On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 09:47:41PM +0100, Timothy Collinson wrote:
> While I'm here though, how many sophonts could you squeeze into
> enclosed four man raft.  We said 11 would be shoulder to shoulder
> but doable (like a tube/metro train) for a short while.
>
> But what would be the limits on it flying?  No one argued with my
> forget it if 11 are on board.

The weight should still be well within the design specs.  They're
typically designed to lift a few tons payload, and 11 humans are only
likely to be around one, even with a moderate amount of carried gear.

The ability to fit inside without straining something would appear to
be the main factor.  The diagrams provided don't seem to provide quite
enough height to stand inside, unless the floors and ceilings are
literally just the exterior hulls and none of the passengers are
taller than average.  Packing 11 people in there would be much more
uncomfortable than standing room on a train.

It rather looks like the interior might be comparable in shape to an
old van a friend of mine once had.  Two seats in the front, and two in
a fairly open back that would certainly have enough raw volume to fit
11 people.  However, if you weren't in a seat then it was not wide
enough to lie down and not high enough to stand unless you were
somewhat short (and there were a couple of metal supports and a light
fitting in the ceiling to bump your head on even then).  One or two
people could lie down with their feet in the space between the rear
seats, but that would leave little floor room for any others.  If you
just sat on the (metal, and slightly corrugated) floor then you would
get bruises on your rear pretty quickly, and every time the vehicle
went over a bump or around a corner then you'd need to have hold of
something or risk a good chance of more bruises elsewhere.  Seven
extra people sitting on the floor might have been possible, but very
awkward and probably painful in the long run.

(Where we lived, any passengers not seated would also be illegal: the
driver would risk being fined and losing points from their driving
licence, as well as voiding much of their insurance cover)

- Tim