We were sailing the western coast of Costa Rica and as hurricane season approached we knew we needed to go back to WI and retrieve our car and Solvi's trailer. I took that opportunity to design a modular and ruggedly simple composite teardrop camper. Being a prototype built on a tight budget, little Sunny the Teardrop was a composite sandwich of 1.5" Styrofoam and sheathed in 1/4" plywood. This large amount of insulation made the small space comfortable from the shores of The Great Salt Lake in mid-summer to the cold passes of the Colorado Rockies. Sunny was a big step up from a tent with fans, lights, roof vent, running water (5gal), and an efficient cooking area with protection from sun/rain. 

During the recent Covid-19 lockdown I had the opportunity to explore a design concept that I have had in my mind for many years. My motivation for the project (besides cabin fever) was the Rock West Composites Design Competition. Hollow beams and specifically hollow composite beams are very commonly known for their light weight, high strength, and stiffness attributes. Bicycles, airplanes, sailboat masts and many other high performance and weight sensitive vehicles have capitalized on the advantages available from this structure. But as far as my research can find, no one has ever used this design on a longboard. Lightweight, strength and stiffness are all key attributes of a good downhill machine. Flexibility does help improve comfort when pushing along the sidewalk, but when you're traveling at high speeds on steep hills, this is where the stiffness of the board gives you the confidence to push harder and go faster. Carbon fiber is also the most forgiving composite material to stress cycles, with little to no work hardening during flexural cycling (corning in this case) and high resistance to impact forces (bumps). Overall these prototypes were a success. The boards weigh just over 2 pounds on their own and are 40"x 9" in size. My proof of concept was done with a minimal budget and the removable silicone molded core for molding the beam interior worked well. 

Solar panel and controller technology are advancing rapidly and are becoming fairly ubiquitous at the same time. But when attaching a solar charging system to a moving vehicle and expecting it to deliver the power needed for that vehicle's amenities, battery bank and in the space available, there is always a unique design challenge at hand. We have used solar power systems on 4 of our own travel machines, Sunny (teardrop trailer), Desiderata (sailboat), Sirocco (sailboat), KOKO (Airstream camper). Each one has been a learning experience with pluses and minuses intrinsic to that machine. Power demands and available space are the top contenders in defining the system, while budget, and secondary available charging sources round up the design brief. I have a strong understanding of the principles needed to create a successful solar charging system to be applied to a project. It's a combination of dedicated research and understanding of the available technology as well as first hand experience. 

Some of my favorites from the last couple years. 

A custom trim tab windvane for our classic cruising cutter. Based upon the "Freehand System" built by Mike Anderson for the Lyle Hess designed Bristol Channel Cutters. 

I was given a great opportunity to work with a very talented manager on (at the time) Intrepid Powerboats newest project. The 410 Evo, had the biggest composite parts and the most complicated systems they had ever tried as a company. For being the company's first cabin cruiser, the engineers did a great job. Primarily just Luis and myself for hulls 1 and 2 assembly, there were a thousands problems to solve, with systems layouts,  and new parts to design and build on the fly. It was very instructive for me to work with such an experienced engineering team and manager. I then led the training of hulls 3 and 4 through the production line.