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Boat Tutorial

5,330 Aano78  7 months ago

Overview

This is a tutorial about boats. Specifically, how to build them. With this knowledge, I hope building sea craft will become more accessible to people. I recommend downloading this to look at the details of this boat. If you cannot see the images in this description, please let me know.


How to Build a Boat

Step 1: Build a Hull

Firstly, your boat needs a hull. I highly recommend that you use fuselages for this. Make sure there is are top (yellow) and bottom (red) fuselages, like so. If you don’t like the way the bottom part looks, that’s okay, as you can use Fine Tuner later to push it into the top part.

Step 2: Make it Float

Next, you will need to make your boat float well. Use Dead Weight (and XML if you need more weight) on the bottom part to make it heavy. This is because your center of mass must be below the water line to be stable (the farther below the better). Then, you must add buoyancy to the top part, but don’t add too much. Test it at Water Takeoff and tweak the buoyancy (or if necessary, the weight) as needed. It’s okay if it’s not perfectly stable at this point.

To test its stability, I recommend spawning at Yeager Final Approach. If it naturally rights itself after hitting the water, it’s stable.

Step 3: Add the Crucial Parts

Next, you must add 5 major parts to your build. It’s okay if you don’t like how they look, as you can push them into the hull with Fine Tuner.

The parts are as follows (I recommend looking at this build after you download it to inspect these):
The Engine: For this, I would take the Blasto J15 and scale down the power with XML. Place it roughly near the center of mass.

The Gyroscope: This part is used to stabilize and steer the boat. Place it near the center of mass. Increase the speed and stability of the gyroscope and add a bit of Yaw Power. This will rotate the boat when you Yaw, with more Yaw Power increasing the speed.

The Fuel Tank: The fuel tank should be XML modded to set massScale to zero. Then, set fuel and capacity to whatever you want, as long as they are the same. The higher the number, the more fuel.

The Inlet: Just place this near the front of the boat.

The Rudder: The rudder’s purpose is not actually for steering, but to make the boat less prone to spinning. Just add a vertical stabilizer near the end of the boat.

Step 4: Test it

Test your creation and make sure it performs how you want it to, with things like its stability, speed, and turning. (Note that when piloting a boat, there is little drag, so the boat requires preemptive turning). If it’s not how you like it, tweak it until it is.

Step 5: Decorate!

Here comes the fun part. Add whatever you want to your boat, be it weapons, bridges, and/or something else! What you do is entirely up to you, but keep it mind that decorations, tend to move the center of mass and total weight up, so add weight to the bottom part and buoyancy to counteract this. Once you finish, test it again to make sure you like it, and you’re done!


I hope this was helpful. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments. Please tag me in any boats you made with this tutorial!

Now go out there and conquer the seas!

General Characteristics

  • Created On iOS
  • Wingspan 6.6ft (2.0m)
  • Length 26.2ft (8.0m)
  • Height 8.5ft (2.6m)
  • Empty Weight 2,206lbs (1,000kg)
  • Loaded Weight 6,374lbs (2,891kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 0.211
  • Wing Loading 1,052.8lbs/ft2 (5,140.4kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 6.0ft2 (0.6m2)
  • Drag Points 1825

Parts

  • Number of Parts 10
  • Control Surfaces 1
  • Performance Cost 34