SparBuoy

Description

One cylindrical column. Height and diameter determined by desired size and comfort parameters.

Detail

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2153/2533681301_996f2cf479_t.jpg (from http://flickr.com/photos/27160491@N06/2533681301/)

• Material issues - steel (expensive) concrete (can't handle tilting).
• Constructed in disc-shaped sections - only need one set of molds per diameter, then make any length.

Requirements Analysis

• Safety
  • It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
  • Essentially unsinkable, since the airspace is fully enclosed, unless a porthole breaks.
  • Things on the top deck may get ripped off, though, so solar panels / wind turbines will need to be brought inside during big storms.
• Comfort
  • May have significant response to large waves.
  • The smaller the spar (narrower, shorter), the large the response.
  • Heave plates will help.
  • Not much solar area, so windows will be important.
• Cost - We suspect this is the cheapest design. It's very simple.
• Pretty - Moderate. Not lovely, not awful.
• Modular
  • We should be able to combine by connecting (perhaps w/ small rubber spacers).
  • Possibly we can even do this w/ different sized spars.
  • Using stationkeeping to just float near each other is extremely modular
• Cargo - Doesn't address this problem.
• Free Floating - Definitely.
• Scalable
  • Scales up or down in size (height, diameter).
• Standards
• Mobile - Definitely, although it will move slow because of the high wetted area. Could design in a teardrop shape to reduce drag.
• Draft
  • It is not clear how we can make it shallow draft. Turn it sideways? Not good for your furniture!
  • Crazy idea: can be assembled/dissassembled in sections, like a stack of poker chips. For shallow waters, we pop one off at a time, turning it from a cylinder into a snake of small cylinders, with the lead one towing the rest. If it's a square, we can actually turn it into a horizontal rectangular prism without changing the orientation of any of the boxes - good for your furniture! Takes up a lot of space, though. Could do a combination - the lowest decks are just bulk storage, don't mind being turned sideways, top decks are rooms, those we disconnect and rearrange.