On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:43:19 GMT, Brian Nystrom
wrote:

Richard Casady wrote:
On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:13:37 GMT, (Drew
Dalgleish) wrote:

I especially like the claim of "very small turning radius IF ANY". ;-)
Well, that and the website that must have taken all of 15 minutes to
throw together...

There are lots of lawnmowers with a so called 'zero turn radius'. The
pivot point is inside the footprint of the wheels. The IF ANY
indicates the writer perhaps doesn't really understand what's going on
but that doesn't necessarily make him wrong. Tanks can turn 360
degrees without even going anywhere. One track forward, one reverse.
They call it a neutral steer. Useful to keep the thicker frontal armor
toward the enemy, without actually going anywhere and attracting
unwanted attention. Or just to manuver in a tight spot. I wished the
bulldozer I once drove could do that. It is possible to spin some cars
without going anywhere. You need rear wheel drive, and a big motor.

I realize all of that, but do you honestly believe that boat design has
a zero turn radius? Give me a break!

I agree. it sets off the old BS detector.
I don't really know about that particular boat. I merely wished to
point out that there is such a thing as a zero turn radius, in real
life. There are tugboats that can direct the thrust in any direction,
with the use if a vertical axis 'propellor' whose proper name escapes
me. Amazing manuverability, if not zero radius. I will look it up in
this textbook on tugs I have. There are smalll outboard motors that
pivot 360 degrees, instead of having a reverse gear, and with one at
each end of a boat you could get a zero radius, but that that isn't
what he was talkiing about. In short I think it can be done, but may
not have been in this case. To digress, the mowers are the neatest
thing since sliced bread.

Casady