"Polet, did you find any particularly outstanding problems while driving? Although, this is a river boat, and problems are inevitable. Start with the parts that you think need to be modified most urgently."
While Polu was flipping through Polet's logbook, he asked him about the experience he had accumulated during his long voyage at sea.
Polecht began to answer almost immediately: "The biggest problem may be that the stability of the small gunboat is not good, whether it is horizontally or vertically, it can catch up with wind and waves - it doesn't even need to be very big wind and waves, the shaking will be very severe. Just now
During those days at sea, I really suffered enough."
There was an unbearable look on his face.
"A lot of bumps?"
"Well, when we first went out to sea, almost the whole ship was vomiting. I finally got used to it, but when the wind and waves hit me, I vomited again."
"It's been such a long time, do you have any thoughts or opinions on the modification of the ship model?"
Polu asked him casually.
"Yes, I have considered whether to add a fin-like thing on the belly like a fish, so that when it swings, there will be a certain resistance no matter which way it swings."
"Oh? How did you come up with this idea?"
"Well, one day when I was peeing at the stern of the boat, I suddenly thought of the rudder. Doesn't it rely on resistance difference to control the steering of the ship? I vaguely had this idea, and finally I saw the pelvic fins on the belly of the fish, and I thought
I wonder if I can install a similar plate in the middle of the hull. No matter which way it rocks, the resistance will reduce the rocking of the boat."
"very good!"
Polu suddenly clapped his hands.
This sudden move surprised Pauleicht, who had only described it lightly.
"Excellent! Not only did you find the problem, but you also figured out how to solve the problem yourself! I'm glad to see that you are willing to think about how to solve the problem yourself."
Polecht touched his head in embarrassment: "I just have too much on my mind."
"Thinking a lot is a very valuable quality."
After all, if you want to be able to think more, you need a certain amount of knowledge.
While talking, Polu checked the line drawing of the small gunboat, carefully traced an arc on the flat bottom, thought about it, and also drew two stabilizing fins.
He asked casually:
"Have you seen fish? Are there many fish here?"
"There are so many that when we are towing at night, we sometimes turn on the searchlights. Every time we turn on the lights, there are almost so many fish that they almost jump onto the boat! If they do jump on the boat, we have to kick them back into the sea."
Bolu quickly asked the question he was concerned about: "Have you ever eaten it? Is it delicious? How to eat it?"
"No, there is no kitchen on the ship. We can only eat rusks and biscuits. We can't light a fire, we can't freeze, and there is no salt to pickle. After two days, the smell is unbearable, and all the fish that jumped up later are thrown away.
Back to the sea."
"Isn't this too wasteful?"
While Polu was feeling sad, he wrote a line next to it: "Ability to fish, cold storage, and additional kitchen facilities."
Hot food has an incredible increase in morale in winter. The small gunboat was basically designed only for activities around the polar areas of the dock, and the kitchen and bathroom are almost non-existent. Based on the same premise, I am afraid there are other problems.
"Any more?"
"That's too much."
Paulecht laughed.
"The bow of our current ship is not high enough. Every time a wave hits, the entire bow deck is washed away. This is worse than those wooden ships with high hulls. The 100 cannons are filled with sea water, so we have no choice but to keep roping them.
Wearing an oilcloth smock."
"That's called freeboard. I can't help it. I never thought I could drive in the sea before."
Bolu conveniently raised the front deck by one level.
"In addition to these, the living conditions on the ship are too harsh. There are not enough berths, and they even have to be berthed on wheels. If it hadn't been possible to dock once in a few days, my mentality would have exploded."
Polu added another one: setting up a special living cabin.
"Speaking of docking, how do the people at the port react to the small gunboats?"
"Some mages have their own magic ships anchored in the port, so they are quite receptive to all kinds of strange ships. I once talked about this issue with other people, and most of them reacted when they saw us -
—Oh, I don’t know which mage made another strange boat. This time it’s quite big! That’s probably it.”
This makes Polu very disappointed - once the mages have too many imaginary ships, it will be difficult to surprise the residents. Unless they build a completely different ship full of oppression.
"Dock? What kind of port are you going to?"
"The port formed by a natural river mouth has a magic tower at the entrance, which also serves as a lighthouse. There are only a few magic apprentices here, and the mages are in the magic tower in the center of the port."
"It's so rich. There are two magic towers in one port."
"By the way, teacher, is the tower at our port a magic tower?"
"Of course not, it's just a lighthouse. How about it? The shape is quite intimidating, isn't it?"
"What about the boat that the captain and the others drove out? It runs really fast."
"Yes, as for the port defense, they were probably already in front of us when we discovered it. How could we not have it in time?"
"Then why is it so fast?"
"Oh, it's still the same as a rudder. One side has less resistance and the other has greater resistance. The hull will be held up by the two brackets. After that, the hull part leaves the water, and the resistance will naturally be smaller. I have to thank Bator for sending it at that time.
The propulsion structure of the two boats is actually very similar. I improved it and changed from using crystals to using chargers. At least now it won't explode by itself, and I even moved the shield over. This boat
It’s stronger than expected.”
Both of them laughed.
"What does it attack with? I see no weapons on the ship."
Having said this, he hesitated: "Or are those big cylinders on its back the weapons?"
"Ha, that's them. Do you remember our jet cannon? Yes, it's the one that blew up the capital. I mixed something else into the crystal pill this time, and it can now move forward in the water! It's so thick
The steel pipe is stuffed with explosive crystals. Whichever ship it hits, it will definitely be launched into the sky!"
"But, teacher, wouldn't it be a bit excessive to use this spray gun to blow up small wooden boats? If you hit it, there might be residue left, right?"
Bolu was silent for a moment: "It's okay. I'll see how to reduce the power. I'll save this first. Anyway, small boats are quick and cheap to build."
The two of them were chatting and drawing on the line drawing.
By the time the final parts that needed to be modified were agreed upon, almost all parts of the hull needed to be modified. What was even worse was that no cabins could be accommodated anyway. So the hull was lengthened again.
Pauleicht looked at the altered line drawing in front of him with some hesitation: "Is this still considered a modification?"
"Well, maybe it doesn't count. If this is really done, the ship will be dismantled. With such an exaggerated modification, I might as well re-draw it and build one!"
Polu turned to look at him:
"Polet, how are you doing with your drawing skills?"
"I've been late practicing at sea recently."
"It doesn't matter, now you have a chance to practice! I will draw a sketch and make a model, and you will make it into an engineering drawing!"
Pauleicht suddenly felt like he had been hit by a pie. He was unprepared and even stuttered a bit when he spoke.
"I-I'll make the whole set?"
"Yes, you come. Do you have confidence?"
"have!"
"Well, I will review the pictures you make, don't worry."
Now he completely put down his worries and became happy! This was the first time that the opportunity to produce a complete set of engineering drawings was given to an assistant at his level, and he decided to seize this opportunity!
"Well, the Richard you brought is now on the tugboat to familiarize himself with the driving of the steamship. The cargo ship won't be able to sail out for a while, so feel free to finish the drawings. You can go back and rest first, and come back to me tomorrow."
"Yes, boss."
After Polehit closed the door and left, Polu put his feet up on the workbench and began to think about what kind of new boat he needed to build.
"First of all, you have to be able to adapt to high sea conditions... Just forget it, there is only one difference between a small ship like breakfast and yesterday's breakfast. As long as the waves on the deck are not too strong, it will be fine."
"It is best to have a hull that can be used universally. Since there are so many fish, it would be a waste not to catch them all. Then we need to add cold storage."
"The self-sustainability also needs to be improved. Not having berths is really fatal. We have to find ways to improve the space utilization of the ship's system. Plus the toilet and kitchen, um, plus a small food storehouse."
The lights in the studio stayed on all night.
When Pauleicht came to the studio the next day, he was greeted by a large pile of scratch paper: "Here! New frigate!"