suggest category car : amphibious. This category has the word ice in it - i am happy with that.
A floating tractor. Simple - affix monstrous balloon-like wheels (monstrous enough to displace enough water to keep the tractor afloat) with rubbery paddleboat style scoops/paddles to propel the craft. The wheels should also be able to go dryland.
Floating big-foot tractor would have to have front wheels as floaty as the rear in order to keep the craft evenly afloat.
Visibility would be quite poor as the massive wheels would obscure almost everything - periscopic viewfinder would be essential.
This would be the ultimate all-terrain-vehicle with many extremely practical uses(help), its dryland capabilities are not to be overestimated. Torque required to turn huge wheels will be large - thats what tractors do though.-- Trodden, Aug 27 2005 Go with tracks and you won't need the periscope. http://www.ambios.c.../boat_tech_news.htmBottom of the page. [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 27 2005] Bicycle version http://www.waterbic...com/products.d.htmlI peddled one of these on holiday not so very long ago. The motor would have to be pretty light - a standard tractor motor would probably sink the ship. [DrCurry, Aug 27 2005] Check these out. http://www.impact-e...prises.com/0519.htmMany different pictures. [Antegrity, Aug 28 2005] baked. i've ridden one. sorry about that though, i know what it feels like to invent something that exists.-- monk, Aug 27 2005 It doesnt need to have massive wheels if it could only go fast enough, there was something on Top Gear a short time ago. A sport in (possibly iceland) involves light cars with a lot of power, and wheels with scoop shapes on them. The cars are driven at practically vertical sandy/rocky inclines, to make it as close to the top as possible. Someone found once while having a race on a flat road, that the cars didn't dip into puddles but went straight over them, so one driver decided to test his car on a lake, it worked perfectly and he challenged a snowmobile rider to a race. The snowmobile won.-- fridge duck, Aug 27 2005 Apparently, "WaterBicycle are save - even children can handle them" which is good news. I always avoid unsave equipment.-- wagster, Aug 27 2005 [Wagster], sp.: suave.-- zeno, Aug 28 2005 [zeno] sp: salve.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 28 2005 Worked with one on an intertidal oyster farm, a Soviet-bloc-made tractor called Belarus, with big double back wheels. Remember discussing whether it would float, and thought that it might, just. On the day that the engine failed it got caught by the tide and floated off to sea - upside down though. Was towed home in disgrace by a fishing boat.-- Armpit, Aug 29 2005 Um, he's gone, dude. Got kicked.-- junglefish, Aug 29 2005 You know that for a fact? There's a cocky junglefish for you, big mouth - wide open - waiting for wiggly worm-- The Kat, Aug 29 2005 the title is a winner. i can imagine a marketing guy trying to sell one of these to a farmer out west.-- benfrost, Aug 30 2005 random, halfbakery