If a normal and intact walnut falls into the water and floats on the water, then, when the walnut stabilizes, the position of the walnut's bud eye must be on the side of the walnut. The buds and the tips of the walnuts form a straight line, which is nearly parallel to the surface of the water, and if the walnut shakes in the water, then it generally rotates around this axis.

When the ants open their bud holes and use it as the only entrance and exit of the walnut boat, such a floating state will cause the entrance and exit to be too close to the water surface, and the slightest wind and wave will let the ship into the water, which is fatal to the ship and the crew inside.

The ants have no effective means of draining their water, and once the water is too much, the ship's self-weight is greater than the buoyancy, and the walnut boat will sink. Standing water itself can also pose a threat to ants that don't like water, and a drop of water can kill ants - once the ants are trapped in the water droplets, it is difficult for them to get rid of the surface tension of the water film.

During the trial voyage in the calm inlet, this hidden danger of easy water ingress was exposed, but fortunately, the inlet was relatively calm, and there were a large number of ants nearby, so there was no loss on the test ship.

If you want to avoid flooding, keep the entrance and exit away from the water. The ships of the human world, whether sailing ships or later steam-powered ships, had access to their cabins with their doors open on decks and rushed into the sky.

The protagonist also wants to borrow this design, but this requires changing the center of gravity of the walnut in the water in order for the walnut to "stand upside down" in the water.

The method is also simple, in the position of the tip of the walnut inside the walnut, place and fix some ballast stones, so that the walnut can maintain an "upside-down" bud eye in the water. Moreover, the ballast stone can also ensure the stability of the attitude of the walnut ship to a certain extent.

After trying to install some ballast stones and fixing them in the boat with ant glue, the ants also built a small hat-shaped rain shelter with wood above the entrance and exit of the walnut boat according to the requirements of the protagonist, so that even if there is light rain, the cabin will not enter the water.

In the event of some water ingress, the ants have to use their jaws to divide the water into small droplets, and then carry it overboard and dispose of it, which is a very rudimentary and inefficient way to drain water.

New problems were exposed during the retrial voyage of the modified Walnut ship. The walnut boat in the water from the "lying position" to the "standing position", although to avoid the problem of water ingress, but the change of the attitude of the ship's center of gravity, resulting in the current ship is very unstable, some large winds will sway violently.

After all, these walnuts naturally grow into an oblong shape, which is relatively stable in the "lying position" state, and even if it sways, it rolls along the axis of the walnut tip and bud eye, and it is not easy to overturn. However, in the state of "standing posture", the axis is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and under the action of external force, the walnut ship is easy to swing violently, which is also a hidden danger for navigation safety.

The protagonist leads the research team to work on the solution, which is to add a balance beam to the walnut boat.

This design resembles the unilateral frame design of ancient human canoes. The most primitive canoe is a monolithic canoe, that is, a canoe does not add other structural parts, but the use of a monohull canoe for sailing, the ability to resist wind and waves is poor, and it is easier to overturn and capsize.

The unilateral frame canoe is on one side of the canoe, adding a floating timber in the same direction, and connecting with the canoe through a crossbar, the stability of the unilateral frame canoe is very good, the driving is stable, the roll amplitude is very small in the wind and waves, and it has a good ability to resist wind and waves, roll over, and can be used for long-distance navigation.

The ancient Polynesians even used this canoe to almost conquer the Pacific Ocean, colonizing various islands from far distances.

The side frame of the walnut boat is a wooden stick about the thickness of a pencil in the human world, which is fastened to the side of the walnut ship with fiber binding and ant glue through a thinner wooden stick about the diameter of a toothpick.

After the transformation, the current walnut boat has also basically overcome the problems of rollover and rocking.

Next, it's time to make the walnut ship truly sailing.

The previous sea trials in the inlet were not strictly sea trials, because this rough, rudimentary, and primitive walnut ship did not have the ability to sail autonomously at all.

The so-called trial voyage is that the ants on the shore drag a long rope woven of plant fibers and ant silk connected to the walnut boat, and drag the walnut boat to move slowly on the water surface in a way of pulling fibers.

In the future, the walnut ship will not be able to move in this way, otherwise the army of the god envoy king might as well kill all the way along the shore of the lake to the swamp, what more boats?

The protagonist only thought of taking the waterway in order to avoid a potential conflict with the indigenous tribe of scythe-hunting ants.

In order for the ship to move, it must have power and steering power, and the protagonist has already considered many ways to power human ships, such as sails, oars, rudders, and oars.

But with the size and strength of an ant, tools such as oars, propellers, and rudders are difficult to drive, or to gain enough power and steering force to resist the resistance of wind and water.

The only thing that can be borrowed is the sail, although the protagonist only knows the most primitive kind of sail that can only use the wind to sail, but it is enough for the time being.

Because, according to the reconnaissance of the flying knights, the road from the Great Lake to the Marshland is generally smooth and headwindy, and the return from the swamp to the Great Lake is generally against the wind and the current is not fast.

Ideally, the walnut boat would be able to drift all the way to the swamp with the help of currents without opening its sails. On the return trip, the sails are spread out, overcoming the resistance of the current, and all the way back.

But this kind of navigation is not enough insurance, no autonomous power is always a hidden danger, and no steering force is not feasible, whether it is downstream or countercurrent, whether downwind or upwind, the ship's own steering force is required to correct the course, otherwise it really becomes "drifting with the tide".

The protagonist also experimentally makes a large oar as a rudder, which is fastened to the shell of the walnut boat with a rope, and is operated by six ants near the entrance.

But during the sea trials, the six ants simply had difficulty steering the rudder and quickly changing the direction of the ship. If you change to a larger rudder, you need more ants to operate, but the relatively safe entrance and exit position can not stand more ants, if the ants operate the rudder on the hull of the walnut ship, and it is very easy to fall into the water, it is basically a dead end.

The protagonist has to abandon the traditional human-style steering and power tools such as the rudder and start to solve the problem in the way of ants.

He was finally inspired by the Flying Knights and came up with a solution.

That is to equip the walnut boat with bees or flies, and the bees or flies pull the walnut boat through ropes.