Difference between revisions of "User:Vincecate/Budget"
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The main tradeoff I am making is to have solar power and electric thrusters so that I don't | The main tradeoff I am making is to have solar power and electric thrusters so that I don't | ||
| − | need to buy diesel every month, listen to the noise of a generator, or smell any exhaust. I really think kites | + | need to buy diesel every month, listen to the noise of a generator, or smell any exhaust. I really think kites could work out, so maybe inefficient outboards just near port and kites in open ocean is reasonable, but I am not sure I want to count on kites yet. The other thing is that solar panels are very reliable. Batteries can be done so that single failures don't kill you, and they tend to degrade gradually over a couple years. Diesel engines can stop suddenly. I would want 2 or 3 generators if that was my main source of power. The solar/electric route is more costly up front but if oil goes up by a factor of 10 it won't bother you so much if you run on solar. |
Revision as of 07:14, 6 April 2010
I am trying to make some cost estimates for a single family seastead big enough and nice enough for my family (so this is not the minimal cost design). This does not include the raw structure but tries to get most of the things that we would need on it. I am thinking of something like a larger version of my my floating villa design. I expect to have an early seastead and have plenty of backups and redundancy so that when things break we will still be fine. I also expect to visit a lot of ports and do a lot of fishing.
Contents
Safety and Life Support Estimates
| Item | Units | Price/unit | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| WaterMakers | 2 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| Year Supply of Food | 6 | $2,500 | $15,000 |
| Liferaft | 1 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Solar | 1000 | $3/watt | $3,000 |
| Batteries | 4 | $200 | $800 |
| Radio | 1 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Total | $34,800 |
Solar with electric thrusters for Propulsion
| Item | Units | Price/unit | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thrusters | 3 | $20,000 | $60,000 |
| Motor Controllers | 3 | $1,600 | $4,800 |
| Solar Panels | 16,000 watts | $3/watt | $48,000 |
| Batteries | 100 kw-hours | $145/1-kw-hour | $14,500 |
| Inverters | 6 | $1,200 | $7,200 |
| Backup Generator | 1 | $5,400 | $5,400 |
| 300 Gal Diesel Tank | 1 | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Diesel Fuel | 300 | $3.50/gal | $1,050 |
| Kite | 2 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Total | $144,000 |
Alternatives for Power/Propulsion
| Item | Units | Price/unit | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thrusters | 3 | $20,000 | $60,000 |
| Motor Controllers | 3 | $1,600 | $4,800 |
| Diesel Generators | 2 | $5,400 | $10,800 |
| 1000 Gal Diesel Tank | 1 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Diesel Fuel | 1000 | $3.50/gal | $3,500 |
| Total | $83,100 |
| Item | Units | Price/unit | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 Gal Tank | 1 | $500 | $500 |
| Fuel | 50 | $3.50/gal | $175 |
| Outboard | 2 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| Kite | 2 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Total | $14,675 |
Open Issues
- Cost of living area and structure are not in here yet.
- I like the "free fall life boats" but have yet to find any prices for them.
Tradeoffs
The main tradeoff I am making is to have solar power and electric thrusters so that I don't need to buy diesel every month, listen to the noise of a generator, or smell any exhaust. I really think kites could work out, so maybe inefficient outboards just near port and kites in open ocean is reasonable, but I am not sure I want to count on kites yet. The other thing is that solar panels are very reliable. Batteries can be done so that single failures don't kill you, and they tend to degrade gradually over a couple years. Diesel engines can stop suddenly. I would want 2 or 3 generators if that was my main source of power. The solar/electric route is more costly up front but if oil goes up by a factor of 10 it won't bother you so much if you run on solar.
