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[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (18 children)

Yeah, as an experience. This was a creative project with no net negatives from a business standpoint and he has plans to keep doing something similar in other parts of the world. But one can't help and think that this could be a lot more functional and valuable on top of the art aspect of it. Altering the material for better resiliency, investing that $$ for research on better material and then having the longevity aspect to it could have brought more value all around. Still think he is a passionate nutter all this in for the short-term and art has very little to no limits in support of this sort of thing.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (17 children)

Here is one that is built more to last: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnms2sGxmSs&feature=emb_title

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (16 children)

Yeah, not as epic in scale or as unique in experience.

As a side bonus: Apparently those dry-dock bridges can also be used on ocean waves without falling apart. Surfs up!

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (15 children)

Looks pretty cool. I wonder if you built one big enough, and put solar-powered electric motors on all 4 corners to counteract any drifts or winds and keep it in the same place... you could have your own island!

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

And you may be on to something better than Richart Sowa, who built his own island using plastic bottles.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (13 children)

I like how he used mangrove trees to hold it together too, that's smart. The use of trash is cool too. But I wonder how much all those plastic netted bags cost that he used.

I wonder if you could combine his techniques with the plastic cubes island idea to achieve a bigger island for lower cost...

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (12 children)

Rather than worrying about the cost though, you'd probably want your island to be built to last on the stormy seas!

Richart's first island was destroyed by a hurricane in the Caribbean because he didn't have any built-in navigation capabilities or he may not have been able to tow it out of danger quick enough with a boat. The new island Jyxee is better updated and expanding but, if you are going to spend as much time and effort into something; might as well build it with contingency plans and tactical features in mind to avoid the known dangers.

And I would assume, it wouldn't be very cheap due to the increasing number of those tactical features and regular maintenance of them. But the cost cutting aspect would really be in the logistics of bringing those features together gradually without skimping on the longevity of the project. You'd still need a secondary income of being an internet business starter or something for sure to keep your private island lol.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

Here's a map of every hurricane recorded: https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/7000/7079/tropical_cyclone_map_lrg.gif

So it seems there are large areas where you could avoid the hurricane problem altogether.

Then you want a place with small wave energy so there's not huge waves: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/World_wave_energy_resource_map.png

So you could overlay those maps and find a good spot where nature wouldn't mess with you too much. Seems maybe either side of South America?

And then if we were counteracting tides, we'd want a place with low speed current flow of water, so here's a world current map: https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/91/53891-004-88DDD871.jpg

Looks like east of Brazil in the middle of the ocean might be a good spot, it's good on all 3 maps.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Nice find! Those are prime locations for ocean parking but if you are too close to land, you'd still need permissions from respective governments to stay and would probably have to pay taxes/fees since this project would be considered a glorified boat. Being isolated out in the ocean without contact to land for very long would be too messy; so this wouldn't be a cheaper project if it was to be done right.

However, there is a chance to build more of these islands and rent them out accordingly... the sky could be the limit on what you could get, and may solve your money woes :)$

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Here's a map of international waters, just overlay that with the previous maps: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/International_waters.svg/1200px-International_waters.svg.png

I think this might be a doable thing.