Entering BBQ Bay

In the heights of BBQ Bay

Descending BBQ Bay

Boating BBQ Bay

Sunset BBQ Bay

Val ready for the big jump

Fuel to BBQ Bay

Moose on the loose at Woomerang

Return to Woomerang

Bob goes for a climb

Bob's got the white stuff

Doing the dishes

Fuel in the sun

The mountains of Woomerang

Seeing double

Sub sea adventures

Leaving Woomerang

Sunset spray

The upgrade

Fuel depot No. 2

Southern fuel operations

Heading for the peak of Bad Tooth Mountain

Going upriver

Lake dropping a SMIRF

The way down

Nothing like being prepared

Run silent run fully fueled

Just don't look right Bob

Follow the sun

1st river mountain

Ascent

It's ice stupid!

The great wall

Heading for the top

Foiled again

Another mountain

Early riser

Bulldozer Bob

Equatorial hijinks

Missed it by this much

Whyyyyyyyy

What's that smell

Fuel from above

Water level

Keverest awaits

Keeping balanced

Top of the world

Mountain meet Mun

Hitching a ride

Northern ice

Too close

Leaving the beach

Into the night

Adventurers return

Edited May 27, 2019 by purpleivan

[KerballingSmasher]

2 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Goose meet Moose

Oh, I remember this! I wish we had moar Juice Moose, though... if we needed a water vehicle to transfer fuel, can I suggest the Fuel Pool?

[purpleivan]

12 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Oh, I remember this! I wish we had moar Juice Moose, though... if we needed a water vehicle to transfer fuel, can I suggest the Fuel Pool?

For the last leg I did think about sending out a boat to do the refuelling, but as I'd already been playing around with sea planes, I went in that direction instead.

I basically forgot to grab images of the Juice Moose after the first few uses of it.

[KerballingSmasher]

11 hours ago, purpleivan said:

For the last leg I did think about sending out a boat to do the refuelling, but as I'd already been playing around with sea planes, I went in that direction instead.

I basically forgot to grab images of the Juice Moose after the first few uses of it.

Oh. But the Juice Moose was cool!

[purpleivan]

This isn't related directly to the cruise, but I think I mentioned at some point the idea of an all in one, "rover boat".

With the Breaking Ground DLC including robotic parts, this is now a possibility. Ok, I know... mods got there first, but I prefer to drive stock.

It's an ok, but not great boat and a worse rover (I'd probably go for the larger TR-2L ones next time).

I'd use this for some trips to far flung parts of Kerbin that the Coastal Cruiser couldn't visit. That would be stuff well inland, plus the blocked rivers that the boat encountered. This idea is till very vague so far though, but I'd start by air dropping (by rocket or plane) the multi surface vehicle that Bob (maybe with company) would drive to interesting places.

[fulgur]

Nice! Will it be able to climb the ice shelves at the poles?

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, fulgur said:

Nice! Will it be able to climb the ice shelves at the poles?

The vertical ice walls might be a bit of a challenge

Actually this design is not a great rover, definitely less capable when it comes to climbing.

[fulgur]

You could mount the engines on servos, so it could VTOL :-)

Actually, that would be good for climbing as you could use it to decelerate down the mountain.