For the first time, I have decided to build a ship in SimplePlanes. Before I go any further, I must admit that the hull is not my design. The hull can be found here. Everything above the car deck was designed and built by me.

The ferry is a Ro-Ro (Roll on-Roll off) design which means that vehicles can be driven on and off the ferry via ramps instead of being lifted by a hoist.

The ferry has two ramps, one at the bow and one at the stern. The stern ramp is a simple design consisting of two parts. The bow ramp is concealed behind a pair of clamshell doors when the vessel is underway. The bow ramp itself consists of four parts and folds into a small space at the front of the car deck behind the clamshell doors.

The vessel is highly manoeuvreable and is controlled as follows:

Throttle: Main engines.
Brake: Reverse.
Yaw: Controls the rudder and gyroscope to turn the ship.
Roll: Controls thrusters to move the ship left or right whilst maintaining a constant heading.

The ramps and clamshell doors are controlled by action groups 1-4. The use of the VTOL slider is not required.

Action Group 1: Open/close bow clamshell doors.
Action Group 2: Extend/retract bow ramp first stage.
Action Group 3: Extend/retract bow ramp second stage.
Action Group 4: Extend/retract stern ramp.

When extending the bow ramp, first open the clamshell doors fully, then activate both the first and second ramp stages (they can be activated simultaneously only when the ramp is being extended). When retracting the ramp, it is important to retract the second ramp stage well before retracting the first stage.

Top speed is 22 mph which is just over 19 knots. At that speed it takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to sail from near Wright Airport to the Yeager Naval Base. Yes I have done it, several times in fact.