Hello everyone. I'm psyched to see that the idea is so interesting to you all. Comments are great. I have updated the FAQs on tsunamiball.com to address some of the concerns here. Thanks again for your interest.

http://tsunamiball.com/faqs/

You say you are building a tsunami-proof boat, but aren’t all boats tsunami-proof?
If you are about to experience a tsunami then the safest place to be is far out to sea in a boat. In that sense, a boat could withstand a tsunami very well. However, the idea for this boat is to have it in the back yard above the detached garage, several miles from the water. The focus is on building a vessel that could withstand the initial impact of a tsunami from any direction while on land.

Your boat is made of wood. Won’t it get ripped to shreds from the debris field at the front of a tsunami?
It’s possible it will get thrashed by floating debris. This is definitely the biggest threat to the safety of the occupants. If the tsunami is massive, then I would rather be in the tsunamiball than anywhere else. The outer hull will be 2 1/2 inches of marine grade plywood covered in xyletol and epoxy. Xyletol is a very abrasion resistant polyester material. When combined with epoxy it is very similar to kevlar. The danger of the debris field might also be reduced by half-burying the tsunamiball in the backyard, or putting in a couple of protective walls. We’ll see.

A wooden boat? Really? Why not steel or fiberglass?
I considered all materials before I started. Since the boat will be built and stored in the backyard it was important to use a material that wouldn’t require as much upkeep as steel. Fiberglass is not very tough when it comes to collision. It is also a pretty hazardous material to work with when it comes to sanding and putting lots of fiberglass into the air where your kids play. The plywood I am using is very lightweight, and has 5 layers in the 1/4 inch sheets. This means that by the time we have 2 1/2 inches on the exterior hull there will be 60 layers of wood, each layer bonded to the next with epoxy. This is pretty tough stuff.

What’s with the crazy time consuming process? Why not just build a regular boat. This looks foolish.
Yeah: maybe foolish. It’s definitely not intended to be a model for other boat builders. It takes way too long for it to be viable for production boat building. The idea behind all of the tongue and groove framing, however, is core to my interest in the project. By building the framing in large circular components I am able to distribute external stresses evenly across the outer surface of the boat. The tongue and groove “boxes” in the frame don’t help traditional boat rigidity any more then traditional stringer construction, but again I believe the frame is super strong with respect to collision from any direction.

The frame is the skeleton for both an exterior and an interior hull. Between these multi-layered hulls I will inject each of the “box cells” with floatation foam. The foam will act like a cushion against impact. Puncture will be an issue with a wooden boat, but now we are talking about one interior hull, wrapped in a cushion of flotation foam, and supported by the exterior hull. Its like a floating bicycle helmet.

When I saw your site I thought I saw that some of your boat is just screwed together. That’s nuts!
That would be nuts! I do screw elements together to dry fit them, but all elements are assembled with aeromarine epoxy. The screws act as clamps to pull the wood together for this process, but they are all intended to be removed. I also use plastic staples and brads designed especially for boat building to hold down the plywood strips for the hull. These stay in the boat and are sanded and filled with the subsequent layer of epoxy/stripping.