Just for Fun, Design Yor Apocalypse Vessel

Lead is only about 10 times the density of Seawater, would you be safer in a 10' lead lined box or at 500 feet of seawater with steel pressure hull? (of course lead is toxic...) And if it were nuke powered, there would be heavy shielding around the reactors so we'd retire to the ancillary Bar and Pool below reactor #2 to get that little bit of extra protection while drinking our Apocogaritas (1.5 oz Sour Apple, 1.5 Sour Mix, 1.5 Tequila 0.5 Cointreau blended over crushed ice topped with Lime and a large helping of smugness ) .

Oh, gotta have a secret base underneath a volcano too

 

You know I completely forgot... We will need a still, and a brewery. And a brewmaster to handle the complex process of brewing top quality beer while at sea. I wonder if we need glass molds to make new bottles as well.

 

Humorously: imagines a flustered wife as she scans the shores littered with hostile mobs and confronts her husband, saying: "Honey, I'm starting to think he wasn't talking about lakes...."

 

A wind powered vessel would be by far the most efficient option but at some point you'll need to flee a horde of long bearded yellow toothed cannibals, & of course, on that particular day, there'll be no wind. So a wood fired steam engine would also be a must have item.

Let's face it, with the breakdown of society & the deaths of billions worldwide there'll be no shortage of trees!

Kidnapping Bear Grills might also be handy!

 

Though here's a idea that may even permit you to sneak one past the government in terms of being somewhat armed as well as armored and also while under construction: a replica (with modernized machinery and updated armor of course) of the CSS Virginia (lots more space to live in than the Monitor while remaining faithful to her very slow moving lines ... or you could improve on her underwater bits to give her a surprising, well, "surprising" for an ironclad, turn of speed).

The USS Monitor's topsides on a deeper draft boat to get the better accommodations could be cool too.

Not for a high speed bug out of course....

Either would make you the toast of Reinacters and the like.

 

This is a fun, mental exercise. I think a vital question about an apocalypse boat plan would be where are you going to operate. If you picked a large, natural, fresh water lake in a temperate zone, like Lake Nicaragua, you wouldn't have to worry about desalinization.

That said, if you chose a large fresh water lake in a less temperate zone and could figure out how to stay warm, your chances of not having to fend off other folks would be much better.

 

How about the Big E

A brewery now! You're going to need a large platform for all of your gear. Might I suggest the "Big E". Sleeps a few thousand and she's not quite to the scrapper. If you can get her power plants refueled your worries will be over. Of course you'll need all your uncles and cousins to keep her ship shape. I bet you could build quite a brewery in all that space. Think of the putt-putt course you could lay out on that massive flight deck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65)

 

Meh, an aircraft carrier is too big to man easily, and the large crew compliment requires too much food...

Btw I hate when I obsess over things like this.

But now I am thinking of a reconditioned typhoon class submarine, with next generation thorium reactors. Huge amounts of space... Plenty of room, and if you remove all the missle basy you could have a basket ball court as well.

 

The big problem is that the 'wilderness' option is virtually nonexistant.

Around the world, fish, animal and trees are so depleted that local people have trouble surviving with government benefits, so the lone survivor is going to have a tough time.

 

I have plenty of wallabies & possums - but I'm not the caring, sharing type... nor are my neighbours.

PDW

 

There was a link to a article about a super compact and efficient still for water production, by the Segway Inventor Dean Kamen.


http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/new-distillation-type-watermaker-slingshot-50992.html


Now, I wonder how easy it would be to modify one of those for a more civilised and humanitarian purpose - 'Slingshot' Hah, we need 'Shotglass' - the portable personal distillary Hic.

 

Build that better mousetrap in the States and the feds will beat a path to your door.

No seriously, ATF, all that.

Some States apparently require you to sell them your suds and then buy them back with their stamp affixed.

My sympathies are with are with those behind the Whisky Rebellion....

 

In the USA, more wilderness exists than populated land. 1000s of square miles of national and state forests, parklands, wildlife preserves, nearly uninhabited deserts and swamps.
also great tracks f commercial timberland and huge agribusiness farms.

if society collapsed ? These lands are usable. The government is gone. Police don't exist. Corporations are extinct. Defend yourself and maintain low profile. Hide.

A small submarine capable of wetlands voyaging might be just the thing. Deep water isn't the norm but pockets exist to submerge in.
Next best, small easy to camoflage trailer sailor.

Most of US population lives in big crowded cities.
They usually don't have the wilderness skills to survive even if they COULD escape the cities.
Unfortunate, but you can effectively eliminate them as competition for wilderness hiding places.
Most of the elderly are also ill equipped due to health, to survive.

And if the USA still seemed crowded? Canada has plenty of uninhabited locations.

 

To understand even better, if we moved ALL the world population to the USA and put them in ONE city, there would still be room for outdoorsmen. different cities have different densities, so here are what those ONE cities might look like.

Over populated world? IMHO no.
Overcrowded with too many chicken littles crying the sky is falling, yes.

 

Those Canadians enforce THEIR southern border....