Douglas Victor Smith

SOLARWINDS Aquatic human theory

My Denisovan & Neanderthal DNA built SolarWinds (42 foot Polynesian design catamaran). Living in an Egyptian tomb and looking out on a virtual world. Golden chariot travels across continents.

1. Above image is a replica of Homo Neanderthal (female) - Forbes quarry skull (Gibraltar) with a cranial capacity of 1286 cc and a width of 14.6 cm (5.75 inches). The male's cranial capacity is 200cc larger which means that the male is 1486cc. Modern Homo Sapiens has an average of 1345cc. I have a cranial capacity of approx. 1660 cc - 12% greater than average Neanderthal male and 22% greater than average Homo Sapiens male. Width of my skull is 15.6 cm (6.14 inch) (image - age 40).

2. Painting of myself aged 40 in 1986 (by my daughter, Ann). As this image would suggest I am looking for the meaning of life. I feel a bit of an alien. With my cycle across America and Australia, I felt I had more in common with the native American and Australian. And recent DNA tests verify this. My feelings with my respect to my genetics is that - I AM MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE. I feel it gives me an advantage, not a disadvantage.
3. Photo of myself aged 40 (1986). I have a cranial capacity of approx. 1660 cc and the width of my skull is 15.6 cm (6.14 inch) (age 40).

DNA: DENISOVAN - 2.6% and NEANDERTHAL - 2.4% (National Geographic), 3.1% (23andme).
BIPOLAR DISORDER: Marker rs1012053 - my genotype is AA (increased odds of 1.6 times) and Marker rs420259 - my genotype is AA (increased odds of 2.1 times) (23andme).
WARRIOR GENE: I carry the Warrior variant gene (Marker MAOA - 3 repeats) (familytreedna)
Measure of Intelligence: 'Performance IQ' marker rs363050 (23andme) (my non-verbal IQ performance - genotype AA averaged 3 points higher than typical).
EPISODIC MEMORY: Marker rs17070145 - my genotype is CT (slightly increased episodic memory). This form of memory involves the recall of events rather than information.

4. Look at the size of my hands. It's a pity the photo was not taken from the side view as by this age, I had a more elongated head than others. My nickname in school was 'Rugby ball'. By the time I was a teenager, it was less noticeable. But when I entered the coal mine, the largest helmet didn't fit me. Looking back I could see myself in a nest, I was a cuckoo and my parents were two sparrows trying to feed me. I don't mean this in the wrong way. They have always been my equal. But I find my appetite for food was demanding. In school I would eat seconds and thirds in dinner and desert. You might think that is gluttony, but it wasn't. It was the needs of the body to grow quickly. I wasn't overweight and I have never been overweight in my life.
5. At this stage I realised my DNA was building the boat. The boat will be totally self sufficient with solar and wind power, and driven by electric motors. There will be no external light or air in the boat. It will be like living in an Egyptian tomb, where you look out onto a virtual world using LED screens. The 'Golden chariot' is my Flevobike which is gold in colour, which I have cycled across America and Australia. And I saw it like leaving the mother ship or my virtual tomb to cross these continents. I don't class these feats as anything special. Compared to the building of the boat and the designs I have built into it, the trips were just a walk in the park. Now I am at a stage, where I need the solar and wind power to bring the boat to life. Technology has delayed me as the efficiency rating of solar panels and wind generators is going through a critical stage of development.
6. Photo of myself aged 68 (2014). I may or may not write a book. The hurdle is being dyslexic. I have no one who could be a secretary. My family all refuse point blank. Maybe I am demanding, but I am also demanding on myself. And if there is a critic, it is me. For one painting I paint, I tear up ten. This is the bipolar part. The original idea seems brilliant - the Eureka moment. But they must be scrutinised. I have a very good sense of the laws of physics. The advantage of being dyslexic is that I haven't read what you can and cannot do. But you must stay within the parameters of cutting-edge, modern science technology. So if I was to write a book, I would have to use speech-to-text software. But this should not distracted me from the job in hand. The boat has been in the marina since 1993 and my intentions has always been to live on it - living in this virtual world. I am, however, limited by someone greater than me, telling me that my time is up by calling - 'Come in number...., your time is up'. If so, I will have a break and do it in my next life?

SolarWinds is a 42 x 21 feet / 12.8 x 6.4 metres James Wharram design (Captain Cook) catamaran.

AGE 70 21-6-2016

The sail on the boat will be a kite, which will be 7 x 1 metres - a manageable size. The kite will have ribs, which will be inflated with a lighter than air gas and it will be tethered in a forward position - a metre above the beams. It will not need wind to get airborne. It will seek out the winds of a higher altitude. There will also be electric motors, but the kite would ease the load. Of course, on a pontoon, it would be deflated for safety reasons.

SolarWinds Mothership. Tender 1/4 scale of SolarWinds (ship to shore). Golden Chariot cross two continents America and Australia coast to coast.

The tender - a 1/4 scale of SolarWinds. It will have its own solar panel, batteries in the hull, and driven by an efficient electric motor.

An Egyptian theme that runs throughout the boat. I feel an affinity with the Polynesian design and Egyptian hieroglyphs, which may lay in my ancestry.

The boat fitted with wingsails in 2000. The wingsails have since been removed, and in their place in the future, there will be an inflatable wing (approx. 7 x 1 metres) filled with a gas lighter than air. The wing will hover 1 metre above the beam and will be released when needed.

The boat with the wingsails viewed from a different angle (2000). In the future, a key feature of the boat will be to have the next generation of solar panels, but I will not use batteries to store solar energy. There are alternatives to power the boat through the use of solar.

Construction in the garden (1982-1993): 25 cm from the wall, in a trench 1/2 metre deep and 25 cm from the garage.

Solar water heater deck - this is one of two sets 25mm x 50mm box section stainless steel 316. The other water heater is ahead of this one towards the bows.

What you see on this page is something I was programmed to do. My main interest is to find that programme. It is like a book this is one chapter, I want to find out who wrote that book. That is my main aim in life and it always has been. These are just episodes that go all the way through the book. In chemical terms it is the way my brain is wired, but the key is to tap into it.

Foam panels on the inside of the hull covered with a 4mm birch ply to give insulation throughout the hulls, floors, ceiling and hatches. The 21 ft beams (6.4 metres) were made from 'Douglas Fir Clear & Better'. A single block was cut to 25 mm width (12 sections) and then glued together using epoxy as a laminate. This is stronger than a single block.

No external light or air enters the boat and there are low energy lights including LEDs. The reason for being air tight is to greatly increase the energy efficiency of the boat and not to use any fossil fuel (that need oxygen) as the air coming into the boat can be zero degrees and of high humidity. Windows can add heat inside the boat in summer. Again, adding to the energy requirements to control it.

For protection of the wood I use a epoxy resin to seal at all stages. On the outer skin there are three layers of fibreglass cloth. Expensive but in the long term paramount, as plywood would have deteriorated by now. It was all marine ply - Gaboon, quite a flexible ply.

Whenever I am on the boat I always Iisten to music. And like you would in a tomb, you are at one with oneself. At times, I listen to one single piece of music on a CD and I have it on repeat for sometimes up to 24 hours. I find the need to separate myself from reality. It's a kind of mediation with music.

Artist: I have no formal art training or carpentry skills. I create what is in my mind. Like a church (tomb) the boat is peaceful. I have inherited a strong religious cocktail with a sense of my past ancestors and that death is not the end of life. But I also realise that we are just a rock hurtling through space (starboard side of SolarWinds).

Light and music are the two ingredients to create the right ambience. The empty picture frame (upper right) will house a 3D LED computer screen. There are 3 screens in total in place of 3 windows, which can give a sense of looking out onto a single view or onto 3 separate images.

You can see from this image where two of the computer screens go (top left hand side). The third is roughly where the camera is. The KEY - can you imagine the main light turned down and you can be wherever you want in time (portside of SolarWinds).

Command pod: solar air heater for the hulls to reduce energy requirements and orange trees to absorb our carbon dioxide and replenish it with oxygen. The plants need us and we need the plants.

To give an idea of scale, my beloved wife is 5 foot 5 inches and the hull on the right is in a half metre trench. The hull on the left has the keel and bulkheads. The next stage is to put 2 x 1 inch stringers along the bulkheads from bow to stern followed by 9 mm Gaboon ply. And finally, three layers of fibreglass cloth impregnated with epoxy resin is applied to the ply. The photo on the right shows the hull when all of this has been done. The two stages took 2-3 months.

I would lay the keel, put in the bulkheads and stringers from bow to stern, and then cover them in 9 mm marine ply. The ply was then covered with three layers of fibreglass cloth that was applied with epoxy resin.

The hulls are complete including the tender, which is an exact quarter scale copy of the main hull.

25mm from the wall, 25mm from the garage, in a 1/2 metre trench. In 1982 my DNA came into play, but it was another three years before I realised it. However strange it may seem, I was just the medium to make it happen. I could have ignored it, but I have a very strong sense of destiny.

The length of the day is not governed by the time of the year. You can set it to summer or winter time with corresponding light levels and temperature. You will not feel depressed from a dull winter's day or the need to fly out to the sun.

The pod will be airtight, and humidity and temperature will be controlled like the rest of the boat, no external air will enter winter or summer.

The hull on the right is about to be lifted out of the garden by a crane which you can see. It was then turned over. The hull on the right was then lifted out and placed in the left trench, while the other hull was placed in the right trench.

The right hull is leaning to give space to work on the other hull.

You can see from this photo the tender before I covered it in 4 mm ply, which was then covered with fibreglass and epoxy resin.

These are the trenches that the boat was built in, so the boat was less conspicuous.

The jigsaw pieces are in place. A few millimetres out here would prove disastrous.

I took my own inflatable boat out to Algiers and this photo was taken during the last year (1978) we were there (1973-1978). Both daughters later became PADI and BSAC scuba diving instructors.

Tangaroa 35 foot (1982)I had my first James Wharram design (Polynesian) catamaran in 1973. It was a 'Tane' 27 foot - making it that I have had a boat of this design for over 40 years. SolarWinds was a continuation. This is when I realised it was engrained in my DNA.

SOLARWINDS

HEATING: The same concept applies for a house, where although there is energy on demand, it can still be made energy efficient. As with a house, heating can be a major energy requirement. It must be analysed to its basic form and major sources of heat loss must be taken into account. Many of those who live aboard tend to use either diesel, coal, wood, gas heaters or generators. All of these require large amounts of air to produce combustion. During the winter, the amount of cold, highly humid air brought into the boat is matched by the warm and dry air expelled. With respect to a boat, this is unacceptable if energy requirements are limited.
I have, therefore, come up with a radical alternative whereby all air entering the boat is excluded, theoretically making the boat air tight. Only electric will be used to produce heat and power other essential items. I have imagined the boat like a space craft going to Mars. Both have the same fundamental problems to overcome i.e. a window cannot be opened, no combustible type of heating can be used and there is a limited amount of energy. The critics would say it cannot be done, but it can. The only limitation is one's mind and there is usually a solution.
RECYCLING OF AIR: With the exclusion of air from the boat, oxygen deficiency becomes a problem, but this may be overcome with the use of plants (photosynthesis). Of course, the hatches will be opened daily, so you would never reach a critical point. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to compare air quality inside the boat with that outside. However, since there are no windows in the two hulls, the plants cannot use sunlight. This does not mean, though, that it is impossible. Another light source must be used that is very efficient in terms of energy requirements. Modern LEDs are the solution with some having being specifically designed for plant growth.
Humidity is another critical factor that needs to be taken into account. Most houses do not control humidity. They simply use large amounts of energy to overcome the problem. However, there are many very efficient dehumidifiers available, where all that is needed is a good ventilation system, so that are no corners where moisture can collect.
One can have a positive attitude on any of these aspects or a negative one, but one cannot constantly use energy through lack of vision. If oil, coal and gas had never existed, Man would either have had to find an alternative in renewable energies, stay in the caves or choose the part of the world where the situation did not arise. The industrial revolution would then have never happened as it did, but would not that have been a good thing? It would still have happened with Man's ingenuity, but within a larger time-scale Animals evolve over millions of years, not in a few hundred.
A lot of what has been mentioned was not possible as little as ten years ago, but as with the Wright Brothers and others of that period, they did not invent anything but used a combination of materials which became available at the time. This includes the aircraft, radio, light bulb, car and steam engine. The components became available and they had the insight to see by the use of new found materials, they could create a light bulb and an aircraft that could fly. From this point on, things moved at an alarming pace, but we have not got time to use technology for one's own ends with no consideration for future generations.
RENEWABLE ENERGY: I will be producing energy from solar panels, wind and water as well as recycling oxygen, water and light. Oxygen will come from plants, whilst water will be produced primarily from dehumidifiers, with the short fall being made up from rainwater. There will also be solar panels on the inside of the boat to recycle light. Some might think recycling light is a joke. However, a calculator has a solar panel, no bigger than a postage stamp, which works in a room filled with artificial light. Therefore, what can be achieved from several square metres of solar panels strategically placed inside a boat? All that is required is the appropriately designed solar panel to work in this light. Other ways of reducing energy requirements include a solar water heater (3 x 1m), which forms part of the decking. This will contain several gallons of water, which can be pumped into either hull as required.
Solar Air Heater: The command pod (the centre cabin) is the only living area of the boat where there is natural light. This will accommodate about 50% of all plant growth and will require less artificial light. An extra light source will be added to this as a large percentage of the plants will be miniature orange and lemon trees, which produce fragrant flowers (more than once a year) and fruit. There are also trays inside the command pod for bean sprouts, which will produce a crop in a two or three days.
A ventilation system is connected from the command pod to both hulls. It will also be a solar heater as the windows will produce a greenhouse effect, so the excess heat (when needed) can be used to heat each hull. The idea behind this is, as in all aspects of the boat, is to try to use any source of energy to conserve the need to use alternative.
ENERGY STORAGE: Batteries are particularly heavy for a boat, but even with a house, this is not the way forward. A system is already in place in a house, where energy produced from solar panels or a wind generator can be fed into the National Grid, and then retrieved as required. The principle should be applicable to a boat in a marina once safety issues have been dealt with. The majority of boat are not used daily, with the wind generators and solar panels that they carry, they could contribute to the energy supplies of the marina, which they could then use if required or be credited with on their bill. The marina could even collect this supply, from which they could then produce hydrogen for boat (if the safety aspects were covered), where hydrogen is used for an individual's own boating requirements.
PROPULSION: As to the motors - the design will consist of an outer metal ring with a prop in the centre, the outer ring is energized, which in turn drives the prop. This results in no energy loss that is typical of most other systems. The power for this is from a fuel cell. Hydrogen will be used as the energy source and will be produced from a wind, solar and water generation system. Since the boat will not be used daily, the amount produced each day is not critical and when not used, there are two alternatives. The hydrogen can be used to run the equipment on the boat or it can be stored in tanks, for when the boat goes out to sea, to run the motors. However, when not in use and detached from a marina, hydrogen will be used to power the boat's electrical system and run the motors. There are also two large winches in the cockpit as kites will be a further alternative.
VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT: One of the reasons why there are no windows in SolarWinds is, because most of us do not look out onto a Hawaiian beach, we either look onto the house across the road, a factory in the distance or a neighbouring boat. Wouldn't it be nice to look out onto a Hawaiian beach in the middle of winter? Lots of holiday destinations are not what they used to be due to climate change. Why not create your own holiday destination without leaving home, with the bonus being that you are not adding to your carbon footprint by taking a flight. This is the concept of SolarWinds.
In the place of windows, there will be computer flat screens on the inside and solar panels on the outside of the boat. One will be able to look out onto a Virtual Environment of your choice - from a beach to a slow trip to Mars. It can be anywhere that you can imagine and with today's technology, it would be quite easy to produce. Day can be night and night can be day. A day can be as long or as short as you want. Imagine getting jet lag without having left home! So if you don't like what you see outside, look out on something you do like. That is basically, but not all, of the concept.
EGYPTIAN THEME: When fitting out the hulls, I felt it was like being in an Egyptian tomb, which was something I quite liked. My intention, therefore, was to recreate this theme to some extent on the inside and outside of the boat. The Pharaohs of Egypt had full sized boats within their tombs for the afterlife, so they could sail the cosmos. My aim is to do this, while I am alive, with a Virtual Environment and to loose all track of time and space.
I have always seen dyslexia as being an advantage, rather than a disadvantage. By being dyslexic and unable to take the normal path, I have not been conditioned by books or education, on what can and cannot be done. I admit that if it had not been for this condition, I could well criticise what I am saying today, which would be a sad reflection on myself.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse