NOTE: Most of
this material is copyrighted; feel free to "deep link" to any page,
but
please contact me if you wish
to reprint an article or use it on your own website.
Basic Composite Fabrication -
Introduction to working with cored composite materials, fiberglass, and
epoxy... with additional comments on tools and facilities.
Center of Gravity and Weight Study Database
- A detailed article on
the mathematics of balancing your boat... and how to build a database
that maintains a running net center of gravity.
Cardboard-core Composites - For many
structural non-marine applications like simple enclosures without
compound curves, this technique involving hot-glued cardboard and
fiberglass may be just what you need.
Note: This class of articles has "forked," and there is another collection structured much like this one but specific to the Nomadness trimaran and Number Nine kayak projects. It's over yonder.
The
Microship Gear Shop
- After two decades of working on this stuff full-time, I have some
strong opinions about various products. Set up like an informal
shop with a dozen "departments," this is a collection of mini-reviews
and commentary accompanied by links to vendors' catalog pages.
The focus is on kayak and small-boat gear and related tools, naturally
with a technomadic slant...
First Steps to Aquatic Technomadics -
How do you pull up roots and convert a stable land-based lifestyle into
one of full-time adventure? This is your to-do list, written with
a slant toward the Technomadic Flotilla but widely applicable to
large-scale expeditions of any flavor.
7 Degrees of Freedom Expedition - This
is the overview page for the upcoming 400-mile jaunt of the Technomadic
Flotilla, from Port Hardy (BC) to Camano Island (WA), scheduled for one o' these days. This document further links to the
Flotilla home page.
The Microship Substrate - A thorough
discussion of the custom micro-trimarans that are the basis of the
Microships... including hull choices, deck fabrication, crossbeams and
their nests, hatch design, mast step, daggerboard, structural issues,
and fabrication.
A Multihull Primer - Written from the
perspective of the Microship project, this article introduces multihull
sailboats and discusses the trade-offs that contrast them with
traditional monohulls.
Music
Packaging a Home Music Studio by Hacking an Off-the-Shelf Desk - This
is a collection of packaging hacks that compress a suite of performance
and recording tools into a tight and efficient package, starting with a
"Creation Station" desk and Roland digital piano. Included are work-arounds for some of
the problems encountered when assembling oddly shaped objects
that need to work together as a system.
Geek Delights
Gonzo Engineering - Massively audacious
feats of creativity fall out of a way of thinking that is much more a lifestyle than a toolset. This article
addresses this madness, then playfully reduces the design process to a
set of heuristics that would definitely not make engineering managers
comfortable (but are demonstrably true).
Microship Fabrication Projects Available-
Sort of the "last hurrah" of the amphibian pedal/solar/sail
micro-trimaran project... this catalogs the remaining jobs that would
be required to get the ship expedition-ready. But in late 2006, I
acquired a larger boat, a bit more turn-key and much more liveable, and
new work centers around that. I am leaving this here for historical
purposes (and the good photos).
The NRL Mobile Lab Project
- Originally spawned by the need to move the "keepers" from my dad's
estate from Kentucky back home to Camano Island, the new hard-core
truck/trailer rig is the substrate for a long-desired mobile lab
facility. This group of pages documents the process, starting
with an overview of the vehicle itself.
The Shacktopus Hacks Collection - The Shacktopus project (son of Microship, grandson of BEHEMOTH,
etc) is spawning a number of packaging tricks, circuit designs, and
hacks various. Unlike previous projects, where I believed I'd go
back and write about them someday, this time I'm producing short
technical pieces as the system develops.
The Microship's Tapwave Zodiac
- A product-focused narrative that captures learning
curves, hacks, integration tricks, and resources. This rugged
Palm-powered hand-held computer with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and killer
graphics was planned to be the Microship user interface before the product was discontinued...
Extreme Harsh-Environment Packet & APRS
- An overview of the tracker, power, and packaging systems aboard Bubba,
the inflatable kayak that was an essential part of the fleet until
being replaced by a shorter pedal/sail kayak that would fit between the
cross-arms of the mothership. (The new kayak project is
documented here.)
WANDER:
A Portable Linux-Based Data Collection System - This article
describes the hardware and software design of a Linux system we built
into a sealed Pelican box as part of the NSF Wireless Field Test
project.
SEXBAR: A Serial Crossbar Network
- This gives an overview and photos of this useful subsystem, capable
of making interconnections among 32 serial devices under software
control (with automatic RS-232 polarity sensing). Includes a link
to purchase a PDF with schematics and full software listings.
Winnebiko & BEHEMOTH Specs- The
three versions of my computer-laden recumbent bicycle are compared
here, including lists of all electronic systems and mechanical features.
The Brain Interface Unit - A geeky
explanation of one of the more essential components aboard BEHEMOTH.
Passions of the Ether - A cultural
analysis of 16 different "genotypes" within the amateur radio
community. What drives people to do this?
The Tools of Technomadics - A spirited,
fast-paced retrospective of the entire bike era... and the germination
of the Microship. This piece is considerably fresher and more fun
than the historical discussion in the "Bike Adventure" part of the site.
A Decade of Microship Development -
Inspired by a kayaking epiphany in 1992, I launch the Microship
project... which takes ten years to near completion. This is the
tale of that strange epic, involving three labs, major relationship
upheavals, and four nautical substrates.
Conjuring
the Microship Design
- This lengthy and detailed article explores all the design
requirements from the philosophical to the technical, in the process
arriving at something like a specification.
The Video Turret - A very detailed
design description (including complete schematics and software
listings) of the sealed video turret developed for the Microship
project. Lots of techniques here that apply to robotics and
embedded control projects...
Ignoring Rotation and Scaling in Image
Recognition- This little piece discusses a
way to completely avoid the classic problem with rotation and scaling
of
the input image in a template-based pattern recognition system... using
a logarithmic-polar mapping trick hard-wired into the human visual
system.
Adventure Tales and Collections
The Miles
with Maggie series - This consists of 55 chapters
that were
originally posted to the GEnie network as they were written between
1986 and 1989, covering the 6,000-mile Winnebiko II adventure (the sequel
to Computing Across America)
as well as a follow-up school bus tour, random adventures, and the
germination of the BEHEMOTH
project. This collection is already for sale as a PDF,
but I am slowly posting the full text as a set of pages here... the
link takes you to the table of contents.
Microship Status Reports - I haven't
done any of these since late 2001, but am now in the process of
cleaning up the collection of 140 postings, fixing links, and otherwise
bringing them into the fold of site resources. Unlike the Miles with Maggie series above, I
am working backwards from the most recent, since technical relevance is
more of an issue here.
Articles by
Bob Stuart - Bob is a guru
of human-powered vehicle design and composite fabrication, and this is
a collection of his articles about the SpinFin pedal drive, the Lambordinghy, the famous Car-Cycle, and using Coroplast in
HPV design.
Rants, Rhapsodies, & Randomness
Passion - Actually titled "The Heart of
Nomadness," this little
essay from 1992 captures some of the mad, driven intensity that is the
engine behind creativity and growth.
The Gumbo Scene - A little cultural
vignette from the Bible Belt, excerpted from Computing Across America.
A Mycological Tone Poem - One of my favorite parts of the Computing Across America book... a
magic moment with the flute in Arches National Park (Utah).
The Other Woman - "The
road, the Other Woman, is the
love of my life... and I’ll vow to kiss her sweet asphalt forever if
she’ll keep me free from the torpor of stability."
The Many Flavors of Water - A
succession of vignettes from my first kayaking experiences in 1992...
the germ of the Microship project.
Note: This class of articles has "forked," and there is another collection structured much like this one but specific to the Nomadness trimaran and Number Nine kayak projects. It's over yonder.
Gonzo Engineering - Massively audacious
feats of creativity fall out of a way of thinking that is much more a lifestyle than a toolset. This article
addresses this madness, then playfully reduces the design process to a
set of heuristics that would definitely not make engineering managers
comfortable (but are demonstrably true).