a self-sufficient boat

I'm actually a Lord of Sealand. Honestly. A bona fide Lord.
Anyway, you'd get bored if there was just two of you on the boat. Better to build something big and share the costs between a commune of people...

 

Solar panels & hydroponic components need replaced or repaired. The proposed system sounds to complex to be affordable (unless your a multi-millionaire) and/or sustainable.

I guess pondering such scenerios can spur some pretty innovative ideas though.

Tim

 

If your going to survive a massive disaster then you need to go underwater. Perhaps Concrete submarine towing giant concrete egg-shapped habitats. A barge is too easy a target and the radiation will kill you.

I think I going to buy 500 ac of land in wyoming, build a big still and get drunk a lot.

 

Mydauphin,

You would be better off coming up here to our mountains. Closer to home & more technical expertise to get your still up and running.

Another advantage is you could run a boat up the ICW into the Chesapeake to within 50-100 miles, saving you a somewhat boring overland journey.

Tim

 

Good God Bergalia - when you leave Scotland your supposed to leave the croft behind ye, not take it with ye mon!

I guess the simple way is to look how they live in a small island community and build your vessel accordingly. With that in mind does it have to be ONE vessel? why not a lot that normally raft up together and kinda drift around, choose your area of expertise, build your boat to suit (OK the grain or livestock farmer may have a problem!) but most of us could do that- a lot of like minded people could 'raft up' quite well - if you get fed up of your place in the street, move up a couple of places, everybody then gets new neighbours without moving to much - just a thought that could be expanded - I get a feeling we've been this way before on these forums!

 

A more pratical solution would be to move to SE Alaska to one of the "floathouse bays".

Your house cannot be anchored to shore and you need a permit. It can go dry at low tide.

Plenty of food in the sea and on the land. Gardening is possible but maybe somewhat tough as it is a temperate rainforest. Low light levels, but plenty of water (170-220 inches a year).

Tim

 

Seriously, it doesnt matter if your own land or water... Someone wants to get in your business... Even in international water someone is always watching you. And everywhere you anchor somebody is upset about it or wants a piece of you... Crusing is not what it used to be...

 

Take your point Rus - even though I guess made with tonguge firmly in tusks. But it follows the original thought posed by JKittel - 'self-sufficiency'.
The croft, after all was - and on many islands - still is a self-sufficient 'unit'. A 'plot' designed to feed a 'man' and his family. A peat bog for fuel, a strip for potatoes, a cow for milk, and a handful of chickens, and variety for the diet coming from the sea.
By that definition my 'plot' is in fact a 'croft' - minus constant wind and rain, and to a certain extent fits the original 'ideal' - self-sufficiency. Note that 'self' is the crucial part of the theme. The thread has been somewhat 'lost' by other enthusiastic offerings of grandiose (but interesting) suggestions ranging from small empires - to floating communities. None of which, I suggest fits the 'self' concept, rather an unweildy and impractical continuation of current society - each member becoming a 'specialist' and producing a surplus to trade with others.
The limit to self-suffiency is set by available area and physical power able to produce the neccesities of life (often minus luxury). In short it is a step-back to the time-proven crofting system.
I am no 'Greenie' - nor a 'Domesdayer' - simply enjoying a style of life which was inherited at childhood. My family enjoy 'inexpensive' and fresh food - no longer available in shops and stores. My daughters have had their eyes opened to the practicality of 'recycling' and soil husbandry - lessons no longer taught in school or a society where 'disposable' materials are 'so easily' available.
We may not survive any eventual Armageddon - but we'll be among the last to go.

 

yes Max I agree but your old style croft and crofter still had a certain interdependance on others for the items which he either can not or will not produce! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) mankind is a 'herd' animal from the very concept of the weak two/four legged creature up to today! So does it not make more sense to have as much of the manufacturing process either at home or as close to home as possible? having to wait for that essential part for the thingummy machine to come in from the other side of the world before we can use it is not really what it's all about, is it?

 

Why would you want this vessel to drift in the middle of oceans, thousands
of miles away from any land.
Go and find a protected area among the hundreds of Greek and Turkish
islands on the Agean sea, and anchor permanently.
You can sail your little dinghy westwards a few miles to buy Ouzo, and
eastwards to buy Rakı.
If you can figure out how to make some ice,you are well and truly done with.

 

Seriously,

I added two solar panels, Solar water heater, inverter, more house batterys, LED lighting, air compressor, a more efficient freezer, a watermaker, a really small diesel generator, wi-fi, satellite. All with the idea of not needed to dock for any long periods of time. Also looking at wind power and Ham radio.

What am I missing...

 

Think about the basic law of the nature

 

Yep. Siddi spotted it right away....Sex....