Today the guys tried the boat with a larger kite–the 50 sqm kite we used last summer with K1 and Cheyenne. In preparation, we lengthened the launching frame. We intended just to practice launching on this test, but launch was so successful that we also got the boat foiling briefly before dusk. Eric Yeung, a former Makani intern, came out to help. Thanks Gabe for taking photos!
Today K2 met the water for the first time, and it performed remarkably well on its first tow test. We had no trouble getting the boat out of the water, and the sensor and foil systems worked very well without adjustment. We used a load cell to measure the force required to tow the boat. That data will be forthcoming. Everything worked so well that we took the boat out an hour later for a kite test.
Today we weighed K2 to check its actual weight against our estimates. With both floats, the center hull, both beams, all bulkheads and bonding, and both cassette boxes, K2 now weighs 228 kg (503 lbs). This is about 45 kg more than our calculated estimate, and 18 kg more than the highest individual estimate (everyone guessed before we weighed it). The higher weight is not ideal, but we’re still on track to deliver a completed boat that weighs less than 400kg. We also weighed K2 with the hatch covers in a box on top of the boat–that added 25 kg, for a total of 253 kg. We also weighed the trampoline net, which was 3 kg.
