Because there is no such thing as too many blog posts...

Tired of the fascist regime in which this blog is run, Joshua Sztul sent out a desperate plea for there to be freedom among the CMSS account...and with this post we will witness a new age, in which any CMSS member who chooses to may have the distinct privilege, nay the duty, of posting to our venerable blog.

It was my original intention, as per Josh's request, to post regarding updates to the progress of the Propulsion group. However, it appears that Andrew (obviously preempting our underground CMSS blog coup) has already posted a great deal of information as to the goings-on of the entire team. We must stand strong, however, and not let this imbalance of power corrupt our right for freedom of unbiased information!

Propulsion Update:

(now with twice the added value and Vitamin D content)

• Lower Unit dumps cavitation plate. Now ready to move on to bigger and better props, that won't hold our lower unit back any longer.
• Now that we are sans Cav plate, we need to make sure the housing is correctly sealed. This should be worked out in the following weeks.
• The transom on the current boat has been trimmed in order to accommodate clearances during turning. Defne, Josh, and I trimmed it up on Saturday
• Andrew has put together a very fashionably constructed mock transom that needs to be cut to represent our trimming changes. With the mock transom in place we can begin testing our mount and steering design.
• The mount itself is almost done, with only one or two parts that will be machined tomorrow morning. The mount should be fully assembled and mounted within the next day or two.

With the mount construction and mock transom done, there are still major work areas ahead. We will be finalizing and testing the steering designs being developed by Brian and Otto, as well as starting testing on the PVC composites being developed by Marco, Will, and Elizabeth using one of the stress testers on campus. The next big step will be assembling the pulleys and belts which constitute the drive train in order to assess the Trifecta's performance and work out any kinks.
Aside from construction related issues, we recently received word that our SURG grant for Shape Optimization and Sensitivity Analysis for Use in Designing Optimal Solid Structures was awarded $500 for research next semester. This is exciting news as it provides a good direction for interesting solid mechanics research next year.

That's all for now, and remember to keep the spirit of freedom alive.
- Mark Fuge