Fantasy Boat Design

[davidpm]

A couple of the scariest risks for cruisers because of the lack of full-proof solutions is storm damage and pirate attack.
My fantasy solution to solve both of those problems is a submersible sailboat. At one foot the water pressure is about 15 PSI at one-hundred feet the pressure is about 58 PSI. It seem like a steel hull could be designed to handle that. Finding enough flood-able space is a problem that could be solved if the design allowed for damage to the vessel. For example the forward cabin would be flood able and it's contents would be damaged. Diving would not be for recreational purposes but for saving the boat from significant risk of loss.

Of course you better have enough pumping capacity to re-float the boat. It would suck if you ran out of battery power. An emergency battery bank for this purpose would probably be prudent.

How calm would the water be in a major hurricane 100' down.
Some storms last for a week or more, thats a lot of oxygen required.
I don't think this could be engineered even in theory but could you imagine how cool it would be if it could be?

Sadly it would be too heavy to sail well and cost a fortune but still??

[Faster]

Glad to see you've virtually talked yourself out of it.... but to get you started with better data - it takes 27.68 inches of fresh water to create 1 psig... so your "1 foot down" is a little under .5 psi (.433), and your 100 feet down is 43.33 psig...pressures would be slightly higher in salt water.

So - the good news is you can build your fantasy a little bit lighter than you imagined

[davidpm]

I guess that's why they make subs nuclear. It takes a lot of power for pumps air etc.
I've been reading about a few small recreational subs, so they are being made.

[Giulietta]

Hey...any US ot Asian built old shoe does that already....they are 3 feet thick...they sail like shoes....and they are already half sunk anyway....

[xort]

I don't want much...
50' loa X 15' beam with a 40' air draft and a 2' sea draft.
Sails @ 12 knots in an 6 knot breeze. Can easily handle 50 knot winds and 20' seas.
Burns .025 gallons per hour under power.
Requires no maintenance.
Costs under $100,000 fully equipped with everything.
I don't want much

[Bene505]

A "battery keel" made out of 5 tons of Edison batteries. (Edison batteries last forever as long as you don't overcharge them. 50 years later they still go strong.) Store enough juice to have that electric drive. (At the marina make the power meter spin backwards?)

Side scan radar built into the keel, so you can discover things as you sail. (With 3D display in the cockpit, of course.)

Clear hull, for seeing way down. Add those underwater lights for veiwing at night.

Retractable water-line lengtheners -- hey, everybody's going to get one.

Remote control dinghy that drops you off and goes back to the boat and hitches itself back up. And then comes to get you later.

Danforth mushroom anchor -- no matter the direction of pull, it slants the mushroom at an angle to dig-in deeper.

Anchor cam -- see what's holding you in place. Comes with LED lights. (I know I could make one of these.) It would display on you chart plotter.

Breakfast buffet service at major anchorages. (I think they have this for coffee and bread at Block Island.) The ones I envision wouln't wake you up if you're sleeping in. They would bring the buffet table right to the side of your cockpit.

[AllThumbs]

Of course you better have enough pumping capacity to re-float the boat. It would suck if you ran out of battery power. An emergency battery bank for this purpose would probably be prudent.

What are you pumping? The water out? You don't need the water out, you need to add air. How will you do that in your fantasy?

[sailingdog]

Of course you'd need to have a retractable rig, since the mast and such would cause a lot of excessive drag if they weren't retracted.

Originally Posted by davidpm

A couple of the scariest risks for cruisers because of the lack of full-proof solutions is storm damage and pirate attack.
My fantasy solution to solve both of those problems is a submersible sailboat. At one foot the water pressure is about 15 PSI at one-hundred feet the pressure is about 58 PSI. It seem like a steel hull could be designed to handle that. Finding enough flood-able space is a problem that could be solved if the design allowed for damage to the vessel. For example the forward cabin would be flood able and it's contents would be damaged. Diving would not be for recreational purposes but for saving the boat from significant risk of loss.

Of course you better have enough pumping capacity to re-float the boat. It would suck if you ran out of battery power. An emergency battery bank for this purpose would probably be prudent.

How calm would the water be in a major hurricane 100' down.
Some storms last for a week or more, thats a lot of oxygen required.
I don't think this could be engineered even in theory but could you imagine how cool it would be if it could be?

Sadly it would be too heavy to sail well and cost a fortune but still??

[Bene505]

Originally Posted by davidpm

...A couple of the scariest risks for cruisers because of the lack of full-proof solutions is storm damage and pirate attack...

Regarding pirate attack, the passive measures like submerging/hiding only work if there's an active measure (good guys with guns) on the way to help. Those active measures work better IMHO because the pirates will figure out a way to work around the passive measures, jut like you pointed out. Maybe they get grappling hooks and snag you at 100 feet deep.

So my anto-pirate fantasy sailboat is really one where the world actively encourages criusers to have your own guns on board. Then you can feel secure against pirates, and maybe even help out a fellow cruiser in need.