land and sea yacht

This is my latest iteration of a concept for an affordable land and sea yacht for off grid living .It requires an electric SUV .If you are short on time I should warn you that the he video is about four minutes long http://youtu.be/uT6aqNXsBTY

I built a one quarter sized scale model with a wind surfing rig that sails and
works well mechanically . I think with today's commercially available products and materials it could be built light enough for about $ 85,000.00 (sans labour) . Of course I am never right about costs and have never managed to build anything on budget. In this case I should probably double that . On the other hand while the efficiencies of batteries and solar panels are getting better the costs are getting lower. Not only that ,the move to electric vehicles( cars, SUVs bikes skateboards, and just about anything you can put a motor on) along with the threat of impending climate warming legislation( global warming, fact or fiction, it does`t matter. legislation is coming),will provide financial motivation for more companies to get on the green bandwagon. I don`t imagine that Ford is to happy that Tesla has announced that once its mega battery plant is on line in 2017 it plans to sell more of it`s new economy model than all the models Ford sells in the US. Tesla BMW Mercedes and Volkswagen are all working on electric cars and SUVs as well as bicycles and solar charging stations. Harley Davidson`s latest creation is electric. Mercedes even has a concept hybrid SUV with a solar and wind paint.

At any rate I think that the technologies materials and products that are needed to make this concept work are already available and that in the near future economies of scale will dictate that costs will come down rather than go up.

I designed the accommodation pod as a drop in module because I am doubtful that I can come up with the money to build the whole package but maybe I have enough to build a bare bones full sized prototype for initial testing. Using the module as a flat packed stand alone off grid self contained two bedroom bungalow, or as a component of an off grid house or resort, was an afterthought.

Constructive criticism appreciated.

 

You have had a lot of fun on the computer, haven't you Its good that this design has a very clear purpose.

IMHO the exercise of developing sea and land based designs is a very useful exercise. This design is sure to be inspirational, however, there are some issues that occur to me.

1) The concept of an unbalanced Trimaran is great if you are short a coconut log or two on a Pacific island, but completely unnecessary in a modern boat. The extra build complexity, engineering and complication for folding are big 'downers'. You might like to collaborate with the worlds number one commercial Proa designer to develop the most efficient solution http://www.harryproa.com/

2) There is a huge engineering gap to get over. Right from the hinged main hull through to all those magical sliding components that would buckle if you built them from paper, let alone heavier material. Its a shame weight and gravity effects cant be 'built in' to animation software. The other thing you would need to check is the duty cycles, as I spotted many 'moving things' that would potentially wear out very quickly, especially in a marine environment.


I suspect that with more time and thought, the whole concept could be greatly simplified, ruggedized and actually engineered to be a useful design.

For now, the most efficient land to water multi hull sailing craft for further inspiration - ( it has the inbuilt wheels your machine desperately needs instead of an expensive custom built trailer )