The Golden Gate - Mini Camper

I found this electric-powered mini-camper by architect Jay Nelson at Tiny House Blog. I like the faceted, polyhedron style, all done up in plywood, plexiglass and epoxy. See more of his work at JayNelsonArt.com

The ArcSail Proa

Malcolm Smith always has something really tasty cooking in his workshop. His latest project is a force-balanced design utilizing a ‘ring wing’ that he calls the ArcSail. The concept has huge potential for boats both large and small, and I’m very pleased that Malcolm has opted to share it with us at Proafile:

Our Blue Canoe

The first teaser trailer for the documentary film, “Our Blue Canoe” currently in production and due for 2013 release. The film is part of a larger initiative called the “Vaka Motu” project, by Pacific Voyagers. The vision is to connect all Pacific Islands in a sustainable, carbon-neutral fashion via Vaka Motu, thus gaining independence, better infrastructure, and more economic opportunities for remote island communities.

Santa’s New Sled

Well look at that, Santa’s got a new sled! Hope everyone got the present they really wanted this year… *checking stocking* nope, just more coal. Ah well… hope yours was a merry Xmas, and happy new year!

Santa pic straight from the horse’s mouth.

The Life Pneumatic

I have a longstanding interest in pneumatic (pressurized) engineering structures. Blame it on Jacques Cousteau and his Zodiacs making a strong impression at an early age. For boats, inflatable hulls make all kinds of sense, being unusually light, strong, tough, and repairable. I even made a concept sketch of an inflatable hulled proa.

Here is Kurt Heiligenmann’s design for an inflatable beach cat - the Smartkat. Hate the name (I always hated the Smart Car because it implied that whoever purchased it was also “smart” and conversely, those of us who didn’t were less so), but this boat really IS brilliant. A 14’, 93 lb. rocket that fits into two canvas bags - store your beach cat in the closet, under the bed, or take it on your next flight to Ibiza.

String Theory

Proving his iconoclast chops once again, Jan Gougeon launched his newest baby into the Saginaw River last summer - to cries of both shock and awe. I reported on the launch of Strings - or Project X - as she was formerly known, earlier, but we finally get a much better look at the fascinating vessel in the new Epoxyworks No. 33.

More Than Jzerro

Russell Brown has posted a new (Sept. 2011) video to the PT Watercraft Channel on Youtube. It features some excellent sailing footage of Jzerro, as well as some running shots of a cool power outrigger that Russell designed for a friend to use as an aquatic pick up truck in the islands. The outrigger is powered by a 20hp outboard and goes about 18 knots! Video after the jump.

Protei - Robotic Sailboat for Oil Spills

Imagine a robotic, wind-powered whale that “eats” oil spills. After visiting the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in June of 2010, a young engineer named Cesar Harada, decided to leave MIT in Boston to develop just such a vessel. Protei is unmanned, autonomous, relatively inexpensive and open source hardware (anybody can use, modify and distribute its designs), making it a potentially powerful weapon in the battle to clean up the Gulf of Mexico.

Video from Motherboard TV

Zeppy 3 - Across the Med by Wind Powered Airship

Preparations are underway for a 150 mile journey from southern France to Corsica in a sail balloon. High flyer Stéphane Rousson is planning to pilot Zeppy 3 across a stretch of Mediterranean waters using only the power of the wind and a curved carbon foil based on the chien de mer by Didier Costes. ~Gizmag

Dugout Road Canoe

If “canoe” means a vessel for traveling, then it fits. From Tiny House Blog.

Zol Fox emailed me an interesting article showing some of the logging history of the Northwest and included in the email a couple of pictures of tiny houses built from hollowed out logs. The size of the trees that were taken down in the Northwest 150 years ago is something impressive. We are not likely to see anything like this in this area ever again.

Imagine the mighty proa you could build from that!