Primary research, follow up user research, Shelterbox

Visit to Shelter box to meet with John Leach, Operations manager at shelterbox. 

primary research, follow up user research; concepts

follow up research trip to penryn boat yard to show my initial users my concept drawings and renders for the weighted tarpaulin clip concept. the photos below show the amount of tarpaulins used, and the opportunity for these to be turned into useable, functional rainwater collectors. unfortunately i was unable to contact my original users, however i did manage to speak to Chris, manager of Penryn boat yard. He was able to give some feedback on the design: "make sure there is enough grip to use in the wet. also if im using gloves i want to be able to use it as easily as possible." "its probably better if its an easy to see colour, something thats obvious if it falls off."

 these two photos show the difficulties of access during high tide. the first shows the tidal path that allows access to all boats along the bank. the second shows the makeshift bank access used by those for high tide boat access. clearly neither is easy to use especially when carry things.

following this visit, i contacted Shelterbox about further progressing the clip concept and to see if they think that it is a viable solution to be used in disaster zones

test day 2, the day the storm came

length: extended length just gets in the way, it just doesn't clamp enough or direct the water any more than small clips.
Weight; makes the most difference in terms of function. weight needs to be 2-4 times heavier than at the moment depending on material.

grip: it was wet and cold, and windy. more finger grip to make clamping easier. More clamping grip as with the wind some of the clips started to come loose.

after 4 hours in the storm, a couple of the clips came loose, emphasising the need for grippier clips.

Rainwater harvesting testing

this is the first working prototype. bulldog clip and a 100g fishing weight. initial testing on a tarpaulin was more successful than i expected. the clips worked better than i though they would in transporting the water to the funnel. a really useful point of the clips was using them to clip the funnel to the tarpaulin which really helped guide the water to the bottle. 

concept development

ive had a rethink, gone to my simplest ideas, back to rainwater harvesting, making use of already existing items on boats, minimal users expense and effort, minimal manufacture, maximum impact and result. simple, small, and highly useful, adaptable and usable in a variety of situations.

water wick tests 1 and 2

wick tests 1 and 2 did not work. nether wick, neither the string or cotton t-shirt absorbed enough water to effectively wick form one cup to another.

maritime museum visit and rainwater collection

the second attempt at rainwater collecting was fairly successful. 200ml in 6 hours during a cloudy misty day without much rain.

visited the falmouth maritime museum.