The Microship Status Reports

Microship Status 12/29/93 by Steven K. Roberts

Special Issue
Microship Mission Statement

NOTE: Earlier this week, Robb Walker commented that I've never really defined the design objectives and intended uses of this boat. What follows is revision 1 of my response. There have been other developments in the control system and elsewhere, but we'll keep this short tonight...


Microship Mission Statement

The process of designing and building a complex system calls for consistent philosophical direction, a stable metric by which all decisions must ultimately be guided. This document is an attempt to summarize the design goals and intended application of the vessel.

Basic Objective

I'm entering my second decade of full-time "high-tech nomadness," which can be defined as open-ended wandering (this time in a primarily aquatic environment) while maintaining a stable home in Cyberspace. Internet and voice communication links must be unbreakable and global, with sufficient bandwidth to allow practical and low-cost continuous travel without adverse impact on the information flow necessary to keep business, publishing, and personal connections active. By implication, this calls for robust on-board power-generation resources, multiple propulsion modes, reliable embedded control systems, redundancy in computing resources, integrated system maintenance tools, a healthy spares inventory, and net connections to tech-support people... as well as traditional life support, navigation, safety, and general sailing equipment.

Constraints

o Full-time cruising requires significant living space on board and attention to large-scale provisioning -- forcing a certain minimum size for reasonable comfort and efficiency.
o A large, liveable boat sacrifices agility, shoal draft, ability to prowl tiny rivulets, and easy beaching.
o The logistics of visiting people are complex, since relatively few of my 5,000+ contacts, clients, and sponsors live along navigable waterways.
o Not all waterways are linked, and traditional boats end up stuck in single river/lake/coastal systems unless trailered between them.
o Seaworthiness is relative, and a vessel suited to ocean crossings is a far different breed from one intended for coastal waterways and rivers.
o I cannot assume I will always have a partner. The Microship must accommodate two comfortably, yet be capable of singlehanded operation.
o Gravity is a factor even on water, despite the lack of hills.
o Just "taking off in a boat" is too turnkey, too easy, and will not excite media, sponsors, or me.
o Electronic systems, human relationships, and complex mechanisms are all more likely to fail at sea.
o Building a boat is expensive.
o Kayak amas of limited buoyancy impose certain constraints on total weight, sail plan, mast height, and beam.
o There's transient glory in using inappropriate tools, but you can tell you're pushing a new frontier when ALL available tools are inappropriate. (thanks to Dave Berkstresser for that quote, which seems to fit here!)

Microship Design Goals

o Maximum autonomy in power generation, communications, information processing resources, maintainability, and mobility.
o Acceptable live-aboard accommodations, although far short of a normal yacht in scope. At a minimum, the Microship must sleep two comfortably, with up to two additional short-term guests in conditions calm enough to permit tent-bivouac on the solar arrays.
o Self-trailering ability, with deployable or attachable wheels and struts located to yield 10% tongue weight. No logistical support other than a rented tow vehicle should be required.
o Minimal draft, and a bottom that can withstand careful beaching.
o Good sailing performance, though not racing scale. Reliability is more important than getting that last .1 knot.
o Sail, solar, and pedal propulsion (with emergency power from batteries possible). Any power source (sun, wind/hydro, food) must be able to charge the batteries.
o Singlehanded sailing capability without undue stress on the captain.
o All resources on board under software control, with very robust distributed control system (including manual backups for critical life-support or safety systems such as lights, bilge pumps, and watermaker). Ship network accessable via remote login.
o A variety of data communication paths that can be selected on a cost/bandwidth trade-off basis.
o Detachable paddle- and pedal-powered kayak amas that are readily usable as dinghies, exploration craft, or survival pods. No other dink will be on board. When kayaks are deployed, there must be sufficient center hull stability to remain safely at anchor in moderate conditions.
o Foldable akas to yield 8' beam in trailer or compressed-berthing modes. Ideally, the aftmost akas should carry the landing gear assemblies.

Intended Use

The Microship is not intended for extended blue-water cruising, though every effort must be made to create a seaworthy vessel since we cannot anticipate wild ideas that may occur years from now. The basic plan, however, emphasizes coastal travel, rivers, ICW, protected passages, and so on. Unlike a bicycle, I cannot hop off to deal with the countless details of daily life, so the Microship must accommodate cooking, washing, sleeping, and routine repairs as well as the more dramatic operations such as electronic mail, nomadic publishing, live maritime video, and integrated comm/nav. I expect, however, that stops and land interludes will be fairly frequent... the balance of heavy luxury and light agility should thus be tipped in favor of the latter (especially since so much of the weight budget is already dedicated to electronic systems).

-- Steven K. Roberts Nomadic Research Labs