Amphibious Yacht Loves Land and Sea (http://news.discovery.com/autos/amphibious-yacht-111129.html)
See video!
I can think of better ways to spend $290,000. Like buying a really nice boat and a flash car... and still have change for a holiday cottage by the sea.
But I'll borrow yours if you're getting one, Tank...
This makes me wonder how long it will be before people just buy all-in-one vehicles. A car, a boat, a personal plane, all in one. Something tells me it will be far sooner than it should be.
This is no car though - 5mph on land with what I assume is the fuel consumption of... Well, a big speed boat, it just can not compete with the actual cars. Besides, it must be a pain to parallel park.
As for all-in-one transportation, I think the technology is pretty much there, just needs some refinement, but out of safety concerns and practicality and due to potential price range of such vehicles when it comes to purchase and service, I think the general public is still decades away from those.
Quote from: Asmodean on December 01, 2011, 04:01:00 AM
This is no car though - 5mph on land with what I assume is the fuel consumption of... Well, a big speed boat, it just can not compete with the actual cars. Besides, it must be a pain to parallel park.
As for all-in-one transportation, I think the technology is pretty much there, just needs some refinement, but out of safety concerns and practicality and due to potential price range of such vehicles when it comes to purchase and service, I think the general public is still decades away from those.
Yeah, it seems more for people who are of the mindset "I want to go from this spot to this spot, and no tiny islands are going to make me go around them". That and those afraid of nighttime underwater attacks so they park it on land to sleep. :P
The price range and the safety are what I was really thinking of. Like Japan was developing personal helicopters that actually looked quite epic, however they cost ~$300,000. Then there's the fact that if you get a bunch of people flying those things around, human stupidity will prevail and they'll all crash into each other. Actually, I'm against the whole flying car/jetpack/personal helicopter thing entirely. We humans can't be trusted on the road, with guard rails, and clearly marked lanes. I fear for everyone once we start taking to the skies as a regular means of day to day travel.
If you look at the boat's design it's for tourism. It's designed to take picnic trippers to isolate islands where there are no mooring facilities.
Quote from: Tank on December 01, 2011, 05:05:28 PM
If you look at the boat's design it's for tourism. It's designed to take picnic trippers to isolate islands where there are no mooring facilities.
I thought that's where you just stranded your craft if the beach was sandy and the craft light or got from the craft to the island on foot or, in a tiny little dinghy if your craft is... Well, the size of the island or bigger.
Good grief, Tank. Get a DUKW...considerably cheaper:
http://dukwforsale.com/dukw-for-sale.php
http://dukw.com/dukwv.html
or a Terrapin