The future is in Seasteading. No, seriously…
After catching this TLF post about the Seasteading Institute, a group behind a new more practical approach to Waterworld than many of the previous micronation landgrabs, I can’t help but think there’s finally something to this.
While their platform of choice, at least to start, seems to be a spar, a brief passage about using cargo containers or large gas tanks caught my attention…
One nice characteristic of this design is that it can be easily purchased, stored on inexpensive property during conversion, converted, and then shipped off to an ocean deployment location. Freight containers are designed to be moved around, so it is relatively easy and inexpensive to do so. Ballasting may need to weight until the final site, as it will make the container heavy and unbalanced.
Other than the inadvertent ballast/weight pun, this passage jumped out at me because of some similar ideas I’d been toying with a few months back. I was picturing a vertical, cylindrical housing that could act as a safe harbor of sorts, as well as a bedroom, dry storage, etc. for individual “seasteaders” living on what they’re calling a simple platform.
As for ballasting, I ended up wondering if some sort of durable flywheel positioned at the base of one of these containers or tanks wouldn’t make an excellent ballast? Bonus points for cheap and easy energy storage and a helpful gyroscopic effect that should further dampen horizontal rocking.
I did a little research but didn’t turn up any kind of flywheel that would be fit for this cause, but this idea still strikes me as serviceable…