6 ms·

I've always been kinda fascinated by this solar yacht concept. I wonder now with post-covid remote working options and starlink if you could actually make it w

I've always been kinda fascinated by this solar yacht concept. I wonder now with post-covid remote working options and starlink if you could actually make it work. I do wonder though if sailing the ship is basically a full-time job in itself (navigation channels? Docking at foreign countries? Getting food etc?).

zdragnar 5y ago
I thought starlink didnt work for mobile connections? I.e. that it had to be registered and operated at a fixed address. That said, unless you are able to drop anchors, I am guessing that you would spend most of your working hours at a dock or with a partner piloting instead.
- Mountain_Skies 5y ago
  Starlink has to abide by the laws of whatever jurisdiction you are in. There's not many technical reasons why they can't provide roaming service on the seas but there are issues such as if you dock in a country that prohibits Starlink service, they're going to want some system in place to reject your packets. That shouldn't be too difficult but resources must be allocated to making it happen. They probably have other things on their plate now that are a higher priority.
- rtkwe 5y ago
  They've said that the base station will be able to roam at some point in the future and right now it's because they don't schedule the service on an ad-hoc basis so if you're base station isn't in it's expected area it won't get service.
- baybal2 5y ago
  > I thought starlink didnt work for mobile connections? It will not work either far away from the shore.
  - noitpmeder 5y ago
    Again I have to believe this is only a temporary restriction.
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      SpaceX are launching satellites with ("frickin") lasers now. So, if you are in the middle of the ocean, your packets step between satellites on the same orbit, forward or back, until they get in range of a node. First actual use is for polar service. On certain routes, packets will be artificially delayed so that high-speed traders can pay big bucks to get their packets through first, ahead of fiber. And, maybe pay even bigger bucks to prevent their competitors from getting their packets through as fast. Imagine tiered pricing, where each millisecond ahead of the rest of the pack is ten times the price. So, for example, orbits inclined near 70 degrees pass near New York and London/Frankfurt. Packets going by satellite laser links can get there many milliseconds ahead of those poking along on subsea fiber. Somebody in London who finds out 10 ms before everyone else about a price change in New York gets to make a killing trading on the exclusive information.
      - dragonsky67 5y ago
        There is a whole world there I do not know and don't really want to. What a strange world we live in.
        ncmncm 5y ago
        Yes. You can think of it as automated stealing. Much of the inequity could be eliminated by imposing a per-transaction tax.
        HeadsUpHigh 5y ago
        Or you can think of it as HTF trading firms subsidizing 20-60ms internet for the common user. The last couple ms probably mean nothing to you but they mean a lot to them. I guess it depends on what your world view is.
- noitpmeder 5y ago
  I believe this is only temporary and SpaceX has announced plans to roll out different subscription plans (including roaming) in the future.
Stevvo 5y ago
I have a 38' steel sloop with 400w of solar + a wind generator on-board. I'm not a full-time liveaboard, but I have been on-board for the last couple of months and you can definitely make it work. Sailing is labor intensive, but not in the ways you imagine. Navigation, docking and provisioning are all straightforward. Where it can sometimes feel like a full-time job is maintenance. Everything on a boat wants to break all the time. Doesn't matter if the vessel is brand new or 40 years old; finding a balance between maintenance and life is difficult.
- goldenkey 5y ago
  I learned a few years ago about barnacles, which by virtue of being unaerodynamic and super heavy if you let them form huge colonies on the bottom of your ship, can decrease fuel efficiency severely. I saw how much work maintanence was, I said 'nope!' I guess a house is similar in some ways. Shingles don't last forever, pipes get corroded. The salty sea though, it's a bit more unkind to things, aye?
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    At least with a house the timeline is long and it's easy to hire someone to do it for you. Even galvanized pipes last 40-50 years without much problem, and newer pex pipes may last indefinitely. Roofs are 25+ years.
    - llbeansandrice 5y ago
      Not soaking your house in salt water really helps with longevity I've found
      - rootusrootus 5y ago
        For sure. Even then, the techniques used by builders at the beach seem to allow houses to endure a long time.
        5y ago
GeorgeOu 5y ago
Yachts don't rely on solar. Sometimes they have solar but only as a small auxilary system. They primarily rely on propeller regen where the prop flips into drag mode stealing a fraction of a knot from the sail-driven ship. I've seen some yacht owners try to install a small wind turbine but it's not worth the trouble because of the noise it creates. They also tend to have at least one gas generator as an emergency backup.
Gustomaximus 5y ago
> I do wonder though if sailing the ship is basically a full-time job in itself Someone should always be on watch if possible. It doesnt always happen as people do solo voyages. Open ocean most vessels would have transponders but if you're anywhere coastal you couldn't take the chance as smaller vessels don't always have and you can't rely on radar either. I do think you could make it work though. Similar to van living. Plan your legs based on availability. You down time will be part maintainance etc.

zdragnar 5y ago

I thought starlink didnt work for mobile connections? I.e. that it had to be registered and operated at a fixed address. That said, unless you are able to drop anchors, I am guessing that you would spend most of your working hours at a dock or with a partner piloting instead.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago
Starlink has to abide by the laws of whatever jurisdiction you are in. There's not many technical reasons why they can't provide roaming service on the seas but there are issues such as if you dock in a country that prohibits Starlink service, they're going to want some system in place to reject your packets. That shouldn't be too difficult but resources must be allocated to making it happen. They probably have other things on their plate now that are a higher priority.
rtkwe 5y ago
They've said that the base station will be able to roam at some point in the future and right now it's because they don't schedule the service on an ad-hoc basis so if you're base station isn't in it's expected area it won't get service.
baybal2 5y ago
> I thought starlink didnt work for mobile connections? It will not work either far away from the shore.
- noitpmeder 5y ago
  Again I have to believe this is only a temporary restriction.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    SpaceX are launching satellites with ("frickin") lasers now. So, if you are in the middle of the ocean, your packets step between satellites on the same orbit, forward or back, until they get in range of a node. First actual use is for polar service. On certain routes, packets will be artificially delayed so that high-speed traders can pay big bucks to get their packets through first, ahead of fiber. And, maybe pay even bigger bucks to prevent their competitors from getting their packets through as fast. Imagine tiered pricing, where each millisecond ahead of the rest of the pack is ten times the price. So, for example, orbits inclined near 70 degrees pass near New York and London/Frankfurt. Packets going by satellite laser links can get there many milliseconds ahead of those poking along on subsea fiber. Somebody in London who finds out 10 ms before everyone else about a price change in New York gets to make a killing trading on the exclusive information.
    - dragonsky67 5y ago
      There is a whole world there I do not know and don't really want to. What a strange world we live in.
      - ncmncm 5y ago
        Yes. You can think of it as automated stealing. Much of the inequity could be eliminated by imposing a per-transaction tax.
        HeadsUpHigh 5y ago
        Or you can think of it as HTF trading firms subsidizing 20-60ms internet for the common user. The last couple ms probably mean nothing to you but they mean a lot to them. I guess it depends on what your world view is.
noitpmeder 5y ago
I believe this is only temporary and SpaceX has announced plans to roll out different subscription plans (including roaming) in the future.

Stevvo 5y ago

I have a 38' steel sloop with 400w of solar + a wind generator on-board. I'm not a full-time liveaboard, but I have been on-board for the last couple of months and you can definitely make it work. Sailing is labor intensive, but not in the ways you imagine. Navigation, docking and provisioning are all straightforward. Where it can sometimes feel like a full-time job is maintenance. Everything on a boat wants to break all the time. Doesn't matter if the vessel is brand new or 40 years old; finding a balance between maintenance and life is difficult.

goldenkey 5y ago
I learned a few years ago about barnacles, which by virtue of being unaerodynamic and super heavy if you let them form huge colonies on the bottom of your ship, can decrease fuel efficiency severely. I saw how much work maintanence was, I said 'nope!' I guess a house is similar in some ways. Shingles don't last forever, pipes get corroded. The salty sea though, it's a bit more unkind to things, aye?
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  At least with a house the timeline is long and it's easy to hire someone to do it for you. Even galvanized pipes last 40-50 years without much problem, and newer pex pipes may last indefinitely. Roofs are 25+ years.
  - llbeansandrice 5y ago
    Not soaking your house in salt water really helps with longevity I've found
    - rootusrootus 5y ago
      For sure. Even then, the techniques used by builders at the beach seem to allow houses to endure a long time.
      - 5y ago

GeorgeOu 5y ago

Yachts don't rely on solar. Sometimes they have solar but only as a small auxilary system. They primarily rely on propeller regen where the prop flips into drag mode stealing a fraction of a knot from the sail-driven ship. I've seen some yacht owners try to install a small wind turbine but it's not worth the trouble because of the noise it creates. They also tend to have at least one gas generator as an emergency backup.

Gustomaximus 5y ago

> I do wonder though if sailing the ship is basically a full-time job in itself Someone should always be on watch if possible. It doesnt always happen as people do solo voyages. Open ocean most vessels would have transponders but if you're anywhere coastal you couldn't take the chance as smaller vessels don't always have and you can't rely on radar either. I do think you could make it work though. Similar to van living. Plan your legs based on availability. You down time will be part maintainance etc.