We have constructed five boats in New York with steel and plywood deck frames on stainless steel pontoons. Designed for the unique conditions of the Ganges River, the boats are small and modular to maneuver the narrow and shallow sandbars and fit under the low bridges. The boats latch together with hinged front and wing pieces to form the RADIAL, a star-shaped floating platform that will act as our shelter and stage. Our boats' pontoons are built in stainless steel to provide necessary strength and reliability. Stainless does not rust and flexes instead of tearing in collisions, making it easily repairable. We offset the greater cost of stainless by building boats that are easily dismantled, stacked and shipped, and can be reused in many future projects.
The basic elements create a light, easily assembled, manageable floating platform on top of which any above deck art can be started within hours of arrival. Propulsion relies on several different ingenious systems using a combination of locally obtained motorcycles to drive paddle wheels and propellers, as well as wind and man power. The rider operates the boat the same way they would the motorcycle. The steering is equipped with a cable system that turns the rudders and the paddle wheel or propellor runs directly off the bike’s chain. The motorcycle is not compromised in this drive on board system, so after a fifteen minute adjustment the driver can ride on to land to do reconnaissance, gather supplies, or ride to a hospital in an emergency. We have committed to operating one boat only with sails and human power.
Some of the disadvantages of traveling on small boats are the lack of a large common space and the loss of the visual impact achieved by the large rafts in former projects. We have solved this problem by developing a system for linking the boats. Deck panels between the boats allow us to connect them firmly and quickly into various configurations. Our hope is to build fifteen of these floating platforms that could connect into three five boat radial star patterns.
