who said they needed a window handle?

[tomcat rio]

quite suave and dee-bone-aire, like me.

...
http://static.flickr.com/92/247470882_454f71e6b8.jpg

[DougSea]

Well...the blue would match my hull but that yellow kinda clashes. Think I'll have to hold out for the 'standard' handles.

[Meyer]

Tomcat, what's that black whatever above your classy handle?

Just curious.

[DougSea]

Looks to me like an inclinometer.

Of course, that only answers the 'what' part of the question. Still need Tomcat to tell us the 'why'.

'Looks cool' would be an acceptable answer but I suspect there's more to it...

[tomcat rio]

. i spent 30 years flight testing tomcats for grumman(had the first flight in the last one,sniffle, sniffle). as a result i'm a hopeless data hoarder.
i stuck that thing there to see what the most efficient planning angle is.
(four degrees).
ya mean it doesn't look cool?

[DougSea]

Hey Tomcat (who's handle I now consider VERY cool given the apparent history behind it) I was implying that it (the inclinometer) did indeed look cool, I just couldn't figure out what you were doing with it!

Now...how do you achive a 4 degree running angle?

Doug

[tomcat rio]

i seem to have at least 2 degrees of pitch authority with the trim tabs. i have recorded variations of up to 1.2 kts just from messing with the tabs and leaving the throttle alone.
...