Back Story.

Mats are cool, they flex and slide over waves and have an amazing ability to turn gravity into acceleration. I think weve all spent our younger years on a mat and Id like to see where mat design can expand, what variations are possible and what new designs can be explored. A few years ago I started building craft with flexible hulls, not always inflatable but exploring how a flexible hull reacts to a wave. Not all the hulls were solid material , i made a few with mesh and clear vinyl hulls as well. Even a few flexible hull handplanes. But after making a dozen flexible hull craft I started to make inflated material craft, usally with composite materials and using vac bagging techniques. I was trying to answer a few questions about the reason for a mats speed... is it the flexibility of the hull, does it need inflation, if so how much, how much does the pliability of the material make a difference, how much curve across the pontoons controls the mats bouyancy and lift, would a material under tension create the same flexibilty as an inflated mat, maybe even a taut mesh ? and how would changing any of these elements affect the performance.