James May on how to float
Posted by James May at 9:00PM on Sunday 14 October, 2007 12 Comments
The premise of the original Top Gear amphibious car challenge, which went out a year or so ago, was that there has never been a truly successful boat/car hybrid, and that it was about time there was.
The two most notable examples to date have been the original Amphicar - whose lower door seals were below the water line, so when forgetful motorist-mariners opened the door to get out at the quayside the thing sank immediately - and the Gibbs Aquada, which was far too expensive and still sank.
There still hasn't been a truly successful amphibious car.
But for Amphibious Car Cock-Up part II I stuck with my original Triumph Herald of Free Enterprise sailing boat. The Herald seemed intrinsically right to me - it looks a bit like a sailing boat, has flat sides to give a sort of keel effect to aid directional stability, and is a convertible, allowing easy escape.
Bigger sails and a collapsible mast for clearing low bridges and telegraph wires were all that was required for a trouble-free drive to Dover and a successful attempt at the channel crossing. It sank in the harbour.
I now realise that the ideal car for conversion to maritime duties is in fact the MGB roadster; not only that but, ideally, the one with the rubber bumpers, because they would float. The MGB looks a bit like a small motor launch, so we're halfway there already.
The underside will be entirely covered with a smooth aluminium plate, to allow the car to 'ride the step' under power. Buoyancy will be achieved with the passenger and luggage areas of the bodyshell, which are the most voluminous and the easiest to seal. The engine bay will merely be waterproofed and provided with a snorkel, like a Land Rover.
Drive to the shrouded rear-mounted propeller will be effected automatically with a simple dog-clutch arrangement whenever the transmission is in second or reverse. This means that, on the road, the shrouded propeller at the back will be seen to spin briefly during acceleration, hill-climbing and when reverse parking, but most of the time it will be stationary and hence completely safe.
The rudder, which drops down below the boot, will be permanently linked to the steering rack by cables. Sailing the B will be a simply matter of pressing the right hand pedal and turning the wheel, like driving, which is what we want.
It will be manoeuvred using second and reverse, with all other gears effectively being neutrals. Including Neutral. There is absolutely no reason that I can think of why this wouldn't work brilliantly and be capable of around 20 knots.
Amphibious cars work very well in my head.
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12 Comments for "James May on how to float"
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To put it simply James: do it. Do it now. It sounds like a brilliant idea which could potentially work if you don't let Clarkson near it. Also, if it doesn't work and sinks, you won't be accused of wasting money because MGs are worth 10p (except to former MG Rover employees who need a kick of nostalgia).
Great episode anyway, nice mix of "serious" motoring and messing about. Sorry, I mean pushing the limits of motoring with ambition and duct tape.
To put it simply James: do it. Do it now. It sounds like a brilliant idea which could potentially work if you don't let Clarkson near it. Also, if it doesn't work and sinks, you won't be accused of wasting money because MGs are worth 10p except to former MG Rover employees who need a kick of nostalgia.
Great episode anyway, nice mix of "serious" motoring and messing about. Sorry, I mean pushing the limits of motoring with ambition and duct tape.
Seriously though, fact of the matter is there can never be a good amphibious car for one very simple reason: size. There's a limit to how big you can make the car since you must be able to drive on public roads and that limit is far off from seaworthy.
The only successful amphi-car is one that's made for the lakes at Disneyland.
Nice idea Capt...
keep saying it and you might believe it yourself!!!
I won't pretend to understand any of what you just said there James, but congratulations to you all on not getting squished by a ferry or drowned, and actually making it to France in the end.
And I think you may well have invented a new sport - "extreme tea-drinking"...
James, you mentioned the ideal amphibious vehicle in your blog: a Land Rover (and I'm sure Hammond would agree with me) - ideally a 90 soft top so you can stand in the back.
You can run the prop off it easily, after bolting on a snorkel, the engine would run happily, and also would be able to power a couple of bilge pumps - should any water ingress into the cabin area.
With buoyancy aids attached to the lengths of each side you have the perfect amphibious vehicle. And it's been done by Land Rover already... piloted along the Caledonian Canal between Fort William and Inverness - about 60 miles.
Failing that, you could've bought an ex-military DUKW! Could there be a part III?
MGBs rust fast enough on land, it will just dissolve instantly if you take it in water. And if you take it in salt water, it may actually explode.
Actually there's another 2 amphibians already out there - the SeaRoader (which is a Land Rover with a hull, technically) and a Dutton Commander (which is a Suzuki Jimmy with a hull).
Whilst not as fun as a MGBoat, at least only one of them has sunk, and the other has made it across the channel twice!
Good idea, but the throttle cable goes straight through the engine bulkhead on an MGB, so you might have some trouble sealing that up. Or you could just run it over the windscreen...
Also Danny is right, there probably isn't a single MGB out there that's not made almost entirely from rust already.
Y'know... you might be going about this the wrong way.
Instead of trying to get a car to operate on water, how about trying to find a motorboat to operate on land?
If you look at a dead-side view, a Jaguar E-Type Roadster almost has a hull-like shape... And that 4.2 could power the propeller quite well...
You could rust proof it, seal bits up properly, grab some waterproofs and a Porsche pipe (optional), and you could have James May's dream amphibian...
But make sure it's an S1. That's the prettiest by far. Now for financing...
I would concentrate on making one that goes at least 1 knot in a forward direction first!