Would you sail on a plastic bottle?

[Nicky17000]

This is what these guys are doing.
Built catamaran from plastic bottles.
They have a very entertaining website here;
http://www.theplastiki.com/

Enjoy

 

[wonkodsane]

It looks nerve-wrackingly sketchy.

I understand they're trying to use the concept to raise environmental awareness, but it seems like one small engineering failure is likely to cascade into something that gets them all killed.

Would I sail on a plastic bottle? Yes, but not like they have. If I were going to go to the trouble of getting a whole bunch of identical PET plastic bottles, I'd go ahead and do something crazy like re-melt them, form them into sheets a la Woods Design ( http://www.sailingcatamarans.com/flat panel.htm ) and then weld them, or do the same thing for the hulls that they've done for the cabin. Rigidity might be a concern, but I'm fairly certain you could build a better recycled bottle-plastic 60 foot catamaran. You'd probably go well over the 12 tons of displacement they've got, though. Mind you, if she sat lower in the water, she might not scoot sideways across it so much.

These guys needed the boat to look like it was made of bottles, though, so they chose an approach with less apparent engineering and elegance, but more to showcase their cause, I just hope they don't get hurt. Their naval architect is the D in MBD and I don't think they've fielded a multihull.

Also, having read their FAQ, it is apparent that she sails like a pig. She can only gybe.

I'd be curious to think what some of the naval engineers and architects here on SBO think about her.

I wish them luck, but man I'd stay off of her in open ocean.

 

[sailingdog]

I'd point out that most GRP boats are essentially giant plastic bottles...

 

[Ross]

Sure! desolve the bottles in styrene monomer and catalyse it with MEKP and and reinforce it with glass fiber. it would work great. All that fleese that is so popular these days is plastic bottles.

 

[higgs]

I want to know a bit more about the engineering and what stops those bottles from puncturing should one run into an object in the water.

 

[DannyS]

Higgs - as far as I can tell, nothing, but there are 12,499 more to hopefully (operative word) keep it afloat. How many do you suppose they can spare before she sinks?
I bet it does sail like a pig, think of all that friction in the water, no smooth hull for the water to flow by, just lots of bottles.
Good for them for trying tho'...it has us talking, doesn't it?

 

[sailingdog]

I hate to break it to you DannyS but there is a smooth hull, there is a skin over the trapped plastic two-liter bottles, at least below the water line

As for puncture resistance, the bottles were filled with CO2 and are under pressure. Have you ever tried to puncture a 2 liter soda bottle that was filled and under pressure. They're actually quite tough unless you have something with a cutting edge to it. Most collisions at sea are not with razor edged objects. Add to that the skin that is protecting the bottles from direct contact with the ocean... I doubt it is much of an issue.

 

[DannyS]

If that's the case, couldn't I fill 12,500 plastic bottles with CO2, load them into my boat and call it the Plastiki? What's the point of the bottles if they essentially have a clear hull that displaces the ocean? The hull displacement creates the bouyancy, not the bottles.

 

[Ron20324]

When I had an Oday 222, I used surplus packing peanuts from work to stuff into 2-liter soda bottles. I put the bottles anywhere I could on the boat, thinking it was great floatation. Never found out, though- fortunately.

 

[Sam Salter]

OK children settle down!
If you keep talking about this stuff they'll think we're serious, and keep doing it!
sam

 

[DannyS]

Sorry Sam, I forgot to add my . I hope my sarcasm is showing through text.

 

[DannyS]

Ron, why not just put the caps back on?

 

[sailingdog]

I think the bottles are part of the structure of the boat, and without them, the boat would not be rigid enough to float.

If that's the case, couldn't I fill 12,500 plastic bottles with CO2, load them into my boat and call it the Plastiki? What's the point of the bottles if they essentially have a clear hull that displaces the ocean? The hull displacement creates the bouyancy, not the bottles.

 

[DannyS]

Sailingdog, that makes sense. Referencing a thread I started a couple of days ago about rigging a propane tank to replace all the little green propane bottles for my grill, perhaps someone will use those things to build a boat, they have a bit more structural integrity.

 

[wonkodsane]

Sailingdog, that makes sense. Referencing a thread I started a couple of days ago about rigging a propane tank to replace all the little green propane bottles for my grill, perhaps someone will use those things to build a boat, they have a bit more structural integrity.

With the added benefit that you could probably evacuate them of air. Vacuumed empty steel bottles ought to be a little more bouyant than ones filled with air. You could suck the remaining gas out of them, weld the neck and release valve, and build your very own recycled piggy cat. (-:

 

[Ron20324]

Ron, why not just put the caps back on?

I did put the caps on. I thought the peanuts would offer some- if not much- resistance to the bottle collapsing. They were the corn starch peanuts that would dissolve in water anyway.

 

[DannyS]

Ron, if you get into trouble and swept away by the gulf stream, you could cut open the bottles and eat the peanuts. I hear they go well with red wine.