...
Roland watched the second cement boat slip into the water with satisfaction as his subjects cheered loudly.
The two cement boats looked simple in terms of structure, but they were actually much better than previous models, namely the Little Town. A framework of dense steel reinforcement had been added to the internal structure, and the quality of the cement had improved tremendously. The overall strength of the boat was thus several times greater than the Little Town.
To expedite the shipbuilding process, Roland reserved slots and ports for steam engines, transmission mechanisms and paddle wheels when he designed the hull. This way, laborers only needed to weld bolts into the metal components. They could quickly build the boat putting pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle.
