As of late, I have been watching youtube catching up on MMA fights from the past I did not see when they played live on TV as well as survival videos where people go into the wilds and build a 'cabin' then survive in it for a time.. Some for days, some for months and months..
One such survival video showed a guy stop on the shore of a lake (river?) in the Philippine.? Thailand..? Regardless, bamboo was plentiful, and he started with multiple bundles, then began building his own island.. Mostly self contained.. Fruit trees.. Vegetables.. Chickens.. A fishery.. He could drop traps and nets overboard and catch seafood galore.. (NOT a seafood fan.. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast of Florida, it's basically the equivalent of coaxing northerners into eating nightcrawlers.. Bait is BAIT.. *laugh*)
This video got Me to thinking though.. If HE could do all that with just bamboo.. What could -I- do with available resources..? So I began investigating.. I am presently collecting the resources required.. (Polyurethane barrels as floats.. 2"X2"X12' hollow metal tubing.. Water resistant floorboards.. 4'X4"X8' beams.. various wood and insulation for the walls.. Generator(s) for power, with extended reserve tanks..
Once together, I can sail this barge downstream to Chesapeake Bay then, the world is My destination.. Going to make it sail powered, as well as outboard driven.. I will have the ability to add as much space as desired, My ability to do so expanding with each new addition.. Greenhouse.. Root Cellar.. Kitchen.. ad nauseum..
I am truly looking forward to this new chapter.. Seeing what ports I may make for.. Fall short of, then adapt and find landfall elsewhere..
I will continue to add on to this journal..
Dom
For those interested, the bamboo island video is
This was the original inspiration for the idea.. Then I watched a second.. The challenge was to use JUST bamboo to guild a huge luxurious yacht..
but then the FIRST thing the guy did was grab and weld 1"X1"X12" metal tubes as a base and use polyurethane barrels as buoys.. Um.. THAT'S not bamboo.? Challenge failed.. But it opened My eyes to possibilities.. Which continue to evolve as the plan coalesces.. What about 2"X2"X8' metal tubes to support the walls..? FAR stronger, much lighter than 4"X4'X8' wooden beams.. The development continues..