We have started another blog for a project developing a solar airplane. We are using a CNC to cut foam for the wings and to remove extra weight from the solar panels. Check it out at http://www.letsfly.ai
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
www.letsfly.ai
Monday, June 3, 2019
Wing shaped floats
We are going to try replacing the cylinder floats with a wing shaped float.
It has about the total volume of the 8 inch cylinder but is half the width. This gives is half the frontal area and a much lower coefficient of drag. This should let the seastead model move through the water under power faster. Also, when aimed into the waves the wing shaped floats should react less to the waves and so make a smoother ride.
We made a mold out of some 4 inch PVC pipe , some plywood, and some hinges. Have poured some floats but still need to do one more.
We used a paint drop cloth to make a liner so the foam would not stick to the mold. Taped it up so it was like a bag.
Put a chain inside. Also going to try 2 chains as then the wing should be able to act like a keel or dagger-board to help keep the seastead from blowing sideways.
Pictures below. Expect to test in the water soon.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Irma and Seastead Model
Below is video from during Irma.
After Irma our shop (where first video above was taken) looked like this:
Ocean Builders launched a full scale Seastead in Thailand and Chad and Nadia lived on it for awhile. This got me thinking about seastead designs again. I liked an approach I looked at 10 years ago:
So we built a model along those lines. We will be using the app from the first video and similar electronics and trolling motors to motorize the Seastead model below:
This is a 1/6th scale model of a design that fits in a 40 foot container. Next post should have this motoring around on its own.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Testing Chase Boat
Hurricane Irma in Sept 2017 wiped out our guest room which we were using as a workshop. For several months power and Internet were issues. Anyway, it is really almost 8 months later that we are really feeling recovered.
We have a second grey boat that is to be our "chase boat" to follow the blue robot boat. We had a long delay in getting a 4WD car, and then we had to get trailer hitch onto the island and installed, then the 4WD did not really work, then hurricane, etc.
We finally tested the chase boat today. Pictures below.
We have a second grey boat that is to be our "chase boat" to follow the blue robot boat. We had a long delay in getting a 4WD car, and then we had to get trailer hitch onto the island and installed, then the 4WD did not really work, then hurricane, etc.
We finally tested the chase boat today. Pictures below.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Cute New Boat
This picture is at our house with Corey, Amoni, and Ethan. Below we are checking a 100 watt solar panel for size. We are probably going to put some marine plywood across the top to put the solar panels on. I think we can fit 4 of the 100 watt and 1 of the 50 watts panels for a total of 450 watts of solar. We might do less at first so we can have humans aboard.
So anyone seeing the boat can read the story behind it (July 13, 2017):
Making a cover for the solar panels to go on (July 15, 2017):
After a coat of resin (July 16, 2017). Did this underside early in the morning in the shade. Did the top side in the mid-day sun and the resin suddenly hardened in the pot right as I was finishing. In the future I think I want to only play with resin in the early morning shade.
Fits on the boat and can hold 4 of the 100 watt panels (July 16). Going to get some stainless steel screws and some more resin.
Tested out 4WD at the beach and it did not work (July 16). Will take the jeep to a mechanic. This is the spot we will launch at. We can bring a pitchfork to get seaweed out of the way of the trailer. Getting the boat through that much seaweed will also be an issue.
We got a second boat but our 4WD vehicle is still at the shop (as of Aug 25, 2017). One problem with living in paradise is it can take awhile to get parts. We should get a second trailer Tuesday.
Monday, June 26, 2017
Getting ready for 9 foot Robot Boat
We decided to buy a 9 foot fiberglass dingy that is made in Anguilla:
But by the time we decided "Country" (he is East of pond in Sandy Ground) had sold that one to someone else. But he has a mold and so can make more and is now making one for us.
We got a trailer shipped over from St Marten. Island Waterworld does not take Bitcoin but I could convert Bitcoin to Paypal. :-). We got a trailer hitch put on Leslie's jeep (Crispin in Rey Hill did a nice job). It is a very short drive from our house to Sandy Hill Bay beach, so we will launch there.
Our new "maker room" has a nice view of the ocean and airconditioning. With all these cool electronics I can't understand why it is not more popular on couchsurfing.com.
We tested our phone app with a Bluetooth motor controller hooked up to 2 solid state relays which in turn controlled the trolling motors. All seems to work fine. The phone app is the same one we wrote for the smaller solar robot boat. Just a tiny bit of electronics to control a big 9 foot robot, eh? Phone has computer, display, GPS, compass, communications, camera, etc. in one small package that was already on hand. We will add solar to this boat too.
But by the time we decided "Country" (he is East of pond in Sandy Ground) had sold that one to someone else. But he has a mold and so can make more and is now making one for us.
We got a trailer shipped over from St Marten. Island Waterworld does not take Bitcoin but I could convert Bitcoin to Paypal. :-). We got a trailer hitch put on Leslie's jeep (Crispin in Rey Hill did a nice job). It is a very short drive from our house to Sandy Hill Bay beach, so we will launch there.
Our new "maker room" has a nice view of the ocean and airconditioning. With all these cool electronics I can't understand why it is not more popular on couchsurfing.com.
We tested our phone app with a Bluetooth motor controller hooked up to 2 solid state relays which in turn controlled the trolling motors. All seems to work fine. The phone app is the same one we wrote for the smaller solar robot boat. Just a tiny bit of electronics to control a big 9 foot robot, eh? Phone has computer, display, GPS, compass, communications, camera, etc. in one small package that was already on hand. We will add solar to this boat too.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Model testing 4/2017
We have 3D printed pieces for a catamaran and a swathy design. We glued the pieces together using gorilla glue and clamps to hold while the glue foams up and hardens. Then we paint the whole thing with styrospray to make sure it is waterproof.
![]() |
Catamaran in clamps while glue dries |
![]() |
Amoni with Catamaran model - printed as 10 pieces 37.5 inches |
![]() |
Swathy design - printed as 8 pieces |
Amoni making a test wave |
Both the swathy design and the catamaran were weighted down with cups of gravel to 2.56 kg. The catamaran did not take much weight, about 1/10th kg. The swathy design was close to 1/2 kg of gravel.
I think the following videos should be viewed full screen and you can also use youtube to slow them down by a factor of 4 to study interesting parts.
First waves hitting from the side:
Next waves hitting on the bow:
Then two older models. I did not actually use the best of my older models but it then got windy and so other tests will wait till next week. The orange model with 4 floats is 8 lbs. It should have been weighted down to about 12 lbs for optimal stability. Maybe in a future test.
In these videos the catamaran really looks good. It is hard to beat but I still want to try.
This next video the model on the left is 4 lbs with 1.1 lbs of gravel in cups for a total of 5.1 lbs. The catamaran total is 5.64 lbs. This one does well against the catamaran.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)