Man Made Floating Island Project

Syndicate replies to “Man Made Floating Island Project” topic Tue, 05/13/2008 - 21:04 — Solid_Choke

This project used plastic bottles to keep the island floating. Picture and videos can be found here.

‹ Sea Waves&Wind Power – Floating Island - Cooperation Building a nation at or near the Equator... ›

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Wed, 05/14/2008 - 14:37 — thebastidge

I've seen this plastic

I've seen this plastic bottle platform concept in several places, and for some reason it really turns me off. It seems very cheezy to me: like "look what the rednecks did in their yard" kind of cheezy. I know the plastic bottles are being used for something at least marginally useful where they might otherwise be a nuisance, but it doens't seem to be anything that would attract anyone to a lifestyle upon the sea, the lifespan of a plastic bottle as a flotation device, the possibilities for disintegration that spring to mind befoe on even examines the duct tape engineering that put this together- it's more of a curiosity than anything practical, I suppose, and should be taken for what it's worth. But when I contemplate moving onto the water, this is NOT something I would ever consider, and if it were my first exposue, it might turn me off completely. (And yes, I am taking into account that any publicity is usually good publicity, and everyone is a shiny, unique snowflake.)

Thu, 05/15/2008 - 09:26 — Jesrad

Low tech, low cost, bootstrappable ?

I'd rather think of this as a low tech, low cost bootstrap step leading to baysteads. The guy organises tours already, so the novelty aspect and tourism prospects could help finance further extension, including higher-tech modifications.

Also, maybe this kind of structure can be built cheaply enough that it reaches, from the very start, a size that would make floating wavebreakers better suited, and pillars/spars unnecessary.

(I'm picturing of a 500x500 meters sand and rocks base covered in lush vegetation, with a few domed houses in the middle next to a helipad, encircled by an artificial floating reef where coral and other barnacles would nest freely. Now THAT would help the cause, wouldn't it ?)

Wed, 06/11/2008 - 21:12 — Lord_Scorpio1969

"an artificial floating reef...nest freely."

Great idea about the floating reef with coral and barnacles but we'd have to keep a really close eye on it as it would grow heavier and heavier with more and more growth of the coaral and barnacles.  Whales have been known to have drowned due to the weight of barnacles alone growing on the large whales.  (I'll have to find the references again about the whales).

 

Thu, 06/12/2008 - 08:41 — Jesrad

Add bottles

The great thing is that you can add more buoyancy on the fly by immersing new bottles underneath. As the whole thing slowly gets heavier, simple maintenance would certainly include correcting the buoyancy.

Thu, 06/19/2008 - 12:39 — peters

An important factor seems to

An important factor seems to me the one already mentioned: structures made out of plastic bottles are silly.

That by itself does not mean they are useless. The island in question was carefully constructed, and made it through several storms (but it for sure wasn't constructed for High Seas). If there are wavebreakers, less important structures could be built on them, if it is worth it.

Seasteads are planned to have a large balast/flotation base below water, and that is where cheap plastic bottles could find another use - the air does not have to be closed in huge containers, instead fill up the bigger containers with bottles, and even a hole will not cause a complete loss of air.

And to come back to silliness... it can be very well used as a part of the image. It's just some harmless eco-freaks, building forts out of plastic bottles, you know? No need to bother with those.