Endurance athlete and adventurer Greg Kolodziejzyk hopes to become the first man to cross solo, a notorious section of ocean from Victoria Canada to Hawaii in a record 40-80 days. Being a veteran in realizing human powered vehicles for extraordinary tasks, he plans to meet this new challenge with a pedal powered expedition boat called Within.
I happened to stumble upon this stuff late last night, and its an understatement to say this stuff is amazing. The boat is 10 meters long and 1 meter wide and its got some great design features, especially a neat drive system and a massive keel bulb. The exterior leverages solar and wind power to run the electrical stuff inside the boat. The interior is going to be decked out with food and other amenities to feed and entertain while Greg pedals. You should definitely take a look at the detailed set of build pictures on Flickr, from concept to finished design.
So what's the human power requirements for something like this? Lots of mental and physical endurance, without doubt. Greg also puts this on his website :
"WiTHiN features 5 watertight compartments: A bow compartment (small storage), Forward compartment (main storage to hold over a 100 days worth of food and supplies), cockpit (floodable with a bilge pump), Sleeping cabin, stern compartment (small equipment storage). Solar panels and a wind generator will provide electrical energy to power the 2-way radio, satellite phone, computer, GPS, AIS monitor, EPIRB, bilge pump, water desalination equipment, navigation light, iPod, and autopilot.
WiTHiN is powered by a drive leg – custom designed and built by Pedal The Ocean sponsor MitrPak, turning a two-bladed propeller. The drive leg is a single unit, inserted through a well in the forward area of the cockpit. The drive leg can be replaced at sea with a spare unit, or serviced, if repairs are required. The propeller and other aluminum and stainless steel parts are custom CNC milled by PTO team member and sponsor Rohmec Industries. At 80 rpm, generating 150 watts of input power, the drive unit propels WiTHiN to speeds of about 8 to 9 kph."
Some relevant pictures of the design are shown below. Note : These come from the Flickr set.
The Cockpit
Greg's definitely the kind of guy who can sit in tiny spaces and pedal away for hours on end. And all it takes for a dream to come true is to have a decent amount of cash, lots of contacts, and a nice personal facility where you can actually build stuff!
Here's wishing Greg the very best and I'm definitely looking forward to June to hear more about his pedal powered journey. And good on you for choosing pedal power!
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