Flying a boat backwards

Factual Questions
1

Back in the early-'80s Flying had an article about using an airplane to take a vacation to remote areas. I think the aircraft was a float-equipped Cessna 206 Stationair, but I’m not sure. The guys took a rowboat with them, and attached it to the aircraft. So far, so good. I’ve seen backpacks, sleeping bags and shovels attached to a Piper J-3 Cub. Nothing wrong with external loads if you know what you’re doing.

But the boat was attached to the aircraft stern-forward. The article said that they secured the boat bows-forward, but that there was less drag the other way. Looked funny. Intuitively, it seems a flat plate in the airstream would cause more drag than an aerodynamic (hor hydrodynamic) shape such as the bows of a boat. Back in the '70s the ‘Kamm tail’ was popular on cars (such as the Triumph Spitfire) because ‘lopping off’ then end was found to be more aerodynamic than a rounded back end. Isn’t a transom on a boat sort of like a Kamm tail on a car?

Can someone please explain the aerodynamics involved in flying a boat with the stern forward as opposed to bows forward?

2

I thought I read here on the boards that if the boat is pointing forward and it was a chopped-off stern, then a vacuum (or suction) will be created that causes a huge amount of drag. Tests that were conducted proved that a backwards facing boat was more aerodynamic. I would think the best thing to do would be to add a cone type structure at the back of the boat like the space shuttle uses and then fly it either way forward. I’m at work so I don’t have time to search around but after a few net searches someone might find more information.

3

Hm. Maybe I did ask this before. I don’t remember.