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[–]callsorputs 9 points10 points ago

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Insulated may be good for the cold seas but what about the heat during the day. I got sweaty just reading the article

[–]hogiewan 1 point2 points ago

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I thought the evaporation off the top cooled it and the insulation kept it cool

[–]saxmaster 7 points8 points ago

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Yeah, if it got hot, you'd just pump a ton of water through the system to cool it. Then you get to drink a lot of water to keep your temperature down. Seems win-win

Besides, it probably has vents.

[–]kibitzor 4 points5 points ago

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and shade with a slight breeze is much, much more desirable than having a low breeze with direct sun.

[–]MolotovCat -1 points0 points ago* 

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Nay. If it's hot enough inside to evaporate heat, the people inside would be cooked. It lets off heat, but reducing the heat from 120f to 110f isn't doing wonders for those inside. It may generate drinkable water, but at the cost of heating the occupants to death. If there were no windows on the raft, it may be a different story.

Put some containers filled with water on top of your car, then sit in your car during summer with the windows rolled up for a few hours. Better yet, have someone constantly dissipate heat by hosing your car down for the entire duration. If you make it out alive, tell me how you feel. :)

[–]ungoogleable 2 points3 points ago

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If it's hot enough inside to evaporate heat, the people inside would be cooked.

It's actually a separate compartment above the raft. And water can evaporate at any temperature, it's just a matter of how quickly.

Better yet, have someone constantly dissipate heat by hosing your car down for the entire duration.

That would be quite an effective way to dissipate heat, actually. Moving water is a much better heat conductor than open air.

[–]MolotovCat 0 points1 point ago

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My point was that even with those measures taken, a closed container such as a car or raft that only has minimal venting will quickly heat up to temperatures over 110 degrees. A large percentage of the raft must remain open to allow free flow of air.

What I asked is a serious challenge. We all know that moving water quickly dissipates heat, but it seems everyone underestimates how little that will help when temperatures rapidly exceed 120 degrees. (I've done this before to prove a point about dogs in cars during summer, if you're wondering. :P) Not even cracking the windows will allow the temperature to drop below 110, and this is in a northern state.

[–]demione 1 point2 points ago

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Yeah, those windows should be unzippable or else it'll be a heat trap.

[–]lotu 8 points9 points ago

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Those windows should be unzippable or you wont be able to get into the raft.

[–]vitalyb 0 points1 point ago

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IT'S A TRAP!

[–]mojination -1 points0 points ago

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Yeah you might have to drink 10 times more water to make 5 times more water... or something. You definitely can't be baking in that thing.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]saxmaster 12 points13 points ago

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No kidding! They say the best inventors often invent the obvious. I wonder if there are many things that haven't been invented yet because the people intelligent enough to invent them think they've already been invented. We're probably all sitting on at least one million dollar idea.

[–]G_Morgan 3 points4 points ago

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Hamburger earmuffs!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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[–]saxmaster 0 points1 point ago

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I retract my thesis.

[–]downvotesareupvotes 4 points5 points ago* 

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It's cool that it's part of the raft, but desalination kits are old, small, cheap, and don't require pumping. I really can't imagine somebody who would purchase the SeaKettle that wouldn't already have a desalination kit on their vessel. That and plenty of life rafts already come with watermakers.

[–]nancyjew 0 points1 point ago

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[–]Avertr 1 point2 points ago

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I would be pissed if my ocean going life raft didn't have a way to turn seawater into freshwater via this method. I thought it was standard.

[–]nilstycho 4 points5 points ago

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It is: deployable desalination cones. I guess the innovation here is turning the entire raft into a giant desalination cone.

[–]tribes 4 points5 points ago

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Does it turn oil-spill-juice into gasoline?

[–]noseeme 17 points18 points ago

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They should make the raft out of steak.

[–]saxmaster 15 points16 points ago

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Yeah, and the sharks will thank you for making a human steakwrap.

[–]noseeme 11 points12 points ago

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You can spit distilled water at them.

[–]saxmaster -2 points-1 points ago

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Wow, explode the sharks at the CELLULAR LEVEL with freshwater. INGENIOUS. Why didn't that ever get discussed in Jaws?

Edit: Not sarcasm

[–]halpdix 12 points13 points ago

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Looks like those seamen are in for a steamy ride.

[–]Sleezy_T 0 points1 point ago

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Its really going to quench a niche market.

[–]cumbucket 2 points3 points ago

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rubey rube

[–]NitsujTPU 0 points1 point ago

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Yeah.. spellcheck fail. Drinking rube and James Dyson Aware.

[–]Ingenium13 2 points3 points ago

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Where does the salt go? Does it just precipitate on the roof? Wouldn't this eventually block the light from getting through?

[–]ggk1 2 points3 points ago

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the salt stays on the area where the salt water was being stored. The way a system like this works is that the salt water stays in a bucket of some sort and when the water evaporates it is turned into its gas form and rises to the top, it then hits the clear roof area and sticks back into its fluid form as fresh water (since obviously salt cant perform the same trick the water just did). Once it's stuck to the top as droplets of condensation, those droplets follow gravity and roll down the sides of that roof. They roll all the way down the sides into reservoirs that were put into the raft, which can be tapped for drinking.

see here

*edit this is a great survival technique you should know. You can do the same thing by hanging clear plastic above collected bad water, and putting a cup in the middle of that collection. Put a rock or something right above the cup on top of the plastic making the low point of the plastic directly above the cup and it'll cause the droplets to go into it.

[–]ScaryOwlFace 0 points1 point ago

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...and if you don't have any clear plastic or cups, but do happen to have a handy self-enema kit, you could just shove the bad water up your ass!

[–]Mshell -1 points0 points ago

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you can even get some water with the same trick but using green leaves instead of bad water. A lot slower but if you cannot get any water it could save you.

[–]saxmaster 0 points1 point ago

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I imagine it might have a way to flush the system. Pumping seawater would dissolve the salt deposits eventually.

[–]bleh19799791 2 points3 points ago

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I'm sure it works great on still water, but I'm interested if choppy waters will contaminate the supply.

[–]joshuba 0 points1 point ago

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I thought that as well, but I noticed on the diagram the reservoir has a Gor-tex cover, Gor-tex being breathable one way and not the other lets the evaporated water through and keeps the sea water out of the collection pockets.

[–]kha3 2 points3 points ago* 

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Supply depots deploy faster and feed 8 people.

[–]Jonwilks 0 points1 point ago

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HA!

[–]Frankeh 1 point2 points ago

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If the sea is rough enough this becomes useless as the salty water would just spill into the clean water bits.

The same problem that the desalination cone currently suffers from.

It will never make it to production because it's too costly and it wont work.

[–]macababy 1 point2 points ago

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upboat

[–]cranelake 0 points1 point ago

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Now that's one brilliant idea!

[–]milkmelon 0 points1 point ago

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the raft looks more comfortable than any boat i've been in

[–]knightskull 0 points1 point ago

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She needs to add a way to catch rain water and route it directly into the fresh water reservoirs. Otherwise it won't work in a rain storm.

[–]MagicSPA 0 points1 point ago

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It's basically a solar still, just big enough for someone to sit in.

I saw the figure "makes 3 litres of fresh water a day" and the article says this will keep up to 6 people going.

3 litres a day is enough water to keep about two people going, especially in the sort of heat levels you'd need for that thing to create lots of water vapour in the first place.

[–]bigexplosion 0 points1 point ago

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it sounds very good, but i question it's durability and ease of repair. BTW the book adrift is a pretty good read.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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Saw a solar still with life-raft in the early 80's.

[–]darien_gap 0 points1 point ago

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But was it orange, yellow, and space-hab looking?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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No, but I think you just described the 80's.

[–]darien_gap 0 points1 point ago

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Do you know the broiler trick for making omelettes?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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Yes. I don't use it, but yes.

[–]joebleaux 0 points1 point ago

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That raft is definitely not going to make enough water for 5 people to drink in one day. It'll slow down total dehydration, but someone in that raft is going to be sweating their nuts off with that sort of exposure, and that method of producing clean water just isn't that efficient.

[–]Jonwilks 0 points1 point ago

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Terran Command Center...no?

[–]RandomRedditGirl 0 points1 point ago

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Hope the Navies buy tons of these.

[–]pinkyy34 0 points1 point ago

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All the technology evolutions just end here. Great work done by someone to bring life to the sea walkers.

[–]darien_gap 0 points1 point ago

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Meh. I'd rather have Fremen still suit with waterwings.

[–]G_Morgan 0 points1 point ago

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If we had stillsuits this would be unnecessary.

[–]nancyjew 0 points1 point ago

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Most interesting. However, three liters of water a day isn't that much. But it's obviously better than nothing.

[–]Daleet 0 points1 point ago

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So isn't this just like a solar still? haven't these been in use for thousands of years? (on land)

[–]only2thumbs 0 points1 point ago

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Oil required for working parts.

[–]510DustMite -1 points0 points ago

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FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!? Fuck a duck...

[–]Nessie 1 point2 points ago

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You might not be able to imagine being 15 grand thirsty now, but...

[–]yelnatz 1 point2 points ago

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That's the prize money.