We are back in Beaufort, NC, and aboard the good ship Wind Horse for a few days of testing, some of which by necessity must be done underway and some at anchor. We are gradually lighting up systems that have been mothballed since December. So far, everything is working fine. In the testing to come there are several things we are looking for.

First on the list is the new underwater exhaust system. We only had a brief chance to test this in December, but that was enough to tell us we needed some tuning on the ramp that creates negative pressure to suck out the exhaust. What you see here is a second riff. At idle there was a burbling of exhaust gas from underwater rather than through the above waterline pressure relief tube. We have increased the cross sectional area for better release. Finally, at present the exhaust is without any form of muffler or aqua-lift. Once we get a good set of sound readings we’ll install a muffler, and then check again to see how much noise attenuation we achieve.

We are hauled out right now, launching in the morning, and a warm spring day gave us a chance to test the fresh water cooling system now in use with the air conditioning system. We are pleased to report that after running all afternoon, two 16,000 BTU and one 12,000 BTU compressors only raised the temperature of the aft water tank from 72F to 76 F. The 76F was measured on the hull, adjacent to the returning water supply.  A short distance away it was closer to ambient. If it works this well out of the water things should be really good afloat.

Preston Leah has been out installing our “mud room” and finishing the details on the flying bridge enclosure. The latter serves as a model for the Wicked FPB 97 Matrix Deck details. And Cory McMahon with sidekick Casy have been installing the new acrylic wind screens that accompany the EverClear windows. We are looking forward to living with these accoutrements for a few days, as a result of which there will undoubtedly be a few changes on Wind Horse’s larger cousin.

The last major set of tests with which we need to deal revolve around the stern extension. We’ve seen benefits beyond what we expected with the FPB 64s’ extensions, and we want to see if we get similar results on Wind Horse. We will be looking at both straight line efficiency gains and any change in pitch behavior.

Finally, we need to do a little shooting, lest rust overtake the photo reflex system. The BIF above was kind enough to pose for us while we were doing an end-of-day parade along the Intra Coastal Waterway.