User:Vincecate

Home Page and floatingislands.com

I have made proposals for:

• Tension Circle House - House in middle of floating circle
• Tension Circle Marina - Marina made from big floating circle
• Multifamily Tension Circle where each family has their own building.
• Pipe Spar - Seastead made from commercial pipe
• Geodesic Vessel - Roundish vessel with stability from hull shape
• Ball House - Ball with stability from hanging ballast
• WaterWalker - Tripod with balls for floats on legs

I am interested in scale models and have made and tested a group of models. I am willing to test any seastead models that anyone sends me, no charge. I have easy access to a variety of natural waves and a Casio EX-FH20 that can make really nice slow motion video.

I am interested in possible ideas for Seastead ventures. I like these:

• Owner Charter Business - sell seasteads but manage the charter/rental of them as well
• Floating Villas for tourist rentals off the coast of Anguilla.
• Medical Business possibilities for seasteads.
• Survivalist market for seasteads set up to be self sufficient
• Refugee market for low cost seasteads for people who want to leave where they are
• Reality TV Show about seasteading could work.

I have started a page on big wave videos and some platform videos.

I think each seastead could use a kite and sea anchor to control movement on an annual migration.

I think Convoy Communications would avoid expensive satellite communications costs.

I think a good way to move people or cargo between seasteads is with a SkyWay.

Looks like there are hurricane resistant Life rafts.

I think Cost estimation is important.

Started pages on IP and Patents.

I have updated the HangingBallast using video from some of my experiments.

I found some online charts of the San Fransisco Bay.

I think we need to understand what is Acceptable Motion for seasteads.

I think we need to use some type of Low Cost Wave Tank so we can afford to do lots of experiments. This is a new design space that needs to be explored, so there are many possible things to try.

I would like to thank those that have helped fund my experiments.

I think efficient Thrusters are key for seastead operation. The Propeller Efficiency issues mean we need large propellers for slow seasteads.

Trying to put together a single family seastead budget estimate.

I think Prizes are the most efficient way to get something new like a seastead developed. The trick is designing the prize. I have posted a Ephemerisle_Contest prize idea.

I think UAVs will be important for seasteading.

The basic seastead tradeoff is lower speed for lower cost and higher stability than a boat.

I have built a 1:5 scale prototype large enough for 3 people. I am getting ready to take it on a second experimental voyage.

I have written up something on my views about seasteading which has been called the "Single Family Seasteading Manifesto".

Thinking a bit about a WaterWalker3 idea where opposite buoys are connected together by a rope on pulleys.

I have a new baby coming soon and am trying to finish off and release some software for a startup this year. So I won't be spending nearly as much time or dream-cycles on seasteading stuff in 2009 as I did in 2008. But seasteading has been a passion of mine for more than 20 years and I will be back at it in the future.

Some things I am thinking about doing next.

Organized links to different strategies to bring about Seasteads.

"You can't possibly get a good technology going without an enormous number of failures. It's a universal rule. If you look at bicycles, there were thousands of weird models built and tried before they found the one that really worked. You could never design a bicycle theoretically. Even now, after we've been building them for 100 years, it's very difficult to understand just why a bicycle works - it's even difficult to formulate it as a mathematical problem. But just by trial and error, we found out how to do it, and the error was essential. The same is true of airplanes. " Freeman Dyson