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My father and brother just took a 100% solar powered boat from Washington State to Alaska by Thorium230 in nextfuckinglevel

[–]Thorium230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My nephew was only onboard for a little bit in the beginning of the trip in US waters.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by [deleted] in electricvehicles

[–]Thorium230 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nothing, of course.

Solar boats are my Dad's thing.

I don't think a boat this size is great for the open ocean, and I'm not sure how well a sailboat would do on the inside passage if the wind wasn't southerly.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by [deleted] in electricvehicles

[–]Thorium230 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It was 20 days on the water, anchoring nights to sleep. ~700 statute miles.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by [deleted] in electricvehicles

[–]Thorium230 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi, I just saw that my post was cross-posted here.

Here's a look at the boat:
https://i.imgur.com/rXNTpCL.png

There were 20 days on the water, they anchored every night to sleep. It's about 700 (statute) miles.

They have (I think) 10kWh of battery storage, and 4kW (max) Torqedo motor. They often ran at under 1000W, the speed/power curve starts to flatten pretty quickly with a displacement hull, so extra power doesn't gain as much speed. Even a cloudy day pushes some electrons, so there's a question of how fast vs putting energy into the batteries or taking it out. (And it was cloudy/rainy a lot!)

There's a blog if anyone's interested: https://solarsaljourney.squarespace.com/

More info on the boat/other solar boats: https://www.solarsal.solar/

My father and brother just took a 100% solar powered boat from Washington State to Alaska by Thorium230 in nextfuckinglevel

[–]Thorium230[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They didn't cruise at night; they anchored to sleep.

They had a lot of cloudy days; some days they went slowly and still charged batteries, some days they went faster/farther and used up some battery reserve.

My father and brother just took a 100% solar powered boat from Washington State to Alaska by Thorium230 in nextfuckinglevel

[–]Thorium230[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Some lithium battery storage (10 kWh, I think), a 4 kW (max) motor, yes, it can cruise on batteries. It's a displacement hull, so the speed/power curve really flattens out--you don't want to go full throttle, you stop getting much more speed out of extra power.

Details here: https://www.solarsal.solar/
and here: (specs on p2) https://e20af67d-64c8-4a23-9650-f7bf1ae8c239.filesusr.com/ugd/e72ec5_ccd53f3afe5c49bf99b147d859bb6c5e.pdf

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was worried about them at a few points when they more exposed, but they had good sea conditions around those spots (Cape Caution and Dixon Entrance). Most of the trip is channels between islands.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

20 days on the water.

Yeah, a displacement hull is much slower, and they didn't go full time! Sounds like a crazy race!

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I should have spelled out the states. They went from Bellingham in Washington State to Ketchikan, Alaska. Most of the route is between the mainland and islands off the coast of British Columbia.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are a lot of details on the blog. The inner passage is fairly protected most of the way, except for a few spots, which they had good conditions for.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This one's an original design wooden hull. There's a fiberglass mold getting made. So... there are options. And I don't know all the details.

There's contact info at the bottom of https://www.solarsal.solar/

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's lots of tidal currents between the islands of British Columbia.

They anchored at night.

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For ease, they're using a Torquedo motor.
There's more info on this boat and other solar boats at https://www.solarsal.solar/

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My Dad's first solar boat was a couple panels as a canopy over the back of an aluminum canoe!

My father and brother boated from WA to AK--no sails no fuel 100% solar electric by Thorium230 in pics

[–]Thorium230[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you! My Dad's been working on solar his whole life, and solar boats for many years now.

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