Time for Reflection

Since we are preparing to embarq on our first big shakedown cruise for the electric propulsion, I thought this would be a good time to look back on the progression of this project to see how we got to where we are today.  All 5 kW of solar panels are installed but not all are wired into the system yet.  The need for additional charge control and batteries necessitate the delay in the completion of the power supply but all the panels are mounted and the wiring is almost complete.  We'll be able to charge control 4 kW on the one 80 amp controller and so we're just leaving the two aft panels unconnected. When we get an additional controller and battery bank,  Carter will divide the panels up into two, 2.5 kW port and starboard arrays with port and starboard battery banks. This will give us some redundancy and better battery management ability. But, we'll have to wait until next quarters capital budget provides the revenue for our next investment, aka Carter's gonna have to get some more work first. But we think the boat is capable and ready to for a spin and all work and no play is a drag.

To start...here Carter is sailing the "Catch de Jour" formally the "Halcyon" (now Archimedes) from Matlache to Labelle, Florida. 

Season 1

After sitting in LaBelle for 2 years, wile Carter was still sailing the Georgia Girl, this is how she looked when I first became involved in this project.  We spent the first several weeks of Season 1 just cleaning her up.  Inside and out.

The wooden masts were 30 years old when Carter got the boat, with numerous rotten spots in strategic places and it was necessary to replace all the rigging.  That's why he took it down.  Here it is after we pressure washed and primed it. You can see the old Mainsail boom laying in the grass in the foreground.

How the idea for a solar boat was born: 

Carter became friends with an old woman named Ellen Peterson in Estero, Florida. After her miraculous recovery from some form of stomach cancer, she didn't get around as well and had a hard time getting out on the river to  paddle or row and she liked to do that very much.  Well, Carter had an old dinghy that a friend had abandoned to him when he left Florida and Ellen had an old broken down golf cart that she was junking and a brand new Mincota troller motor in her shed so Carter asked her if she wanted a solar boat. With batteries and the rooftop from the cart, drunken Dave's old dinghy, and some solar panels from Northern Tool that Ellen bought, she had a boat she didn't have to paddle.  When Carter saw how well it worked, it got him wondering if the idea was scalable.     And the rest is, as they say, history.

First test of the boat with a panel off of Carter's boat  

Back to the construction:

To start, a wood canopy was constructed and 2 solar panels put up for house power and to see how the structure would hold them. Then we ran out of time. 

End of Season 1

Season 2

Unfortunately, the wooden structure was totally inadequate so Carter came up with a design using an aluminum I-beam. The aluminum canopy took the place of the wood, the electric motor and more panels were installed.  Then we went to the boat yard for a complete paint job, top and bottom and moved our operation to Merritt Island.  Here it is at the Banana River Marina.

End of season 2

Season 3

The rest of the panels were installed along with new power electronics, (charge controller and inverter)  and the linear actuators were installed. Now we can run the electric motor strictly off the solar panels without killing the battery.

This blog entry is a quick summery of the progress of how we got the Archimedes to where it is today.  We still have a ways to go but...we've come a long way Baby!

ARCHIMEDES

March 2013