User:Vincecate/GeodesicVessel
Idea is that both a hull and roof could be 1/8th sphere geodesic domes. This would sort of be a thick flying saucer shape (will try to generate an image). With a size of 80 foot diameter we could have two levels inside the saucer and then a small building on top for when people wanted to enjoy the view. The living area might be 50 foot diameter with storage closets and emergency flotation foam in the thinner part around the living area.
The geodesic shape should mean you don't need as much, or maybe any, internal bracing. This can open up the inside space and make it cheaper to build.
The triangles and stiffeners would be easy things for regular shipyard robots to make. So this can be automated and done for a reasonable price.
Might make the triangles so that they could be bolted together. Bolting together could be done near the launch site by a small group with a crane in a few days. This would not be very costly. Might even ship the parts to another country before assembling. Could make it where we put a rubber gasket around each triangle and then bolted them together. The bolts would be put through stiffeners at the edges and completely inside. As they tightened the rubber would make the joint water tight even if there were some slight imperfections in the sizes of the triangles.
Might also just weld the triangles together like sections on a normal ship.
The triangles could be steel or maybe aluminum.
Should be very strong, very stable, very safe, and not very costly for the amount of living space.
In a raft that is rocking back and forth in the waves the center has the least motion. In this design the people are closer to the center.
Windows would only be easy on the small building on top. Might use small strong glass to make portals to let some light in and let people see out some.
The heavy things like batteries should be at the very bottom of the inside space (say below the bottom floor). The building on top should be light so that even if the main hull flooded it would still stay upright.
