Aquatic vessel help?

[Mitchz95]

I've been playing around in sandbox mode with aquatic vessels, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting them to work right. I know KSP's water model isn't exactly accurate, but when I see things like this on the forums, I kind of want in on the fun.

So what kind of advice can you give me for aquatic ships? I'd like to start with something medium-sized, but fairly fast and maneuverable as well.

[DeMatt]

..."fast" and "maneuverable" are not characteristics of aquatic vessels in KSP.

You may want to take a peek at Hooligan Labs or InfiniteDice's Boat Parts.

[cerberusti]

You can make a decently fast boat, jet engines work well as propulsion.

I personally like girders for hull (make sure only girders and other tough parts are actually in the water.) I also suggest that you enter the water slowly (5 m/s), but once you are in it is more forgiving.

[Mitchz95]

Which parts are the most "buoyant"? I've been using mostly empty fuel tanks as pontoons.

[Master Tao]

Radial air intakes work surprisingly well as floats.

[cantab]

I investigated bouyancy a fair bit, and only really concluded that it's weird.

Drag I think matters more, since water follows the same drag cx mass rule as air, but worse. That's why intakes work well. Wings are good too and might look more pleasing, but their fragility means they can break on entering or leaving the water.

As for propulsion, well in stock it's basically jets. For mods Firespitter has plenty of props, they work fine above or below the waterline. My ugly-as-sin but quite functional yacht uses four Firespitter electric props powered by a nuclear reactor from Near Future and does about 30 knots.

[HafCoJoe]

I investigated bouyancy a fair bit, and only really concluded that it's weird.

Drag I think matters more, since water follows the same drag cx mass rule as air, but worse. That's why intakes work well. Wings are good too and might look more pleasing, but their fragility means they can break on entering or leaving the water...

Exactly that from my findings.

..."fast" and "maneuverable" are not characteristics of aquatic vessels in KSP.

You may want to take a peek at Hooligan Labs or InfiniteDice's Boat Parts.

NOT TRUE. I've become pretty darn good at building speedy and maneuverable boats. See this video it has the ship download in the description for your experimentation:

Build like a water strider. Parts only break if they pass through the SURFACE of the water. If you build pontoons out of air intakes (which have minimal drag and weight and additionally big hit boxes so more lift), you can raise your ships out of the water, though maneuverable boats won't look like the stock battleships. They will look more like this:

I hope this helps!