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We Won't Clutter Your Coffee Table I would like to subscribe to your magazine. How much does it cost ? Where do I send the money? Luis de Yturbe Merida, Yucatan, Mexico Sorry, but On The Wire is only available at our website. No paper copy exists. -ed. Deck Ports I just finished reading your archived article on port installation and I have a related question. My H16 has a soft spot in front of the front starboard pylon (typical?). What would happen if I install a port in that area? Would it help, hurt, or do nothing to the present hull integrity? I figure at the least, I would have adequate access to that area of the hull for additional repair in the future! Thanx, Mike Rosenberg If the hull is delaminated, you probably can't hurt things by installing the port. If it is a small area of damage, you may eliminate it by "replacing" it with the port. If it is a large area of damage, you are correct in that it can provide assessment and access for additional repair. In either case, you want to be about 18" away from the forward pylon, to avoid compromising the integrity of this area. Let us know how it goes. -ed |
PWC Destruction: A More Economical Way? The AIM-9M is indeed a very good American weapon. But the Israelis are reported to have a version of the Sidewinder which tracks on skin friction heat at the wing root, instead of engine exhaust heat. The lock-on and track is inerrant and would avoid the problem you encountered with your friend Frank when he 'lit-up.' We find the limited kill capability of a two-missile system and the balance problems which result when after the first missle has been fired to yield unsatisfactory overall performance. Instead, after experimenting with a GAU-30 (too rapid rate of fire) and a Phalanx chain gun (no satisfactory mount), we finally settled on the old, reliable M-60 fifty caliber machine gun. Our load consists of tracers every tenth round (so we can 'walk' the gunfire into the PWCs and better track them through the air) and common slugs for the other nine round. We tried armor piercing (AP) at first but, after examining two 'kills', found the common slugs did far more damage on the lightly armored PWCs at a fraction of the cost of AP rounds. Best tactical use of the M-60 is to fire it in short (1 or 2 second) bursts. This keeps the barrel from overheating and prolongs its useful life. Because the cost of an M-60 is in the $10,000 to $12,000 range with ammo running around $500 a case, we believe this weapon is the PWC killer of choice. So far, we have had only one PWC counterattack and that was with one rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). Fortunately for us the RPG was an unguided weapon and the PWC tried to engage at range which gave him a probability of a hit slightly less than a single-ticket chance of winning the lottery. Still it did frighten the gunner so badly that she twisted the handles together for a full 15 second burst to end the threat (cost of barrel replacement: $2,500). Most of the fragments then sank too quickly to allow a satisfactory post-strike reconnaissance. After four confirms and three probables, we find sailing to be much more peaceful. Simply removing the gun cover now is all we have to do to clear the water of most PWCs. R. E. Williams |
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