Solar small canal boat possible?

[matt167]

My Custom Craft Sea ray, which was in the process of restoration was destroyed last year when the tent garage collapsed in a heavy snowfall while I was away. Sucks, but all that is savable is the engine and the rear fin section of the cap, which I will graft onto a T bucket when I build one at some point, to at least keep something from the old girl alive..

Anyway, I really want to hit the water next spring/ summer and explore the canals and rivers, but I don't really have a good tow vehicle. I have a 1974 MGB for summer fun, and a JDM 1992 Suzuki Carry mini pickup truck for winter/ fetching stuff.. I can easily put a hitch on the Suzuki for a light boat/ trailer but 660cc and 1,500 lbs vehicle weight, it can't be very big at all. So I'm thinking Chugger boat extended model, with 50-100 lbs of thrust. 2 batteries, and at least 300W of solar, Boat will be about 12'

Will 300w of solar do anything for a small boat running down the Erie Canal?

 

[bruceb58]

Will 300w of solar do anything for a small boat running down the Erie Canal?

Not really. 300W of solar @18V is less than 17A. You could use 300W to try and charge your batteries but 300W would likely not be able to replace the the charge in 2 deep cycle batteries after discharging them 50%

Out of curiosity, do you know how big 300W of panels are?

Just to give you an example, 745W is equal to 1HP.

 

[matt167]

Renogy 100w panels are roughly 47x20". I was thinking 3 of them would fit on the roof of the boat, since it would be roughly 48x60".

So if I had say 2 group 29DC batteries on board ( one per side ), and a 55# trolling motor. How much extension would I get from 10A or so charging?

 

[Scott Danforth]

unless you have an active solar tracking array, at best you get 5-10% efficiency with solar panels on a boat thats bobbing around in the water.

this has been covered here ad nauseam. there simply no way to make a pure solar powered boat

you would be better off with a small gas kicker

 

[matt167]

That's what I was afraid of. I just kind of wanted a near silent boat. A trolling motor, and a gas motor with a charging system is a feasible compromise though it would seem

 

[Scott Danforth]

Honda generator? Or simply use a bank of batteries and charge when you get home

 

[Silvertip]

A 55# thrust trolling motor on the boat you envision (which I'm not familiar with) will draw 42 amps under worst case conditions. That will suck a good size battery dry in relatively short order. If you want to spend a small fortune, try a bunch of Lithium Ion batteries. Seems to me someone posted that a tournament fisherman has $3600 worth on his boat to power his trolling motor. A small four stroke outboard would be pretty quiet, use very little fuel and be a heck of a lot less trouble than keeping any number of batteries charged.

 

[Scott Danforth]

that guy that posted that was me. Tracy at work spent the money on his tourney boat. he gets about 6-8 hours on the Lithium Ion batteries on his trolling motor depending on wind.

agreed that a small OB is the best solution

 

[FBJR]

Couple years ago all I had was a 12ft raft with a 30# trolling motor and a 100amp hour AGM. It pushed myself and my 2 boys around very well in a lake for a day and we only used about 1/2 the battery capacity. Lots of stopping to fish. I was going to do the same with solar panels to keep the charge up, but ended going with a small gas motor as I wanted to pull the kids around.

I would agree with others above but with the newer trolling motors are much more eff than what I used. Solar panels are getting much smaller too but still will not keep you going solid all day. Using an MPPT type inverter will help to get the most from the panels also. You would want to look at mono panels which are more eff that poly cells. There are also flexible panels which are lighter and can be hung over the sides with little weight penalty.

Lithiums are great and you can make or buy packs with ease today and they are very light. I am making a 50ah portable bank now that is under 5lbs. (I have been using poly and ion for almost 20 years in models)
Packs are made up of 18650 cells and you can see many being made up on youtube.

I think it could be done, but it will not be cheap and the price of a small generator would be in the same price range. There are cheap gens out there, but you get what you pay for and you still have mess with gas and exhaust. A 1000watt gen only puts out 4-5 amps for 12v.

 

[matt167]

I was looking around. 6hp Tohatsu for $1,349 is a logical answer. With a decent motor, batteries and panels ( plus a backup generator ) it would be more than that. And a 6hp trolling motor isn't going to be very loud idling down the Erie canal

 

[888MFG]

i Had a small 18 foot pontoon with a Ray electric. It had 8 - 6 volt deep cycle batteries. We could cruise our lake all day. 4 mph top speed. Spent many a great day on the lake. I do not see why you could not do the same with a 50 lb Minkota. Charge at the dock or with a small generator.
I also have an 11.3 bass boat with 2 batteries and a Minkota 50 and k=can fish all day with that. It is possible. Have a ball.