Seasteading

[Merman Dan]

I find myself fascinated with seasteading; living off the grid on a floating sea platform.


Assume we have power from wind, waves, and the sun. Assume we have fresh water from RO/DI filters, rainwater reclamation, and solar ovens. Assume we have vegetables from hydroponics gardens, fruit from containerized dwarf trees, chickens (meat, eggs), goats (milk, meat), and of course fish (line caught and farmed in Aquapod net pens). Assume access to television and the internet can be provided by satellite. Assume security would be provided by radar, sonar, ROVs, sensor arrays, and constant monitoring of local marine band radio and the like.


Transportation will be available in the form of a seaplane and a single boat. I will assume regular trips to the mainland will be necessary to replenish supplies, dispose of waste, and trade. Local transportation will be in the form of electrically-charged jet skis, sailboats/surfboards/kayaks/paddle-boats, underwater propulsion devices for SCUBA, and the like.


You will be living, in essence on a platform far at sea. I assume a multi-purpose room(s) for communal meals, exercise, game and movie nights, home schooling, and religious needs will be available. Residences will be blocked into groups of rooms which share bathroom facilities. There will be a central kitchen, computer facilities (including 3D printers, sewing machines, and the like), and a science lab with facilities for refilling scuba tanks.


What else would you need? How many square feet would you require? What forms of recreation would you desire? What am I overlooking?

[Mermaid Annariea]

ive always thought of this too!! but on an island somewhere out at sea instead. how many people live on the island/platform would depend on how large it would need to be, and there would obviously be a maximum occupancy. but i dont think youre overlooking much, if anything. it definitely sounds like it would be an interesting life.

[Azurin Luna]

You also need a small hospital, even on sea there are enough ways to get injured. You also need fire protection and escape facilities, a floating house is only fun when it stays afloat ;)
Living space: Depending on how big your families are, or if they are only single (which in my mind will change none the less if you are on a platform with no easy ways of meeting others) You need about 600 sq feet to have a measure of luxury for a single person. And it gets bigger quickly the more people are together. You can live in smaller spaces though, but you get annoyed in it fast.

Besides the assumptions you have, a floating island takes a lot of maintenance, so you need a good repair crew and a repair facility. And the amount of building rules to have your island build would be long... even a normal ship has 5 sets of rule books with each about 500 pages full of rules and exemptions (had to go through them all at high school for shipbuilding).

I found a nice site though with all the things you might have overlooked: Living at Sea (http://www.residentialvessels.com/cruise_ship_living.htm)

[Alveric]

There's also human nature. People tend to be a quarrelsome lot. I've never been involved in any group, whether it be political party, reenactment unit or Mer forum that didn't have conflict and drama. Actually living together would only make it worse. There needs to be a way of resolving disputes amicably.