I’ve just stumbled across this really cool ship.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/12/on-board-the-ship-th.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/P_FLIP
An exact replica of this ship wouldn’t make a very good seastead, it only supports 5 crew members, and isn’t self propelled, but according to the video it is very stable in high seas, and I think a larger version of this with an engine would be a good option. I don’t know whether the tipping feature would be useful in a seastead or not.
I already posted on it and FLIP II. Look up SeaOrbiter, too, for something even better (also posted on here, by me)… NOT knocking your find. I Love it/them… Cool that someone else likes it! Would use that for a basis on a SFS (Single-Family-Seastead)…
Later,
J.L.F.
Never be afraid to try something new…
Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.
Wow, that Sea Orbiter is really cool!
The main problem of flip ship is the vertical space distribution that reduces your “normally useable squaremeter” to almost nothing – also the “structure cost per usable squarementer of living space” is very unfavorable – it is a fine tool for investigation – a not so fine solution for housing due to the elevated squaremeter cost.
Sea Orbiter can work fine in real estate terms (cost of squaremeter living space) if it is big enough to have horizontal floors like a highrise building, and deals with the vertical space distribution problem with elevators, as those buildings do.
Wil
There is an old engineering term: “a dancing bear”
You see the circuses in the old days would sometimes include a bear trained to dance.
They never danced well. Maybe a monkey or a compliant dog could dance but bears are just not built for grace.
What makes the dancing bear a good act is that it dances at all.
Cell phones in 1980, the Echo satellite (circa 1959) these things barely (pardon the pun) worked at all but were still pretty cool because they worked even a little bit.
Flip is awesome but Flip is a dancing bear.
Still; those dancing bears are inspiration.
SeaOrbiter is the next step. However, FLIP and the FLIP II design have much more applicability than you give them credit for. FLIP is over-crowded most of the time. It IS a 3 strory cabin, not some spaceous super-tanker. Keep that in mind. Look at the FLIP II and SeaOrbiter, for the next generation. Get out of the “More People= Success” Tom-foolery. Make a working platform, put in a business, then worry about more people. I’ve repeated this and y’all never listen, so nothing happens…
Later,
J.L.F.
Never be afraid to try something new…
Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.
J.L.-Frusha 2 years, 6 months ago.
©2012 The Seasteading Institute