snap fit parts and lego modules are not the only way to connect elements. Floating marina breakwaters show the way how many different boats, floats, and housing solutions come together with no snap fit at all – the breakwater elements can use a post tension cable sistem.
As the Kon Tiki experiment shows leaving the elements relativly loose (just connected with ropes in the case of Kon Tiki so they can move to some degree) may be more a advantage than a problem. Some tires, some chains, some tendon anchors, some flexible rubber elements to keep things in place. Maybe some ball joints like the monaco 160.000 ton floating breakwater, some saddle joints, some train waggon connections, nothing fancy, no engineering quantum leap – just take marina development out to open sea. Connections between ships and load terminals in open water are just normal tire fenders and mooring lines.
Connection points
The nkossa barge and the monaco breakwater, sea launch, adriatic lng, give an example that you can connect (dock) structures that have thousands of tons in open water.
Wil
-- Edited by admin on Tuesday 3rd of April 2012 03:43:31 PM
We can not expect to create a unified opinion on how a modular island should be built – it must include the possibility of a link together and come together of a wide variety of modules, seasteads, boats, ships, houseboats, floats etc… so we probably should imagine it more as a floating marina, or harbor development, than a engineered piece of rigid structure.
Maybe we should just design a critical mass of floating breakwaters, artificial lagoons, floats and docks, to allow a generalized marine come together a few minutes off shore of a major city.
Very much as Palm Jebel Ali – just not based on artificial sandbank islands but floating islands and breakwaters. Everybody should be free to do his own “private island” version using the module sistem he likes for building it.
We can not make a decision on standard modules – standards implement themselfs driven by the market in a secondary process not in the beginning. Just think on USB ports, video standards, etc… there where computers and connections before USB .
So probably the best we can do is create a big lazy raft up – where inventors of snap fit solutions of any kind can take a corner and show the benefits of their sistem to the public – the buyers will decide what sistem works best. But i fear that there will be multiple answers like in the turn key prefab housing market – it will always be a relative small part of the total market that wants standard homes.
Nevertheless land based cities have some standardisation – street width is 2,5m – electric, water, services are standard.
The closest thing to a marine standard connection at the moment is the tire fender. Cheap, universal used by small boats, industrial installations, scaleable, long lasting.