What do you get when you combine a luxury
yacht, an off-grid house, and a waterfront
villa? Well, add in just a dash of Tesla and
one part deep sea oil rig, and you’ve got
the ArkUp Livable Yacht.
The ArkUp is a solar powered, self-sufficient,
electrically propelled floating mansion that
can transform any harbor in the world into
prime waterfront real estate. A masterpiece
of sustainable engineering, This 4 bedroom
floating home rests on a set of retractable
hydraulic legs that anchor it to the seabed
and completely stabilize the vessel, even
lifting it out of the water. If you get bored
of the view, you have the freedom to lift
off and use silent electric motors to cruise
somewhere else for a change of scenery.
A zero emission offgrid oasis, the innovative
ArkUp lets you live lavishly with total autonomy.
Thanks to a massive solar panel array and
battery storage system, the arkup doesn’t
require any fuel, and with rainwater harvesting,
you can live onboard indefinitely.
I recently got the opportunity to go onboard
the ArkUp 75 and get a tour of it’s innovative
features from co-founder and CEO Nicolas Derouin.
We crawl into a bunch of compartments, look
at all types of gauges, and discuss the green
technology behind the sleek glass facade of
this forward looking vessel.
Come aboard.
At a length of 75 feet, with 4,350 square
feet of living space, achieving energy independence
onboard the ArkUp is no easy task. The battery
system provides power for all onboard systems,
home appliances, and electric propulsion.
Let’s check in with Nicolas and learn more
about it.
So the battery is one key element of the boat.
The boat’s completely solar-powered so it's
really like the heart of the vessel and all
the systems that are integrated. The type
of battery we use are lithium ion batteries.
The choice of the vendor the supplier for
this batteries for us was really important,
was key because we really wanted the batteries
to have long lifespan and be very safe and
reliable in their design and technology so
we partnered with a company from Canada called
Corvus energy. They usually provide these
batteries for commercial vessels, or hybrid
ferries or fishing boats, so it's really for
industrial commercial applications that these
batteries have been designed. We have 182
kilowatt hour, that's the storage capacity.
There's two racks of battery cells that are
stored in the electrical room below deck.
Each rack has about 16 cells and each cell
can be removed or replaced separately.
So with a full charge of battery let's say
on a regular sunny day like today, I mean
we have a kind of daily cycle where we recharge
the battery with the Sun every day but if
there's completely no Sun so just rain and
clouds for several consecutive days, the battery
will provide energy to the to the floating
house two to three days depending on how many
people live on onboard at that time and how
they manage the energy consumption. At least
two days guaranteed.
If you saw the ArkUp docked in the marina
you might find it hard to believe that this
is an actual seaworthy, drivable vessel. But
the ArkUp comes equipped with two 100 kilowatt
azimuth electric thrusters, that provide silent
and vibration free electric propulsion.
The houseboats large rectangular roof acts
as an ideal platform to harvest solar energy,
but the vessels shape creates a tradeoff for
propulsion efficiency.
In terms of speed so this boat is quite slow,
very maneuverable but quite slow, and it's
not really related to the propulsion itself
more to its design. So it's a large hull with
a flat bottom and it's a heavy structure with
a lot of wind edge, it's kind of a box on
top of it. So that kind of determines the
maximum speed. So we have cruising speeds
of 2 to 3 knots and maximum speed of 5 to
6 knots. The range depends on on the weather
conditions like I said, on a sunny day between
noon and 2 p.m. you can actually sail without
draining any of your power stored in the battery
so what you produce with the solar array will
be enough to to make the the propellers work
and propel the vessel but generally speaking
we have a range of 10 to 15 nautical miles
with the setup that we have like the solar
panel capacity, the battery storage capacity
and the propellers that we have. That can
vary a lot depending on the use of the vessel
so if we had full speed probably after one
hour we will run out of power and therefore
you you have five to eight nautical mile range
let's say, and if we sail with the Sun we
can have a 20 nautical mile range.
Set atop the ArkUp’s 2,400 square foot roof,
The Solar panel system consists of 110 325
Watt panels that generate 36 Kw of power.
Considering the size of your average home
solar installation is about 7kw, this is quite
a large system. Mounted on a permeable rainwater
collection membrane, these panels are firmly
anchored to the roof, and wired directly into
the ships inverter controller. While docked
at the marina, the ship can also run off shore
power, and charge its batteries.
In the small low lying nation of the Netherlands,
water has played a central role in the lives
of its inhabitants since the earliest settlers
learned how to pump out their land to make
way for tulip fields.
With much of the nation below sea level and
gradually sinking,The Dutch know a thing or
two about waterbased building.
Born of these dutch roots in shipbuilding
and architecture, the ArkUp was designed by
WaterStudio NL under the leadership of sustainable
design veteran Koen Olthuis. Inspired by dutch
floating communities, the experimental concept
envisions the future of aquatic living and
address the issues of urban growth, rising
seas, and dependence on fossil fuels.
Being onboard the ArkUp, you might forget
you’re on a boat, as it feels like a spacious,
luxuriously outfitted modern home. Designed
to be one with the natural surroundings, Balconies,
terraces, and floor-to-ceiling windows always
remind you you’re at sea, and a retractable
terrace creates plenty of outdoor space.
The vessel is 75 feet long and 32 feet wide
and weighs in at 268 tons. With 2,700 square
feet of total indoor space and 1,650 square
feet of outdoor space, the ArkUp’s voluminous
cuboid shape creates the same livable space
as a 110 foot yacht.
Built on a steel hull and superstructure,
and outfitted with impact resistant windows,
the ArkUp is built to withstand Category 4
hurricanes. It’s durability being an important
component to it’s intended purpose as a
“future-proof” dwelling.
Centered on an open floor plan living room,
the spacious two level floating villa prioritizes
space and comfort.
The bottom level contains a full living room,
a fully equipped open concept kitchen, crew
cabin, two bathrooms and a small office area.
When the vessel is docked the sliding outdoor
deck creates one of the coolest backyards
in Miami.
Upstairs 3 bedrooms with full bathrooms, and
two spacious balconies create a comfortable
living space aboard the vessel for up to 8
people.
One of the day’s I was filming, the house
was being rented by a large family, and as
part of the ArkUp experience, the crew took
them out of the marina for a cruise through
Biscayne Bay to spend the night anchored in
a new location.
Notice how the ArkUp remains completely still
in comparison to all the rocking boats floating
around? That’s because it’s not floating
at all.
A key feature of the ArkUp is its sophisticated
system for elevating the vessel completely
above water level and making it feel as stable
as a house on land.
The four 40-foot-long hydraulic pilings, or
“spuds” in marine terminology, level the
floating home, creating a sturdy foundation
in depths up to 20 feet. In addition to the
added security in rough weather, this system
eliminates the effect of the rolling of the
sea, and, for those affected by it, seasickness.
The technology is actually borrowed from the
offshore drilling industry.
The controls for the spuds, as well as all
controls related to navigation are located
on the boats helm stations, lets take a look:
So on this part of the helm station on the
left side we have the controls of the anchoring
and self lifting system. So this is the shape
of the barge, of the hull, and the four spuds,
the four anchors, and each joystick controls
one of these spuds. The anchors can be controlled
simultaneously, the four at one time to lift
or lower the vessel or they can also be controlled
independently and that will enable us to fine-tune
the the leveling of the boat and make sure
it's completely horizontal.
Alright so this is the other side of the helm
station where we have all the controls related
to navigation so really like a boat so those
are the controls for the Electric thrusters,
the two pods that we have at the stern. They
rotate 180 degrees so this is the control
to steer the boat we also have a bow thruster
to improve the maneuverability and then we
have anchoring lights, navigation lights,
horn, VHF radio to communicate with other
other boats, the bridges, coast guards and
so on.
Let’s head inside to take a look at the
ship’s dashboard.
So this screen is like the brain of the vessel,
so that’s what gives us all the information
we need with regards to all the resources
on board and and all the power management.
We have the exact same screen at the helm
station, and here inside the boat we can also
have access to all the information. So on
this screen specifically those indicators
are more related to navigation that would
be the speed and direction of the electric
thrusters, we have information about the wind,
this is information about the freshwater capacity
so how much autonomy we have with fresh drinking
water. This is how much of the holding tank
we are using so that's going to tell us when
we need to do a pump out and empty that tank.
And that here is the charge of the battery,
so right now that the battery is fully charged.
On this other screen that would tell us how
much solar power we would generate if the
battery was not fully charged or the boat
connected to shore power, and how much hotel
loads or energy we are consuming on the vessel
so that basically gives us how much autonomy
we have with regards to power, to energy.
Then we have indicators for different alarm
system so those red dots here are related
to the propulsion system which is currently
shut down but that gives us information about
the battery system, the inverter, all the
smoke detectors, the bilge sensors in the
in the in the hull, that tells us basically
if anything is wrong with the system or other
sensors that we have on board and ensures
the safety of the vessel. And that gives us
the pitch and roll of the vessel so basically
to make sure it's properly leveled.
The ship’s modular hull accommodates separate
technical compartments for hydraulic, electrical
and water-related equipment. Let’s go below
deck and take a look inside:
So that's the that's the electrical room here
and the battery room so let's say the main
technical compartment of the vessel since
we don't have any generator or diesel engine
or anything on board. So there in the back
you can see the lithium ion battery so those
two racks that I was mentioning from Corvus
energy. In the middle Ideal power that's the
inverter so that what actually manages the
energy that comes from the solar panels and
transfers it to the battery to be stored,
and then also redirects the energy from the
battery to the propulsion. This here is just
some controls in the battery management system,
but basically that's the kind of interface
between everything, interface between the
solar panels, the inverter, and the battery
system. On this side here we have lots of
breakers, to make sure everything’s completely
safe. There’s also a very interesting lightning
protection system, on the boat. In Miami,
there’s plenty of storms and a lot of lightning
so when we’re on the water it’s very important
to be protected from that.
So this is one of the technical compartments
that's the water room as we call it. All those
compartments are equipped with the ventilation
system, sensors, bilge pumps etc. so very
safe. And on this one here for instance we
have a pump system for the ballasts, so we
have four ballasts at each corner of the hull
that we can empty or fill with water to make
sure the boat is leveled when it's floating,
when it's in the water not when it's on the
spuds. We have a water heater system here.
On this system there's also in its design
it's also optimized to minimize the energy
consumption so there’s kind of a heat exchanger
between the water heater and the electric
room or battery room cooling system, and then
on the other side behind this wall we have
a 4,000 gallon tank for fresh water so that's
where all the rainwater that's collected on
the roof with the drain comes and then there’s
a filtration system here. So in total we have
eight levels of filtration, eight different
filters so that's the main pump and then you
see different filters, carbon filter, and
then the UV lights so we produce our own drinking
water on board.
So this is a storage compartment. This is
the shore power cable I was mentioning we
have the option of connecting to shore power
just to run the boat or charge the battery
whenever we want, so that's where we do that.
Those are the freshwater tank outlets so plug
to fill the freshwater tank with the hose
in case it's not raining enough for several
consecutive weeks. And here that's where we
do pump outs, so on this boat there's basically
two possibilities the way it's set up now
all the black and grey water is just stored
into a 4,000 gallon holding tank and then
once or twice a month we do a pump out at
the marina to empty that tank or we have space
and it's already prepared to install a marine
sanitation device and that will process the
black and gray water with bacteria and biological
system, so that the water is after being treated,
is clean enough to be discharged into the
ocean.
I’ve had the opportunity to check out a
few different solar yachts for this channel,
and while all I want to talk about is the
range, top speed, and all the fun stuff, i’ve
noticed a common theme that the ship’s engineers
are always obsessed with climate control.
When you asked me about the challenges of
design I mean the challenges of the project
generally speaking but in terms of technical
design engineering, being able to minimize
the the energy consumption on board was really
key to guarantee that the boat could operate
off the grid in most cases, and would provide
the maximum range. The main things that that
consume energy on board the propulsion only
when the boats under navigation, the AC, and
then the lights and appliances which is like
very low because it's all LED lighting and
all very low consumption high-end appliances
. So the AC is a big challenge because we
want to be able to have the temperature that
we want on board, we don’t want to suffer
with that, and at the same time that cannot
drain the energy of the battery. So we had
several things we did for that, in terms of
AC configuration we used a split system
and it has seven The other thing was related
to directly the design and insulation of the
boat, so we have closed cell foam that we
use to insulate the exterior walls and the
ceilings and the floors, and we have minimum
six inches of closed cell foam all over the
place so that's a great way to guarantee a
good thermal insulation for the interior space.
And the other are the windows, so we use impact
windows and they have like double pane argon
gas in between to help also getting a better
thermal insulation. And what they call low
E coating, so that's kind of a thin metal
layer that helps reflecting the sun and also
improving the insulation.
Everywhere the ArkUp goes its an instant attraction.
As the hulking vessel sailed through Biscayne
Bay, it was surrounded by a swarm of onlookers
who just had to get up closer for a photo.
In person the ArkUp is visually striking,
like a modern miami mansion lifted from its
foundation and plopped into the water.
Currently on sale for $5,500,000 million it
also carries a Miami mansion price tag. ArkUp
is currently producing more of these ships
on custom order, and you can have your very
own fully configurable Arkup starting at a
price of $2,267,000.
The original ArkUp75 featured in this video
is actually available for rent in Miami on
AirBnb, and I’ve included a link in the
description if you’re interested in booking
a stay.
Being onboard the ArkUp is certainly a unique
luxury experience, but the company’s mission
has deeper aspirations. With sea level rise
here in southeast florida projected to be
6 to 10 inches by 2030 and 14 to 26 inches
by 2060, ArkUp intends to develop water based
housing solutions to address the impending
climate crisis. They ultimately hope to create
more affordable models for the average family,
and even develop floating neighborhoods.
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