Shades of M.C. Escher
February 27, 2007 7:21 AM   Subscribe

FLIP, the boat designed to capsize, is the world's strangest research laboratory. It is the only ship in the world with the ability to flip from a horizontal position to a vertical position while at sea. That makes for some ingenious engineering feats in equipping its bridge, galley, crew quarters and scientific laboratory. Even its head, or bathroom, had to be constructed to operate in a vertical and horizontal position.
posted by amro (8 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Neat, but repeat.



 
Even its head, or bathroom, had to be constructed to operate in a vertical and horizontal position.

I would say especially its head...

I have seen this boat before, but not these links; good post, amro.
posted by TedW at 7:25 AM on February 27, 2007


Very cool amro.

Even in stormy conditions, it is as stable as a fencepost, because most of its length lies in the untroubled waters beneath the waves.

As the old yarn goes, a safe ship is an uncomfortable ship and this one looks pretty damned uncomfortable.
posted by three blind mice at 7:26 AM on February 27, 2007


Previously
posted by edd at 7:28 AM on February 27, 2007


Maybe I'm a dumas, but why have two sinks, toilets, showers, etc rather than just gimbaling the whole room?
posted by DU at 7:29 AM on February 27, 2007


There's got tooooo be a mooooorning aaaaaafter......
posted by sourwookie at 7:31 AM on February 27, 2007


I remember this boat from Time-Life science books of the 1960s and wondered what the rest of it looked like: Every photo of it in sailing mode cropped off the tail end.

So, in a way, this photo is something I've waited a lifetime to see. It's like a massive baseball bat. Wild.
posted by ardgedee at 7:33 AM on February 27, 2007


That photo makes it even more unbelievable that they didn't just gimbal the whole "working" end.
posted by DU at 7:36 AM on February 27, 2007


Fantastic engineering that. Next up: Carnival builds a circular ship like the space station in 2001, using the crew to hamster-wheel it to Bermuda.
posted by hal9k at 7:37 AM on February 27, 2007


« Older Holy Pimp My Ride Batman!   |   Illustrated Ise Monogatari Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments