3 ms·

It would be interesting to try this concept out on liveaboard boats. They have much the same problems of not enough space.

• tezmc 17y ago
  I think if you did that you might end up with problems with weight distribution, depending on where the walls were. You could end up trying to walk around a boat tilted over at 30 degrees from the weight :)
  • mixmax 17y ago
    That was my fist concern as well :-) It could probably be solved with proper fasteners and thinking about weight distribution though. Moving heavy stuff from port to starboard might be a problem but moving stuff from front to back not so much.
    • jerf 17y ago
      Or possibly clever counterweighting under the floor, if you have the floor space. Old-school mechanical linkage might not work very well (too complicated to get right, probably), but a few sensors and actuators could do the job very well, or I suppose as much as it offends my computer nature a manual level somewhere could work too. (But soooo much less cool.) I don't think this could solve the entire problem, you'd still have to consider weight distribution, but it would free you up a bit. Trying to do something like this involves enough constraints as it is, anything you can do to relax them will help.
      • epochwolf 17y ago
        Simple mechanical systems that solve interesting problems are far more elegant in my mind than a computerized version. :)
        • theblackbox 17y ago
          Some sort of Gyroscope might appeal to both your sensibilities?
          • jerf 17y ago
            Can a gyroscope in this situation prevent tipping, or does it merely slow it down? Honest question. Possibly even just slowing it down a lot would be sufficient since other forces could be brought into play to stabilize the boat.
            • mixmax 17y ago
              I think you guys are putting way too many obstacles in the path. I live on a boat and I just moved a waterheater (~120 kilos) from port to starboard and it didn't make much of a difference on the waterline of the boat.
              • theblackbox 17y ago
                Yeah, I thought as much as well. It was said more in jest. I know a guy who put tonnes (3 or 4 I think) of slate tiling in his stern end and it only dropped it down half a foot or so in the water. Narrow boats usually have a flat bottom and weigh a huge amount, so they are pretty resillient... still, gyroscopes are interesting
            • Groxx 16y ago
              Gyroscopes can only slow it down (considerably, sometimes), not prevent it. It could definitely make it easier to detect / rectify though, yes.
        • lallysingh 17y ago
          Depends on how many things you'd want to link to a few counterweights. A few rfids on some objects and a couple of readers for positioning could do all the linking work you need.
          • 17y ago
    • tezmc 17y ago
      Port/starboard in a trimaran might work, but maybe having a lot of weight on one side would affect the dynamics... You might end up with a boat that only sails in circles :)
• Avshalom 17y ago
  The problem with something like this in a boat is that there is very little square space on a boat. You can't stack wall quite the same because a wall that's flush with the hull in one spot is banging up against it or hanging loose in another spot. Like another poster said, Most of these really clever uses of space you see showcased like this require a well shaped starting space.