Chris Robinson is building a boat in the backyard of his Palo Alto, Calif. home.

This web designer is not much of a builder, nor is he a sailor.But this boat isn't your average boat. It's a tsunami escape pod Robinson calls"Tsunamiball."

"I am not expecting a tsunami in Palo Alto," he tells weather.com. "Building the tsunamiball is more of a design challenge than a disaster preparation for me," he says.

Robinson works on the tsunamiball in his backyard.

(Chris Robinson/Tsunamiball.com)

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The idea to build a tsunami escape pod got stuck in this father's head after one heck of a week in 2011. Three things happened in the course of that week: He saw a movie featuring a devastating tsunami; he saw an astronaut's presentation about how an asteroid hitting Earth could create a tsunami; then the 2011 Japanese tsunami hit.

After that week, you can understand why conversation about tsunamis would dominate water-cooler talk among Robinson and his friends.By December 2011, he started putting ideas on paper. He studied escape pods for oil rigs as well as wooden treehouse orbs by Tom Chudleigh. He eventually came up with the walnut-shaped, wooden tsunamiball, which will measure 22-feet long, 10-feet wide and 8-feet high when it's done.

"I wanted to design and build something that could save an inland family, could sit idle for many years with very minimal upkeep, and be built with simple tools," Robinson said.

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He used cardboard to make his first prototype. Then he took some woodwork classes, bought supplies and got to work.

The shell of the boat, complete with a few layers of stripping, sits in Robinson's backyard in early 2014.

(Chris Robinson/Tsunamiball.com)

He's come a long way in two and a half years. Through delicate work, persistence – and of course support from his wife, friends and neighbors —Robinson's tsunamiball is definitely taking shape. He thinks he could be done with the exterior by the end of the year.

"I expect the final craft to have a big captains window in the fore, two access hatches, at least five portholes, and some mushroom vents on the top," he says. "I expect to have an electric motor, solar panels, and a bunch of seaworthy batteries."

Like all meticulous builders, Robinson says he'll test the pod once construction is complete — first in a swimming pool, then in the ocean. The tsunamiball will then serve as a guest room in the backyard —when it's not being used to escape the end of the world, of course.

Robinson is keeping a blog about his work. You can read more about his project, and even ask him questions, at tsunamiball.com.

Chris Robinson works on the tsunamiball in his backyard. (Image: Chris Robinson/Tsunamiball.com)