General I have this crazy idea and....

[serin]

i just think of it this way.....

you drive a panda to the middle of nowhere, it breaks :-

what happens?

you stop, find out whats wrong easily with no really worries of anything happening

worst comes to the worst, it might rain and you'll have to sit inside it for a bit, or you dont go anywhere and you have to leave the panda behind

you SAIL a panda into the middle of the sea, it breaks :-

what happens?

you stop going in the direction you were going, and instead get taken anywhere by the current!

maybe you start taking on water, and start to sink!!

you have to find and fix whats wrong quickley before you washed out to far

maybe its starts to rain! maybe its a storm! maybe your "not really made to be a boat" panda capsizes leaving you and your teddy drowning with no communication

to me the possibilities and shear effort needed if something goes wrong makes this seem a bit worrying

 

[Steven]

Jim, nobody here wants you to do this. It won't be funny, just very very worrying.

 

[GhostWKD]

Saw these and thought of you Jim, the amount of work obviously gone into it, and they're on calm water not out at sea..

 

[jonnyk]

If anyone could do it Jim I know it would be you. However if you breakdown on land no problem, if you breakdown or something happens at sea your life could be in danger. The route is a main shipping channel that would never see your panda before running it over, there is an 8kt tidal flow out of the solway into the Irish sea & depending on wind conditions could make a serious drift current. When I take the boat out towards the isle of man it can get very rough out there and at least I can get up to 35kts to outrun the weather you couldn't.

I will advise against till I'm blue in the face but the ultimate decision is yours :shakehead

There is a story in todays Daily Mail about three yachtsmen who drowned in the English Channel. It is thought their 27ft yacht was smashed into by a much larger vessel during the night. They've found no trace of the boat and they've said the crew were well kitted out.

It goes to show that even with experienced crew and good preparation you can still get caught out.

 

[posh pandas]

oh jim it looks like maybe this was one idea too far ......
but i'm sure if we could sail (?) a panda across some big lake or something the others might be more accepting of a sea faring idea in the future ....
anyway whatever it is ...count me IN
gina XXX

how about we do a spainish winter in the sierra nevada and try 'panda ski-ing' or 'panda snow-boarding '???

 

[JimMagill]

I suggested pandas on ski's to alan there the other night...

I'll not repeat what he said

Here, wait till you see top gear! That panda in the lake did the English Channel!!!
(in 6 and a half hours... David Walliams swam it in 10 )

But thien again it's 32 miles across the channel but only 12 to scotland!

BTW, I'm not saying that I'll do any of this! I just think it would be fun to see a panda float... Once we get that done we'll see where we float it too! lol

Jim

 

[posh pandas]

what about waterski-ing the panda behind a boat ???
anyway i've seen pictures of a suitable looking boat right here on the forum.....

 

[Alan.D]

:bang:

 

[Tony M]

I reckon this plan has about as much potential as bungie jumping in a panda...

 

[Alan.D]

For F**k sake don't give him any more idea's

 

[JimMagill]

Wanna bet?

I've just got Stu and Neil very very drunk and Stu's told me that he can see the panda as a hover craft...

It even sounds cool! HoverPanda!

There was something about rubber skirts, and erm.. some sort of engine and then the lawnmower engine attached to erm... something....

Oops... Don't try planning things like this in the pub

Jim

 

[Stuartl]

HoverPanda :chin: :idea:

 

[JimMagill]

Mmm, Posh brought this up again....

...I've not forgotten, lol!

Jim

 

[Alan.D]

Damn you Posh! :bang: :bang:

 

[urchin]

ok new view on this, if people think you will sink why not get a head start now picture this with a panda not a lotus and for a support boat alan you reading this my name is bond.....jim bond licenced to kill and drive a panda

 

[Alan.D]

Serin do you have your photoshop handy? and show jim what he would look like at the bottom of the briny

 

[JimMagill]

Mmm... I'll make that bloody car float if it kills me

Target is the Castlewellan show this summer for a floating 'Sylvia'!

I'll go get the 'expanding filler foam' at the weekend.....

Jim

 

[Stuartl]

I'll go get the 'expanding filler foam' at the weekend.....

Jim

BUY LOTS

 

[urchin]

someone beat you to it http://www.schwimmauto.de/ check out the history 1982 fiat panda shame the link wont work

 

[Tony M]

check out the history 1982 fiat panda

dunnit