Microship Projects - Invitation for Proposals

Call for Proposals: Microship
Fabrication Contracts Available!

Steven K. Roberts • Nomadic Research Labs • updated: March 23, 2006

Things are changing again here in the Microship lab... I'm in the process of acquiring a ship of live-aboard scale. This moves the micro-trimaran to the back burner again, at least until the new substrate is stabilized.

(all links open in a new window)

Introductory Comments

If you have been following this project over the years, you know that it has taken far longer than predicted: not only did numerous conceptual changes delay the actual start of progress in the present direction until 1997, but various subsystems (most notably the landing gear) ended up gobbling vastly more time and money than planned. To make matters worse, immediately after a successful 2-week mini-expedition in 2001, I underwent an extremely disruptive relationship change that ended up, directly or indirectly, stalling the project for years. By the time I started getting excited about adventure again, the massive undertaking that once involved over 100 corporate sponsors and countless volunteers had become cloaked in a layer of dust (and not just figuratively).

I did manage to scratch the nautical itch with a bit of geek kayaking and started building a pack-scale communication system called Shacktopus, but the Microship adventure had essentially been sidelined... and when I returned to the old homestead in Kentucky in mid-2005 to deal with the death of my father, amphibian pedal/solar/sail micro-trimarans seemed to recede even further into the mists of time. I was really starting to wonder if I would ever return to the grand nautical obsession that had once inspired a 3000 square-foot building, a self-published book, this very website, and a whole range of relationships with creative geeks who shared the technomadic dream. So, was that to be it then? More than a decade of my life, lost to a quixotic dead-end project?

Well. I am happy to report that things aren't that grim after all.

The concept has fundamentally changed, though. As I've grown older (53 now? Yikes...), I have slowly become less enamored with the idea of spending two or three years sleeping in the coffin-like confines of an uninsulated canoe hull, wrestling a 750-pound machine up muddy beaches, and dragging out a campstove buried deep in a pile of packs to warm my tired bones with a can of glopola. Although that is entirely consistent with the flavor of my previous bicycle nomadness, I'm no longer quite as interested in roughing it on an extended basis (especially when traveling as a couple means that two uncomfortable people can't even cuddle at night without hauling out and pitching a tent). Maybe a few weeks at a time while exploring an amazing area, but somehow it's just not as alluring a full-time lifestyle as it was when this project began.

But despite all that, I really do love the Microship... my little escape pod named Wordplay:

Microship docked at Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island, Washington

This sweet little vessel is light on her feet and swift under sail, cruises 3 knots under pedal power and an expected 4-5 knots in solar mode, feels agile and sleek like something out of Star Trek, maneuvers beautifully in tight quarters, glides over thin water like a kayak, rolls down the road with wings retracted and landing gear deployed, turns heads wherever she goes, and pushes my geek buttons like nothing else I've ever known. Every moment on the water with her is an adventure, and we have many miles yet to travel together.

What sounds like a contradiction, however, is anything but... for there is a new component in the adventure. I haven't chosen the specific vessel yet, but I have made the decision to move aboard a boat of proper world-voyaging scale (and am even selling the house and lab on Camano Island in order to make the transition both economically and logistically feasible). It is not yet certain that she will be able to accommodate the stowage of Wordplay while underway, provide floating "dockage" while moored, and allow reasonably painless launching and retrieval. But that's our hope...

The net effect of this new scheme is that all of a sudden my little boatlet moves back into the foreground as a defining component of my next technomadic system. She will support mini-expeditions, launched from the mothership, infinitely more interesting than the typical rigid inflatable "dink" with its smelly outboard and tubby hydrodynamic form (though we'll need one of those too, of course, for purely utilitarian reasons).

The implications of this are rather profound, at least from the perspective of the Microship project: it is flickering back to life! And that leads us to the reason for this page.

Help Wanted!

In the early days of this project, it was all accomplished on a shoestring. I got occasional bursts of cash through the90s from speaking gigs with BEHEMOTH, but for the most part I operated hand-to-mouth... managing R&D with the help of sponsors, volunteers, dumpster-diving, schmoozing, scrounging, and the general creativity that comes from not having any choice in the matter. That got us amazingly far, but things are different now. For one thing, the economy has changed, with a general belt-tightening across industry that would have been unimaginable during the dotcom boom: the sponsorship quest is much harder. Besides, it would take many months to ramp up the level of "buzz" that we maintained in the early days of the project and there's no time to waste; I want to get this ship done so I can shut down the lab in the woods and move to the new nautical substrate. This all translates into the very unfamiliar situation of being willing to pay in order to get a variety of sub-projects completed more or less simultaneously.

I'm open to a variety of compensation terms including contracted amounts defined by the job, day rates where appropriate, and my favorite... barter (lots of geek goodies here, as well as shop equipment, nautical goodies, parts inventory, and more).

Each project section below includes a description of the general problem, a photo or two, comments on how I would go about it (which in most cases is not cast in stone), and an estimate of the materials and skills required. If you have the ability and want to discuss taking something on, then please contact me. In some cases, the work will have to be completed here on Camano Island for obvious reasons; in others, it may be possible to do it remotely and only get together for initial discussion and system integration. In all cases (except where noted, like mothership integration), I'm ready to proceed immediately.

Note added Mar 23, 2006: The foregoing commentary notwithstanding, I am now working on acquisition of the new ship... a process that is all-consuming. All of the following still applies, but we need to keep the pause button depressed a bit longer.

The Microship Project Catalog

1. Solar Substrate Retrofit

Objective: Build new folding solar array with aluminum and stiffening ribs (four pairs of hinged panels). Fixtures must mate with rails and pins on center hull, as well as new mounting fixture on outer hulls. Include cable routing and provision for nesting when not in use.

Skills Needed: aluminum fab, TIG welding, basic machining, structural design.

Project Stages: on-site planning, build prototype panel (1 of 8), loading tests, fab remaining units, test integration with boat, anodize/seal, add hinges and fixtures, harvest PV modules & bond to new substrate, test.

Discussion

This one is painful for me to contemplate, and it results from failing to observe one of the cardinal rules of engineering: If you go Googling for results to support your clever idea, a lack of search results does not necessarily mean that you are the first person to think of it. It may actually mean that everybody else already knows it's the wrong approach.

In our case, we needed to build substrates for the custom photovoltaic modules that were provided by Solarex without the usual aluminum backing; the idea was to avoid this extra weight and provide our own specialized support structure. Considerable engineering went into this, and we ended up with a vacuum-bagged sandwich on 1" Divinycell foam core scaled to support body weight, with the top skin encapsulated by fiberglass on both sides to prevent local deformation in response to point-loading. There's extensive structural detailing in this system, including internal wiring channels, sealed connector bays, receivers for the locating pins on the gunwales and locking rods for same, and lockdown fixtures for the ama ends. The only problem is that we got bitten by one little gotcha... the 1" foam core is such an effective thermal insulator that the modules get too hot in operation, derating their output considerably and stressing the adhesives to the point of potential delamination.

The obvious solution (other than keeping them out of the sun) is to take a router, remove the back skin and entire foam core, then bond in a simple open "egg-carton" structure of 4mm okoume plywood to handle body weight while allowing some air ventilation to the back of the top skin (4mm ply sheathed in 6-oz fiberglass). I'm still kind of open to this, but have really begun to prefer an all-aluminum approach that would be even better at venting heat, integrate more smoothly with the hull than the existing 1.25-inch-thick boxy panels, stack tighter when not in use (interleaving the stiffening channels), and generally be prettier...

Corner of an existing solar panel, a vacuum-bagged structure of foam core, wood rails, and okoume plywood skins

Solar connector nacelle and mounting pin receiver

As you can see from the detail photos, the original units are not completed. In the bottom picture, wires for the two mounted 30-watt modules on one appoximately 2x4-foot panel emerge from their internal channels at a connector nacelle, adjacent to which is an embedded stainless receiver for a tapered fixturing pin emerging from the ship's mounting rail. The new design must integrate with this, although wiring and fixturing will be much easier as it will all be open-frame.

This is a critically important component in the Microship, and must be beautiful as well as functional. It also integrates closely with the next project, and they will hopefully be done by the same person or team...

2. Solar Array Outboard Mounting

Objective: Conjure a mounting system for the outer edges of the solar array. This is considerably complicated by the fact that the outer hull (ama) moves vertically and twists around the athwartship axis when underway.

Skills Needed: Structural engineering, a very good imagination, minor fiberglass, and close interaction with Project #1.

Project Stages: Brainstorm with solar retrofit team, consider existing design shown at right, deal with shock absorption and twist, fabricate and mount hardware, integrate with new solar substrate, test on-water.

Discussion

This little problem was left in the TBDWL category (To Be Dealt With Later), and unfortunately, it is now later. Supporting the outer edges of the solar array would be trivial were it not for the fact that the outer hulls dance all over the place (vertically) while under sail: the akas (A.K.A. crossbeams) are quite flexible in this axis and the result is many inches of deflection on a beam reach. It is thus not enough to just nail down stiff solar panels that don't twist; the result would be catastrophic damage. Essentially, we have to assume that the solar array pivots vertically around the long axis of its inboard end (parallel with boat centerline), support it at the outboard end with something flexible, accommodate the need to open the inner two panels along hinge lines with the outer two without having to leave the cockpit, and accept body weight under either static or dynamic conditions.

The photo above shows the start of my own solution to the problem: a stainless rail that is adjusted to be nominally parallel to the inboard axis. This would carry cushions to soften the clunking underway, and the panels would be held down under bungee tension and fully expected to "scissor" as the ama twists. Whether this is sufficient, I don't know. It may be better to incorporate a full-length rail that follows the panels, and support that at two points with something like gas springs. Whatever the solution, weight minimization and serviceability are critical. The only accessible hard points on the ama are at the aka nests such as the one at the foreground in the photo; anything midway will require major fiberglass work and should be avoided.

3. New Crankset for Pedal Drive System

Objective: Replace rusty temporary crankset with an all-stainless model that includes quick-release assembly.

Skills Needed: Mechanical engineering, machining, stainless fabrication and welding, human-powered vehicle design.

Project Stages: Design new interface to 5/8" Spinfin input shaft, conjure or find quick-release components with adequate torque capability, use existing template to fixture stainless tubing, build pedals with split bearings for serviceability, fabricate unit, integrate with boat, test on water

Discussion

The current crankset shown in the photo (built by Andrew Letton) actually works very well, with surprisingly low friction on the brass plain pedal bearings. But it was never intended to be permanent, and was fabricated of Cr-Mo bicycle tubing... which of course can't be kept from rusting in the marine environment (especially where we need bare metal, at the ends). Currently, the left end is supported by a roller bearing in a pivoting delrin nest, and the right end is coupled via Trantorque to the Spinfin pedal drive unit made by Bob Stuart.

The biggest headache with all this is the use of a Trantorque in this application, which requires moderately frequent removal for sleeping in the hull. Actually, my new Microship operating mode will require this less often than originally planned, but I don't want to design-out something so fundamental from a survival perspective. The bottom line is that the cranks do have to be removable, but it's OK if it takes a couple of minutes. Still, the current system, especially with rusty tubing, involves wailing away with a large wrench, pounding to the side, frequent oiling, and so on.

When there were two Microships, the second one was the lucky recipient of a stainless crankset, though it installed with a fiddly arrangement of setscrews on loosely coupled hex shafts, allowing lots of room for alignment tweaking:

Stainless-steel crankset with very temporary kluge pedals

Depending on what ultimately happens to that boat and whether it is worthwhile to keep this crankset and the corresponding Seacycle drive, we could potentially sell the latter and harvest the former for use on Wordplay... though the fixturing at the ends would need to be re-considered and new pedals obviously fabricated. Still, it could represent a significant time savings, and may be the best approach unless the effort to retrofit it begins to approach the level of making a new one from scratch. (By the way, if we do decide to harvest this and the person doing the project is a human-powered boat aficionado, the Seacycle drive may be available as barter for the job.)

Associated with the crank project is a general spiffing-up of the drive unit installation, mostly in the domain of overall sealing and the deployment apparatus that is currently a bit on the fragile side. The Spinfin itself is a wonderful unit, with which I can maintain 3 knots at a relaxed all-day pace, or sprint at 4 knots aided by the adrenaline boost that comes from crossing a shipping lane:

Spinfin pedal drive unit mounted on Microship starboard side, using 13" model-airplane propeller driven at 10X the input crank speed. Unit is deployed and retracted via a lever inside the hull that incorporates a kick-up mechanism to protect the hardware in a grounding.

4. Dodger Upgrades & Refinements

Objective: Improve overall shape of forward section to increase head clearance, add new side windows, fix sealing issues along solar array and aka nests.

Skills Needed: Fabrics wizardry, possible hard dodger fabrication, sealants, general nautical awareness.

Project Stages: Examine human interface, design and mock up new forward section, interactively sew and test components (culminating in sea trial).

Discussion

The existing fabric dodger was designed and sewn by Mary Setzer, and is a work of art. The interface to the arch and deck surfaces is via continuous glassed-in track and welting, and at the front it is a tunnel over the windshield frame. All Sunbrella and related components were provided by Sailrite, a great outfit that has just about everything for projects like this.

What has to happen here is a collection of small "finishing" jobs, replacement of corroded metal zipper cars, a few sealing issues that mostly affect quality of life while sleeping aboard in the rain, new side windows (which are currently fiddly and hard to use), and... most interestingly... an improved convex shape over the main cockpit. At the moment, it just brushes my head, and I've been thinking of something with a bit more stiffness. Given the shape of the fore and aft structures between which the fabric is tensioned, this will call for a new approach; I am open to more rigid materials, sewn-in battens, or other alternatives as long as it can be opened fully on a nice day.

5. Hatch Hinge & Latch Retrofit

Objective: Hinge existing hatch covers and incorporate a remote locking mechanism.

Skills needed: Fiberglass (foam core) fabrication and a good mechanical design sense.

Project Stages: Study existing hatches and potential range of motion, design internal hinging system, develop remote-release latch, fabricate, and test waterproofing and tamper-resistance.

Discussion

The existing hatch design is described in considerable detail in my Microship Substrate article - please scroll down to the general vicinity of Figure 11 and go from there. I won't repeat that material here except to summarize: loose hatch covers are a pain when you have your hands full and are balancing on a tiny foredeck; this is one of those things that was enough of an ongoing nuisance during the mini-expedition that it has become a priority. The hatch in the photo above has plenty of room to swing if the hinge is on the forward edge; the rear will be limited by the aft slope of the dodger, but under most conditions it will not be a problem if a method can be devised to prop it open. Note that the design must accommodate enough adjustability to keep the sealing gasket level with the coaming.

6. Mast Tabernacle and Rigging Tweaks

Objective: Solving the most annoying problem with the current rig: the difficulty of stepping and unstepping the mast (especially on the water). There are numerous possible approaches here, complicated by the fact that the mast has to be free to rotate for furling. One approach is to build in a very strong lockable hinge just below the gooseneck; another is to mount an A-frame on the deck that loosely captures the mast in a hinged collar to support it during lifting.

Skills Needed: Rigging, good nautical design sense, machining, possibly fiberglass.

Project Stages: Observe current mast-stepping process, determine range of motion and structural constraints, design tabernacle or hinging system, fabricate, test on land, sea-trial.

Discussion

This is a potentially difficult project; the stresses on a freestanding mast can be extremely high, and this aluminum tube flexes quite a bit when in fiesty conditions. It is conceivable that the best approach is a removable or hinged fixture that does not interfere with the current rig, but instead pops into place to constrain the motion when it is lifted out of its teflon-anodized step and laid over onto the arch (serving then as a crutch to keep the forward end off the deck). This doesn't sound quite right, however, so what really needs to happen is for us to move the ship outside, surround her with some nice stable scaffolding to make tinkering easy, and then experiment with the rig to see how to solve this problem. And it is a problem... I haven't fallen yet while rigging, but standing on the bow on a windy day trying to poke a 21-foot mast and boom assembly into a tube between my feet is an accident waiting to happen.

While we're working in this department, I should note that I am not completely convinced the current rig is the best solution. Overall balance is good under average conditions, with the centers of effort and lateral resistance more or less where they belong. In a serious blow, however, the freestanding mast bends quite a bit, moving the CE aft enough to create too much weather helm... whereupon I have to fight the rudder to avoid rounding up and flogging. While this beats the opposite problem (it depowers when overloaded, which is good), I would prefer a better balance in all conditions... the kind that would come from a stiffer mast or even a stayed rig (though not depending on the amas, of course, the crossbeams are way too flexible for that). I am open to a re-design from the deck up if a good solution is available with mostly off-the-shelf components. For reference, the current hardware is a mostly-stock WindRider 14 rig, vertically battened, medium roach, about 93 square feet. I have added a proper vang (the green line in the photo), replaced the dinky stock outhaul (red), and added a double furling drum allows sail control from the cockpit... on a boat this size, there are no "foredeck monkeys" to take care of reefs and sail changes; it all has to be controllable from where I sit.

7. Power Management & Thruster

Objective: Complete the integration and testing of power system, including electric thruster refinement

Skills Needed: Microcontrollers, PWM circuit design, power management, propulsion systems

Project Stages: Set up existing peak power tracker & thruster control system (at right), test with solar array, integrate with simplified ship power system, change thruster prop, perform sea trials.

Discussion

This is a key system in the Microship, and is now more stand-alone than originally planned since the full suite of graphic and remote control tools are no longer required in the boatlet's new role (although there will of course be telemetry to the mothership as well as an embedded sensing and tracking system). The power management box in the photo was designed by Tim Nolan and not yet tested beyond the bench, and this project is basically to complete the integration with real power, thruster, and user-interface hardware. It consists of an 8-channel peak-power tracker that optimizes power transfer from the 480-watt photovoltaic array (with each pair of 60-watt channels handled by a PIC '877), a battery-management subsystem that uses the four shunts at the lower right for current sensing, thruster-control software that automatically allocates surplus solar energy to propulsion except in emergencies, and the PWM controller for the Minn-Kota thruster itself. Not shown in the photo is an external box devoted to a large LCD that provides a real-time display of all activity... and there is a small set of user-interface controls that also includes thruster angle. This project includes a new main battery, a better shore-power charger than the cheesy one I have now that draws 35mA from the battery when not plugged into AC (!), and a control panel dedicated to this critical subsystem.

All this needs to be properly integrated into this ship, and tested with a new higher-performance prop:

Deployable electric thruster with original default prop

This draws about 32 amps at full-bore, and with a prop better impedance-matched to the boat is expected to move us at 4-5 knots under optimum conditions. This should be achievable directly from solar input on a clear cool day with high-angle sun. In the photo, the thruster tube is captured at its high end on the other side of the arch; deployment from the cockpit is a simple matter of releasing this and letting it swing down until the steering motor latches in the rear of the cage. Use of this for Microship directional control is secondary to the rudder, of course, but gives us additional autopilot options.

More to come....