Priorities

A significant element of naval architecture is artful compromise as the number of conflicting factors in a vessel is significant. Before defining the specific features it is important to choose carefully the fundamental principles guiding all the decisions. Here they are, listed [not completely] in [imperfect] order of priority:

• Safety: When deciding between competing concepts or benefits the one that provides the highest level of safety has been chosen.
• Efficiency: When deciding between competing concepts or benefits the one that provides the best energy efficiency has been chosen.
• Simplicity: When deciding between competing concepts or benefits the one that provides the simples construction, simplest maintenance, and simplest operation has been chosen.

Construction requirements

• Sheathed-strip construction. You can read about the advantages of this method here.
• Use of common materials and tools. Most tools can be purchased used or at the local hardware store. All the wood can be purchased at the local lumberyard. All epoxi and fibers must be ordered from Gurgeon Brothers (West System). There are no exotic materials. Some tooling and equipment must be built in the construction site but nothing that an amateur cannot build just by following the instructions on this site.
• Construction may be performed outdoors. It is advisable to set up proper cover to protect the work against rain, and one must keep an eye on the temperature and humidity levels to time the process correctly. Epoxi and some other materials have temperature tolerances that must be observed. Yet, being able to work outdoors, surrounded by trees is a luxury that outweights the drawbacks of not having fixed a roof.

Design requirements

Layout

• Exploration boat: The ability for a sailboat to master the open ocean is much like the ability of an SUV to go off-road. It may be a rarely used capability, but it is nonetheless fundamental. She must be seaworthy enough to serve as an exploration boat.
• Pilothouse: To allow sailing both in warm or cold weather, she must be both well insulated and well ventilated, to protect her crew from the weather in any climate and season, both warm and cold. Inspired by the designs of sailboats used in Antarctic expeditions, the layout will have a cockpit and pilothouse.
• Minimum draft: Draft not greater than 3 feet. That will allow to enter estuaries, up and down rivers, canals and bays normally not accessible to boats of this size.
• Beaching: A hull capable of settling upright on the beach or dry land.
• Modest air draft: Without a mast the air draft will be low enough to allow passage under bridges and obstacles.
• Copper anti-fouling: A fair and clean hull is paramount for a more energy efficient operation. It is possible to have a hull free of fouling by the use of a cold-spray metalizing process to apply copper to the surfaces below water line. Copper is a natural antifouling and has been used with that purpose for hundreds of years. This system eliminates the need to dry-dock or diving for hull scrapping for years.

Propulsion

• Power plant: Fractional distillation pyrolysis plant. The boat will carry a compact system to convert plastics into fuel, both gas and diesel. The gas is used to run generators that run the motors (propulsion) and diesel oil for later use (storage). The power plant must be able to perform two distinct functions: Refining and gasification. Refining is the process of conversion of plastic to diesel and gas, while gasification is a more specific process of converting diesel into gas.
• Primary propulsion: Diesel-electric hybrid. Expressed in modern automotive terms that means electric propulsion with diesel range extender. The boat must be capable of sailing short distances on battery power only. Longer distances will requiring activating the power plant for extra energy.
• Auxiliary propulsion: Kite propulsion system. A single or double kite system where self-steering kites, performing maneuvers to maximize lift, help propel the boat downwind and on a beam reach.

Energy

• Solar panels: The purpose of the solar panels is to keep the battery bank topped off and supply power for house loads while on anchor. Instead of a regular bimini, install a cover from about the end of the pilothouse to the transom. Fabric covers may be installed on either side to give further protection from the sun. The same structure also allows the deployment of a moskito net.
• Batteries: Battery banks must be installed in waterproof compartments and immersed in cooling fluid.
• Thermal insulation: All sides of the hull shall be lined with 10mm Pyrogel blankets to obtain great insulation value without taking much space. The spaces between the hull sides and the outer layer of the integral tanks must be filled with cellulose insulation to avoid freezing of water inside the tanks and reducing the need for heating up the water. Small spaces and gaps shall be filled with small cut sizes of cell foam insulation. Some very specific situations may call for the use of spray-in foam. The aerogel blankets are favored by their fire retardant properties and narrow profile.

Safety

• Watertight bulkheads and doors: The bulkheads between the front lazarette and the fore stateroon, as well as the bulkhead between that stateroom and the section aft of it, and the bulkhead between the pandemonium room and the saloon, must be watertight bulkheads. Any doors through them must be watertight doors as well.
• Life rails: Made with stanless steel 3/4" tubes, each rail segment is 60" and 30" tall. Each rail is kept in place with a clevis pin and segments may be removed temporarily for maintenance, loading of cargo, etc.
• The hull itself, by containing so many honeycomb panels, carries so many air pockets that it would float even if flooded. She must contain enough flotation volume to maintain positive buoyancy even when flooded and self-righting even when holed and swamped. All water tanks may be emptied by pumps or manually to increase flotation.
• As much as possible all electric systems from switches to controllers, must be installed as far up above the water line as possible. As much as possible all hydraulic systems must be installed below the soles and right above the tanks. Also, those systems must be installed longitudinally under the panels, soles or covers that make it the most convenient to service those systems.
• Place all the through hulls in the pandemonium room area, enclosed in a chest that goes up to above the water line. They will be at the most convenient location to inspect and service, and where the impact of a failure would be the least.

Redundancy

• Just as an escalator cannot fail: It just becomes stairs; a wind-powered boat with electric auxiliary propulsion also does not fail: it just keeps sailing. Sailing boats have been navigating the seas, without auxiliary power, for centuries. Over time there has evolved a body of knowledge about weather patterns, seasons, and routes. Sailors sail where the wind is regular. One will avoid the doldrums and choose a route that is likely to have sufficient wind to get them to the destination even if it involves a circuitous route. Since its inception thist project mutated from a sailboat with diesel auxiliary to a sailboat with diesel-electric auxiliary, and not to being a powerboat (diesel-electric) with kite sail auxiliary. Still the same principle applies. Wind is an important component of propulsion in long distances, while diesel-electric is the choice in medium length passages, and just electric in short distances.
• While in most modern yachts many systems are electric or hydraulic with the option to operate them manually in case something fails, in this design all the systems are manual, with electric backup. Except for bilge pumps and some other systems that must work automatically, and for the windlass which is not practical to operate primarily by human power. That is a fundamental decision that affects everything from the design all the way to the operation of each system.
• Water desalinization: Primary system performs desalinization by condensation. The backup is an electric water maker. However those systems are to be used only when the collection of rain water hasn't been enough for the demand.
• Two RDP (Rim Drive Propeller) systems with electric motors for propulsion. They do not require cooling and have great advantages for being unlikely to foul by lose lines or debree.
• Steering wheel is connected to the rudder mecanism (and RDPs) by unassisted hydraulic steering. In case of malfunction a tiller can me operated from the deck. The rudder is connected to the RDMs by direct mecanism independent of the steering system.
• Portable GPS, navigation with chartplotter (iPad?) and VHF radio kept in a faraday box for use in case of complete electric failure due to lightning strike.
• Batteries for portable electronics must be interchangeable when possible. The more commonality between battery sistems the better.

Comfort

• Wide gangplank: Stowed in a storage space on the deck, near the transom, the gangplank must be a single piece, with attachments for rails, and articulated connector to the top of the transom. A flexible line connected to the arch can be used to keep the gangplank slightly above the pier so to not touch it. It's construction must be in aluminum on the edges and honeycomb panels or wood in the middle. There must be a way to deploy this gangplank from the bow as well.
• Sink in the pilothouse: A small sink in the pilothouse and an icebox embedded in the counter on the starboard side will save many trips down to the galley when serving guests in the cockpit.
• House amenities: Speaker systems in each stateroom as well as safes for valuables.
• Headroom: Even with the curved soles the internal clearance should be between 6' and 6'6" across the entire interior of the boat.
• No windshield wipers: Pilothouse windows cleaned thorougly inside and out to remove all dirt and oils, then outside trated with Rain-X. A simple ultrasound transducer mounted on each window can generate the vibration necessary to keep all the water out of the surface eliminating the need for windshield wipers. This system has no moving parts and consumes very little energy.

Software

• Inventory and stowage: Spare parts, supplies, and expendbles must be tracked with an app connected to the onboard server so it can help keep track of those items.
• Maintenance management: Registers all work done on the boat, service and/or maintenance, from installation of equipment during commissioning. Helps schedule preventive maintenance recommended by the manufacturer, based on time, miles, or hours of operation. Allows for stricter maintenance trigger limits predicated on experience. Keeps inventory of all the equipment installed, with their digitized user and service manuals, purchase and installation dates, documentation, serial numbers, servicing protocols and checklists.
• Operation log: With the usual information entered on the navigation logs, plus info on the energy consumption of all equipments, energy generation of each power source, the way the boat was used on each segment and the environment conditions, weather info, and all tank levels. That data will permit the fine-tuning of the systems to maximize the efficiency of the energy management.
• All the data must be stored in a server kept on board. The apps connect to this server via Wi-Fi and also remotely through the internet. Also, all data must be automatically backed up to a remote server any time there is free internet service.

Other features

• Anchor and chain: The anchors are to be placed on the sides, near the second bulkhead, in a somewhat vertical orientation. One windlass for each anchor, placed nearby. Although there are two slightly oversized anchors, by the way they are stored their center of gravity is not as high as it would be in the case of a bow-placed anchor. The chain is also stored very low in it's locker. There is only one chain and each end of it is attached to one of the anchors. The anchors must be of different kinds, for different purposes. The space where the chain and anchor raises up from the water and into the hull must have high-pressure sea-water nozzles that wash the chain as it comes up.