Epic solar boat adventure - Extension poles

Part of the latest design plan is to be able to raise the solar panels when my little boat is going on an epic adventure, rather than just a day trip.

During transit on the tralier, I want my solar panels as close to the deck of the boat as I can make them so they dont fly of in a direction of their choosing. I want them to be a little more under my control that the wind might, so keeping them low means I get a bit less wobble. If you don't know what I'm talking about, get a neighbour's kid (don't use one of your own) and see how much more they move about if you lift them up high on a post.

That's physics at work.

Or something.

But anyway, if you built a carport on 300ft long broomsticks, it would fall over in the first stiff breeze. But the same carport would hand it just fine if the broomsticks were only 4 foot tall. (I presume you drive a Ferrari)

So I want my solar panels to sit atop their low rise roof in 110 kph transit, but be extended to a more convenient height when I'm on an epic adventure. I don't mind stooping a bit to get under cover, but it will drive me nuts if I have to crawl under the panels if I ever need to sleep on board.

So..

The in the low rise version (road transit, and day trips) the solar panels will sit at around 400mm high.

In high rise mode, they will sit at more like 1200mm high.

In order to move from low to high mode, I figured I'd mount the entire frame on hinges so I could add the extension tubes first to one side, and then to the other by lifting the frame with one hand and adding the extension tubes with the other.

But I have a problem. I cant wrap my head around Newton and his pesky rules...

If I mount a 1.8m cube of grow house frame so that all four of it's legs are hinged to enable it to tilt around an axis running front to back of the boat, will it fall down, or will it's integrity be maintained by the structure of the top.

I realise the answer is going to start with "it depends", but arggggh!.

I want my old brain back.



120 Things in 20 years wants to start using the invention engine again. It's always worked much better than this brain thing.

Epic Adventurer - Solar Boat - Bullwinkle III

I made some progress.

Actual progress!

I have a plan, some drawings, and newly found personal temperature control.

Which is awesome.

If you haven't had personal temperature control for a decade or so and then you get it, it's pretty much the most wonderful thing you could imagine.

I no longer need ice packs under my hat and in my pockets.

Awesome.

Yesterday I was cold for a bit.

Awesome!



120ThingsIn20Years... No really - Awesome!

Epic adventurer - New solar panels

Bullwinkle III is about to be born.

Bullwinkle was the first incarnation of my little boat. It was originally a SunDance 4.3m one man racing catamaran.

I went halves in it with a friend.

It was old and slow but built solidly.

We broke it.

We fixed it up, but it wasn't strong enough to put it under the kind of strain that a boat sees when it's under sail, so the sail had to go.

I put a 1.8m square of marine grade plywood on it and turned it into a fishing barge. I added a large deep cycle battery and an electric trolling motor. This gave me a range of around 6km which is surprisingly enough to catch lots of fish and more importantly, lots of blue swimmer crabs. This incarnation was Bullwinkle II. With the aid of some rope, and some plastic hand reels as pulleys, two empty milk crates as seats, and a pram wheel as a steering wheel, it was quite comfortable. the only downside was that people kept boating up to us to see if we needed help because we looked like a sinking dingy. A sinking dingy with two people standing on it fishing.

Then came Bullwinkle II.V which was essentially the same as Bullwinkle II but it also had a 3hp two stroke motor, but that was just annoying.

So today I spent the money I've received from you nice people clicking my blog's ads on two new 180w solar panels. They have apparently been built, and are now being put on a ship in China.

Thanks clickers.

Thanks China.

Thanks boats.

So now I can finally build Bullwinkle III.

I have the hulls, the decking, a motor, the frame of my 1.8m grow house (the one that let the sun dissolve it's cover), and an office chair.

That should be plenty enough junk to solar boat the length of the mighty River Murray.


120 Things in 20 years just remembered that I hadn't ever gone camping alone, so the night before last I drove to the river with my swag, and tried it. Nothing bad happened.

Epic adventurer - Solar boat trolling motor

I got one step closer to setting out on my zillion mile epic adventure on the mighty Murray river, on my little solar powered boat.

That step included testing just how much juice I was going to need to run the trolling motor, and seeing if the solar panel I have will provide enough.

My boat is a displacement hulled catamaran. That means it doesn't do the skimming across the top of the water thing that most other racing cats do, so it's very outdated for racing, but it floats well, and the hulls are very low drag.  At their widest, they measure only 20cm or so. They are 4.2m in length, so they slide through the water without a lot of effort. Probably even slicker than a kayak.

The result of all this is that I can tick along at walking pace with an electric trolling motor on it's slowest setting.

I like walking pace.

In fact, aside from jet aircraft pace, and insane motor bike pace, walking pace is my favourite pace.

So I think, the result of all that is that I should be able to power my little boat with my single solar panel. That question has been nagging at me for ages. My solar panel says it delivers a maximum of 230w at 37v and also mentions 7.5 amps or so.  I think that means that at 12 volts after an MMPT solar charge controller, it will offer the battery a maximum of 19 amps. Probably much less.

But...

I just put my trolling motor in a bucket of water (large bucket) and ran it through my multimeter. As far as I can tell, it draws around 12 amps on the lowest speed setting. I'll be taking a 120 amp hour deep cycle lead acid battery. From memory, before I had the solar panel, that battery gave around 5 hours cruising when I ran it down to 11v. But my memory is terrible for stuff like that.

Also as far as I can tell, I think that means I should be able to cruise for a reasonable amount of time each day. There's also the option of running a bit faster during the middle of the day, when my solar panel is generating the most power. It would be nice to leave the battery with a healthy amount of charge at the end of each day so that I could use some for light, charge my phone and UHF radio, and to power a laptop so I can get some blog posts out.





I'll probably want to set up camp each afternoon when there is still plenty of light, and get up early each morning to pack up camp and get under way when the river is at it's best. If I leave a full battery at the end of each day, I should be able to set off at first light, and then make up the charge by the end of the afternoon.

Or something.

But I have no idea how this will all pan out in the real world.

What I need is a 36v to 12v MMPT solar charge controller that actually works, and wasn't sold to me fraudulently by that trader on E-Bay.

Now I don't trust the world any more.

But I'll probably get over it.

But on the up side I now know how much current my little trolling motor draws, and I've also found a brand new way to inject a lot of oxygen into my fish tank very quickly, and perhaps mince fish.

Which is nice.

This is the trolling motor on it's highest speed setting.

Excited water.







120 Things in 20 years thinks it's found the worlds fastest way to empty a large bucket of water all over itself and it's shed, without actually picking it up and tipping it over itself.

Thinking - Solar photovoltaic panels - Epic boating adventure - Lunacy

I looked away for a bit, and while I wasn't looking the world notched over to complete lunacy.

I bought a solar charge controller that was advertised as being able to accept voltages 12v-40v.

That was nice because my solar panel is 37 volts.

But when I opened it the docs inside said it was good for 12v-20v. I complained and eventually the internationally known E auction site gave my my $70 back, but I had to pay $30 for the return postage.

I sent it back to China.

Today I just got it back in the mail.

Apparently they didn't bother to collect it or they don't really live at their stated address.

So far it's travelled 20,000km.

The world is an amazing place.

And a completely loony one.

Electronics - Solar panel

I bought a stinking great big solar panel at auction online. A real life auction, in a local auction house, but I bid online.

When I went to collect it, the glass was broken into a zillion bits. I counted them. One zillion exactly.

So I offered them $50 for the two that were left and they thought that seemed reasonable.

I only brought one home because the person who had bought the other one needed to have to option to take it, but the one I do have looks like this...

It's big.

It also gloops out 230 watts of whatever watts are.

Which is nice.

If I can find a slice of glass to cover it, it may even prove useful.

I have big plans for it.

I'll use it to power my aquaponics system for one thing, but I have bigger plans for it.

I'm going to use it as a shelter.

If it still works.



120 things in 20 years, where you may well find electronics, and solar panels, but your just as likely to find nothing.

I've been too busy to post stuff, and it's about to get worse.

Solar photovoltaic panels - My first little solar panel and a tiny motor

I received the 6 in 1 solar toy that I bought a few days ago. And this is the bit I really wanted to play with. It's a tiny electric motor.

Pictured here with a normal bic ball point pen, and powered by only a square inch of solar panel, this little thing is amazing. the motor costs around $2 (from memory, don't quote me. I saw them on ebay after I bought the toy kit) when bought by itself, and packs a surprising amount of punch.

Especially when you consider how small the photovoltaic cell is.

I guess this means I'm starting a new thing. I have no idea how these things work, and think it's about time I did.

My brain is slowly coming back into gear, so I'm hoping the electronics I've learnt so far will start making some sense soon, so I'll be able to finish my demand fish feeder, and let me start playing with solar.

There's something very reminiscent of the feeling I get in a sail boat when I play with this little solar panel.

Something about it just feels right.

If you can, I recommend you get yourself something similar or cover your roof in solar panels. It must feel great.




120 Things in 20 years, saving the world, one pointless (so far) solar toy at a time with "Solar photovoltaic panels - My first little solar panel and a tiny motor"