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| The senaro is that you are stranded on an island and must make potable water to drink until rescued. The senaro and other people's solutions can be found at makezine.com/makeshift. |
So many thoughts about be stranded running through my head... it is hard to come up with a solution to get drinking water. I need something simple. And I see it is going to be simple with all I have to work with is the water proof nylon sale, a Swiss Army knife, and some vines of the vegetation from the island. I’ve got to keep things simple. Finding potable water is no easy task especially on the Ocean. Keeping things simple, I know of 2 ways to get water from the ocean: evaporation and filtration. My equipment has lead my to the solution of evaporation. I cut some vines from the vegetation and bunch them together in the form of a circle. The circles radius is about 2 feet or less. It would have to be determined what size vs size of the sail for maximum output of water evaporator improvised devices. I continue to make pieces of the sail into shapes of sacks (similar to trash bags). I make the sacks slightly larger than the 2 feet radius of the vines. I overlap the seam and tie it with little strings that were also cut from the sail. As I draw the strings tight I leave a small opening at the bottom of the sack. (So water will partially fill the sack when it is placed in water) I make another set of circles with the vines with a radius slightly smaller than the original 2' one. I then fit the sack around the 2' circle then press in a slight parabolic shape in the top (the side without the hole). (Parabolas are the most efficient shape when collecting solar power and I like them.) I lock the sack in place with the small circle that fits tightly after inserting a sleeve formed out of the sail and sail ties. This sleeve is to collect the evaporated water. It is on both sides and has a stick on the inside center to create a gap in the vine circles to allow the evaporating water to escape while still creating a seal around the sack and outside air. These sleeves open up to a wider bottom with some rocks as weights. This will allow the cooler water to condense the evaporated fresh water back into liquid water. I can also add a weight like a fishing sinker to the bottom if needed. These water devices will be launched near the shore and be tied to anchors on the shore line. I can make many of these and although it is a lot of work I will should be able to collect more than a day’s drinking water from these devices. |
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