The end of the world is near....... what Yacht will you build?

i assume this poll ends just after the world does?

 

Seems to me now, after an hour of reading here, that if the seas rise, there will still be land. Looking at some maps, looks like we will have beach front property in Arkansas and Missouri .

So many variables I'd stay where I am and use the boat to "get away" as necessary and return if possible, or hit land as needed, so I'll go with those thinking of a smaller craft, under 30' and a mono, beachable and easily towed, may not be concerned with towing regulations at that time.

Look at the flooding in La. there were mandatory evacuations, will you be allowed to tow a boat with the expected traffic jams, thinking time is of the essence and slower traffic may prevent those behind from getting out? I don't know, but I could see roads being restricted, to necessary supply vehicles as well. I guess if you're on the water already, getting there may not be an issue.

And what if they (remaining governments) began protecting shores with force? Keeping pirates and gangs away? If not governments, would the local populations take over and not allow you in? Look to some of the islands in BC where the natives control any landings on the islands....

I'd also think that no matter how well you might be armed, someone out there will have a bigger weapon, they could well have rockets, mortors or missles, such as rouge navies, armies or cartels.

And what about contamination in the water, oils, crude, nuclear, chemical plants, bodies of humans and animals.....not sure I'd want to swim in it or fish from it.

I'd say something smaller, that you could hide and island hop as necessary. Be nice if it could take a small motorcycle too! LOL

 

I would not be so worried about a "nuclear winter", that was a scare tactic cooked up by a lot of misinformed anti-war/anti-nuke activists 30 years ago. A number of studies were done by legitimate climatologists and defense specialists, they found that even in a worst case scenario, despite the lack of civil defense planning, 95-97 percent of the population will survive. there will little residual nuke radiation since modern weapons are more clean than the activists claim. The weather will only be slightly affected for one season. the real danger comes from the lack of preparedness in high population density areas, where you can have 1-8 million people with no way to get out, no sewer, no water nor power, and only about 3-7 days worth of food in the local markets. that is why I choose not to live in such an area. If you plan to evacuate by boat, better get to the marina before the other million plus people think of taking your boat from you. You will have no time to pack or stock it, you must get to it and get out before everyone else. Good luck with that.

 

I would tend to agree with you about 'nuclear winter', but '95 to 97% survival rate?

I don't think so.

Modern nuclear weapons are MIRVed, meaning they have multiple warheads.

This means that, instead of having one large warhead, you have several smaller ones with a typical yield of around 175 kilotons (about ten times the yield of the Nagasaki bomb). These are typically scattered to act as giant cluster bombs, to get around the square/cube effect (the blast moving equally in three dimensions, where the target is mostly two dimensional).

So, in a real superpower nuclear exchange, there will be lots of warheads scattered over a wide area. This would do a good job of taking care of suburbs. Most of an urban/suburban area, such as the tri-county area in Michigan, where I live, would be burned black or brown, meaning firestorms and conflagrations everywhere, not to mention searing heat and brutal shock waves from the blasts themselves.

I would be more comfortable predicting that in urban/suburban areas, such as where most people live (95 to 98% by some estimates), at least 30% of them would be killed out right and another 30% would die of un-treated burns and other injuries within a week or so. Maybe 10% would be un-injured and the rest would be able to recover over time (if provided the resources to do so).

For the get away boat to be feasible, you would have to have inside information that the attack was coming and have time to provision and get out of Dodge.

Or you would have to be able to harvest food and fresh water from the sea and, therefore, need minimal provisions. The things to stock up would be boat care products, which would probably be unavailable after the attack, such as adhesives, caulk, and bottom paint.

Most likely, though, if you live in an urban/suburban area, you would be burned or crushed to death, or die a lingering death from injuries you managed to initially survive.

 

Gee...in a nuclear incident ten percent of the population would instantly die behind the wheel of their car ,on the auto route , when their gps chart plotter goes haywire and they drive into a ditch.

Planes falling out of the sky...train smash ups....

..... millions of stock market gamblers would jump out of windows after their Iphone dies and prohibits trading

Millions more would have heart attacks watching the mushroom cloud on TV.

Imagine the shopping trolley stampede fatalities at Walmart !! and Banks ...WHOA !!

 

Michael, I think I saw that movie!

I'd look at the situation, a boat may not be the answer. Let's assume a boat is the answer, then what?

Take to the high seas or gunkhole in remote areas using the boat as shelter and transport only when you need to move down stream?

I was kidding about the motorcycle!

 

The boat could be used to get to distant locations that are inaccessible by the vast majority of survivors.

The boat should have all or at least most of these properties:

1.) must be able to make progress upwind under sail alone (wind power will always be there, not so sure about fuel)
2.) must have decent carrying capacity of say 1000 lbs/person,
3.) should be simple and easy to maintain with crude tools, or be so robust it will last years with only slight maintenance (ferrocement, GRP, Aluminum, well coated steel, and of course wood),
4.) should be able to navigate shallow water and ground out between tides,
5.) should have some blue water capability, as blue water can act as further barrier for other survivors, and
6.) it should have an engine with enough fuel to last months with sparing use.

There should be equipment aboard such boat to extract food from the sea, as it may have to stay out there for a very long time.

 

Sharpii,

That is a much more reasonable approach. I would say the ideal situation is where you live and work close to where such a boat is available, and than have a "vacation" home in a remote area that can be reached within a day (or two at the most) of sailing or motoring said boat that has no other access except by water.

You would not need a very large boat for such a plan, the boat is only the means to reach your "survival home", which should be well stocked for long term self-sufficiency. This actually less costly and more viable than some of the suggestions here for large complex live aboard boats. Both the "vacation" home and the boat can be enjoyed any time, and both have useful functions in an emergency. After you use up your fuel supply a sail boat is still useful to gather food/fish/materails, explore the area, etc. Many have sailed around the world in relatively small sailboats without a motor, it would be hard to say they were "self sufficient" since they depended on restocking at each port of call.

There would be a lot to say for an all wood boat built using simple hand tools with minimal purchased items. If all the cleats, blocks and hardware was hand made and kept simple, you could replace/rebuild every part on the boat with locally available materials. Keep it small and simple and there will be much less maintenance. You would not want to live on such a boat, but it would be very useful for local trips to gather food or materials and it will not require fuel to operate. Add a couple of large canoes and you would be set.

 

Guess there are all kind of scenarios.

For instance if Homer Simpson spilled coffee on the nucleat powerplant control panel and the reactor began to glow, it would be nice to have a fast skiff , a full tank and a cooler of beer to make a quick getaway

 

I named my Myark folding barge inventions after Noah’s Ark because if the world did have flooding problems it can save lives and animals which I have used to save animals from flooded islands on a river.
No one else could have saved them

 

If the world was to flood the government could build and store amphibious barges that folded and stored in a minimum space ready to be towed to flooded regions such as caravan platforms or buses to rescue people.
I have designed many types and shapes of folding amphibious trailers including folding sailing catamaran that some with wind turbine propulsion and others with solar power as well powered by a car diverted to propellers or jet units.
I have thought of a movie script called “Myark” that shows the world flooding in most inland regions and the population used Myarks like wagon trains with all kinds of design shapes to travel as the land floods but is dangerous with anarchy as some humans started to eat other humans because of a shortage of food.
It’s a bit like the wild west wagon trains where they formed a circle with wagons or in this case Myarks to protect them self’s from invaders,

 

hahahahahaha

What an imagination If the world was to flood, we would be lucky to even have a government.

Most of the worlds economic centres like London, New York and quite a few others are in low lying areas. So are many of the docks that we rely on for vital industrial supplies.

The chaos to coal and other mineral shipments into japan, and electrical goods out after the last Tsunami. The same problems would occur worldwide if a big rise in sea levels occurred.

Little wagon trains of small barges would be the last thing on the todo list.

 

It’s idea is lke the movie Water World crossed with Mad Max so of course it’s a science fiction movie script like you said not a good situation so maybe people do eat people if no food, however in the Mississippi 19 years ago many would have welcomed a Myark especially loosing al their prized positions to water or theft.
Maybe the same as Katrina flood.
Let’s say the Mississippi flooded again would a Myark be any good stored in the back yard in a narrow space that could also be used for leisure or commercial reasons as well amphibious ventures.
The benefit Myark gives is to carry cargo also the towing car to head for dry land with ones valuables also one can save animals from drowning on several islands in the middle of river such as I saved in New Zealand and was the only that could do it.
The animals could not be made to swim across the river because they got snagged in the trees that lined the river banks and drown as the picture shows the trees in the back ground with the stock unloading on the flooded banks.

 

The larger stock I could not get up on barge because they are in deeper water also they had given up trying and stayed motionless so I went back to land and found some old stock crates and gas cut up to extend my ramps also drilling holes so water could sink the ramps.
The stock would still not move and I spent hours in the water pushing with a twist of the tail to get some life to move them which after time one step forward then another and after midnight finally got each one aboard.

 

I would love to buy properly engineered plans for a 'MyArk'