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On the one hand, any do-it-yourself project is fun and rewarding, and boats are fascinating and beautiful, especially if you build one yourself out of wood. On

by 205guy 13y ago

On the one hand, any do-it-yourself project is fun and rewarding, and boats are fascinating and beautiful, especially if you build one yourself out of wood. On the other hand, I don't think this is a practical, generalizable idea, it's not clearly named nor explained, and I'm not sure he's building it right. I don't think it's generalizable because everyone would need the time and/or money for this, not to mention the space. But there are much more effective solutions such as going to higher ground (available in most places that have tsunamis). For the naming, "tsunami-proof boat" has already confused most readers here. All boats are tsunami-proof when offshore [1]. No, this is more of a floating tsunami escape-pod. As for building it, it kinda looks like he knows what he's doing with the planking and maybe cold molding [2], but he doesn't really explain the engineering side of the process. I am also wondering how he plans to test his escape-pod. And in the end, all boats need maintenance, you can't just leave this in your yard for 20 years and expect it to work. I could sort of see this idea for low-lying islands, as a sort of community shelter parked behind an administration building. But I'd expect any final version to be built out of steel. And you'd also have to compare the cost to just building a raised 2-3 story cement tower, which should survive a tsunami as well. [1] This is the most gripping account of the Indian Ocean tsunami I have read: http://www.condesa.org/assorted-adventures/on-being-in-the-december-2004-tsunami/ http://www.condesa.org/assorted-adventures/on-being-in-the-d... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_building http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_building

AmVess 13y ago
You said you aren't sure he's building it right, and I'm with you on that. Some of the structure appears not to be glued, only screwed. Scary. Also, the planking looks frightening. He goes on to say things like this: "I’m not 100% certain how I’m putting in the port holes, but… I know I need a hole. Cutting out these framing members will help me layout the next steps. Right?" and "The project is a little on the dumbtacular side of things. A lot of my design was done using old school brute force design instead of math and software." Not that one has to use math and software to build a solid boat, but going off the cuff with no experience and no start-to-finish plans is just asking for trouble. At very least, he should have drawn up the entire design and had an experienced shipwright or two lend him their expertise. The thing might make an interesting coral condo someday.
CapitalistCartr 13y ago
He;s not building it right. I build boats for a living; I have for quite some years. He's making the woodwork unnecessarily pretty/time-consuming, and pointless. If he wants an escape pod/lifeboat fiberglass is the answer: use a chopgun at about a dollar or two per square foot. As for the "stringers" he looks to be making, eggcrate them and move on. He is spending a ton of time to make something that isn't as strong. He could have simply asked a commercial boatbuilder and saved a lot of time. This reminds me of that post I saw with the metaphor of someone asking if they should use an old shoe or a light bulb to hammer nails for a shelving project.

by 205guy 13y ago

AmVess 13y ago

You said you aren't sure he's building it right, and I'm with you on that. Some of the structure appears not to be glued, only screwed. Scary. Also, the planking looks frightening. He goes on to say things like this: "I’m not 100% certain how I’m putting in the port holes, but… I know I need a hole. Cutting out these framing members will help me layout the next steps. Right?" and "The project is a little on the dumbtacular side of things. A lot of my design was done using old school brute force design instead of math and software." Not that one has to use math and software to build a solid boat, but going off the cuff with no experience and no start-to-finish plans is just asking for trouble. At very least, he should have drawn up the entire design and had an experienced shipwright or two lend him their expertise. The thing might make an interesting coral condo someday.

CapitalistCartr 13y ago

He;s not building it right. I build boats for a living; I have for quite some years. He's making the woodwork unnecessarily pretty/time-consuming, and pointless. If he wants an escape pod/lifeboat fiberglass is the answer: use a chopgun at about a dollar or two per square foot. As for the "stringers" he looks to be making, eggcrate them and move on. He is spending a ton of time to make something that isn't as strong. He could have simply asked a commercial boatbuilder and saved a lot of time. This reminds me of that post I saw with the metaphor of someone asking if they should use an old shoe or a light bulb to hammer nails for a shelving project.