No surprises at the lake today which is good news! Loading into the water was a snap – good thing I made the 8′ tongue extender. It worked perfectly and WiTHiN slid off the bunks into the water. The drive to the reservoir was a bit bouncy. The trailer might need some reinforcement, but otherwise it went well.

She was very stable. It doesn’t rock much at all and forcing my weight right to left inside doesn’t produce very much noticeable rolling motion. Sitting and standing also doesn’t really tip it much, but, as Rick warned, once my weight is very high (sitting on the roof, or standing up), and I lean over it to a certain point, it will suddenly continue it’s roll and tip right over. If the side windows (port lights) are open, then the cockpit will flood. This is without any ballast at all aside from the keel bulb which weighs 60 lbs.

With 200 or 300 lbs inside and on the floor, the amount of effort needed to roll it is significantly more. One test that needs to be done during the next lake trials at the end of September is to actually roll it onto it’s side and allow the cockpit to flood (with the inside hatches to the cabin and bow storage compartment CLOSED). I will fall off the roof into the water, then make my way back inside the flooded cockpit and manually pump the water out. The other test that we will do is to capsize it with all of the hatches and ports closed and sealed.

WiTHiN feels VERY roomy with excellent visibility to the outside world. I had to make an adjustment to the seat height to get the horizon into the middle of the port lights, but after that I could see all around me no problem. With the ports open, I had a nice cooling breeze blowing through. The drive leg by MitrPak is SUPER SMOOTH and solid as a rock. 80 rpm felt like about 150 watts as per design. Resulting speed was 7.6 km / hr. (4.1 knots) Rick’s prediction was 8.2 km / hr, but I am sure that was based on mirror flat water conditions. It was windy and a bit wavy, so .75’ish km / hr slower is probably about right on. Ken and I raced sailboats and beat all of them. I reached a top speed of 10.3 km / hr (5.3 knots)

WiTHiN turns on a dime like the prototype did with a nice roll into the turn followed by a slight roll to the opposite side, then leveling out. The rudder controls were easy to operate with one hand, and the rudder is nicely balanced, as I could take my hand off the lever during a turn and the rudder would stay exactly where it was set. Winds were 15 to km / hr and inside the protected cockpit, I didn’t even notice the wind aside from a slight lean to the side. It will be interesting to get WiTHiN into some real wind. My speed going into the wind didn’t seem much different than the speed with the wind (but I don’t have a watts meter, so that is a bit subjective).

We took the all of the kids for a ride – they sat in the cabin with the hatch open. I can see how a trip could work with two people – one sitting comfortably in the cabin with the other peddling. I had 2 passengers sitting in the cabin weighing a total of 230 lbs and I couldn’t notice any speed difference at all (again, no watts meter, so hard to measure). I took Helen for a ride and we switched positions easily without incident and without raising our center of gravity at all. I crouched on the floor near the drive leg and she got out of the cabin and into the recumbent seat. Then she moved to the side and I moved back into the cabin.

Loading WiTHiN back onto the trailer was relatively easy. The only trick was aligning her while pedaling backwards while being blown to the side. We eventually used a rope to walk her down the dock while I pedaled backwards. Cyrille was standing on the trailer and guided WiTHiN onto the bunks. When she was aligned and partially on the bunks, I hopped out, hooked the winch strap onto the rudder tube, and we easily cranked WiTHiN all the way up and onto the bunks. I think this is all a 2 man job – possibly even 1 man with some practice.

I had my Spidertracks satellite tracking unit running the whole time and it worked great:
http://www.pedaltheocean.com/follow-greg.php

When Ken and I got back to the house, we got a couple of bathroom scales out and weighed WITHiN:

Boat with hatches & port lights = 341 lbs

Keel bulb = 62 lbs

Keel post = 18 lbs
Drive leg = 24 lbs
Battery = 40 lbs
Rudder = 10 lbs
Greg = 156 lbs
—————————-
Total testing weight = 651 lbs
Total boat weight without crew or any equipment = 455 lbs

Ken and I have a lot of work to do between now and the next lake trials at the end of September where we will do the capsize and flood tests: Cabin top carbon tape finished, body work and paint (anti-foul on the hull), solar panels on, electrical, light mast, antennas, cleats, keel and drive leg fairing, seat installed, gear nets, hatches and ports sealed, trailer beefed up a bit, sponsor decals, adjustable seat mount…

Then it’s sea trials at the beginning of October on Vancouver Island with my new friend ocean rower Jordan Hanssen. Jordan and I are planning a sort of testing/learning/experience gaining expedition – details coming soon.

Next for me is the Lost Sole ultra marathon on Friday! YIKES!!! It’s my last chance this year to actually complete a 100 mile ultramarathon. Wish me luck.