Plastiki Sets Sail on Green, High Tech Voyage

A boat made of 12,000 bottles is sailing today from San Francisco to Sydney to . The Plastiki is a boat designed to raise awareness of environmental issues, including the massive amount of plastic bottles that are dumped in the world’s oceans. The Plastiki crew is using a number of high tech tools while on the trip and to help educate others. A crew of six sailors are on board the 60-ft catamaran for the three month trip.

All of the boats panels are made of PET, the same material used to make plastic bottles. I visited with the Plastiki crew a couple of times and it was interesting to hear about how they came up with environmentally-friendly ways to build the catamaran. Rather than using poisonous adhesives, resins and finishes, the Plastiki builders used natural and recyclable materials, such as an adhesive made of cashew nuts and sugar.

HP is a major sponsor of the Plastiki and is providing several devices, including an Elitebook 2530p and Probook 5310 that will be used to for charts, checking weather and logs. Each crew member will be carrying an iPaq Glisten. The crew will also able blogging about their experiences, sending updates to Twitter, photos to Flickr and communicating with Mission Control.

The crew will be able to place phone calls and access the Internet during the entire trip thanks to inmarsat. Inmarsat provides worldwide satellite voice and Internet services to people and organizations that roam far beyond the reach of mobile networks. The Plastiki has an inmarsat transceiver mounted on the rear mast, which is also home to a vertical garden that provides fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Plastiki and its crew will generate all the power necessary to charge and run all of their gadgets. At the heart of the Plastiki’s electrical system are six large 12-volt batteries, like the kind found in automobiles. Two turbine mounted on the hull of the boat will generate electricity as water spins it. Another turbine mounted on the deck will use wind to generate electricity. There are solar panels on the cabin’s roof to generate electricity during the daytime. There are also a couple of bicycles on board so the crew can exercise and generate additional energy. A person pedaling hard produces just enough energy to keep a notebook PC running. There is an emergency bio-diesel engine, but the crew hopes not to have to use it.

Those who’d like to learn more about the Platiki, track their voyage across the Pacific or how plastic impacts the environment can visit ThePlastiki.com. Those who are in the San Francisco Bary Area can visit Plastiki Mission Control at Fisherman’s Wharf. HP’s donated several Touchsmart PCs, which allow visitors to learn more about how the Plastiki was built and what can be done to keep plastic out of the world’s oceans.

The New Yorker put together a video that shows more details of how the boat is constructed.

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