Everglades Challenge: The Bee's Knees

TwoBeers addresses the bright autumnal Saturday by putting on anti-itch clothing and raiding the closet for a cardboard box. He gives a faint, mad-scientist chortle as he heads for the Frankenscot.

While it's not the most glamorous or innovative of days in the lab, it IS time for some beefing up of our Everglades Challenge project boat. Given the potential for twist and the amount of force that 330 miles of sailing could offer, the question of strength has been nagging at TwoBeers' collective attention. 

Which is to say, Ensign RumDown (spoken with a note of terror), Rod the Roadie, the gang at Masthead, Mike Gable of Gable Enterprises, Inc., and the rest of the peanut gallery have been bringing the topic up frequently as we stand around kicking tires and theorizing.  

We lob bad scenerios back and forth and think about what might unfold: like, okay, what if...the mosquitoes find us when it's dead calm? Or on a full stretch, there's a big wave and POW, the racks pop loose? Post-millenial anxiety put to good use: we are brainstorming our own little zombie apocalypse.

The Challenge begins with a LeMans start:

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Of course, in the Everglades Challenge race the crew runs to the high-tide mark and then shoves his/her vessel down the beach and into the water.  Rarely with a squealing of tires.

Clearly, in the interest of speed, NOT busting a gut, and actually getting to the water -- it's important that the portly and wide-bodied Frankenscot avoids impersonating a beached whale. 

So whatever strengthening measures are to be taken, they  ought to be clever, lightweight ones.  

Such as knees. 

In this setting, a knee is an architectural element that braces two surfaces. It's similar to a wall-shelf bracket. 

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And we hope this elegant solution will serve to help the racks hold firm, because nobody likes to go swimming unexpectedly offshore.