SparBuoy

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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

  • 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.