Flying boats are fixed-wing aircraft with hulls like boats, allowing them to land on water instsead of runways. Lakes, seas, reflecting pools, you name it.
In the early history of flight this kind of thing was popular because there were a lot of places without runways and airstrips, and a lot of those that did exist were too small to accomodate larger, long-distance airplanes. There were other advantages too - because their size wasn't limited by the length of runways, they could be built to an impressive size, and had longer range than land-based airplanes. I imagine it was also comforting to be able to land safely on the water in case of mechanical problems.
I think my favorite flying boat is the Dornier Do X (pictured in the thumbnail) which was made in the 1920's. In addition to seats for about a hundred passengers, its three decks contained an onboard kitchen, a dining room, multiple bathrooms, and a bar. Each nacelle on the top has two engines, for a total of twelve. There's just something magnificent about it.
In the 21st century flying boats are quite rare, although there are a few models used for fighting wildfires. The CL-415 Super Scooper for example, can skim the surface of a lake or reservoir for a few seconds and take in more than six thousand liters of water without stopping!
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I have an old late 70s dirt bike I’ve swapped to electric and made it street legal. It makes around 30kw right now. It’s 72v running 400a line and 1000a phase. I’ll eventually turn it up to 800a line and 1800a phase once I finish the water cooling loop.
Holy shit that's a lot of power :O How many kWh is the battery? Initially I thought you were just talking about a diy e-bike conversion of a bicycle, which is something I've been wanting to do.
I did kinda under sell it hahaha the battery is 70AH. It is 72v and rated at 420amps continuous and 800amps boost for 15secs. I’m hoping for around 50 miles of useable range. My goal is to use it for all my in town commuting. Building it has been the medium through which I’ve been touching grass for the last few months.
I haven’t been talking about it here because it’s quasi-doxxable since I’m pretty sure I’m the only person doing this swap into this bike. The bike is super rare, maybe only a few dozen left in the world.