Another solar canoe "Serenity"

tomcat58

1 mW
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Messages
10
I read most of the solar canoe post here and I always pickup some nice ideas from the other canoe projects. So I will share my solar canoe project also and get some feed back Good, Bad or ugly feed back it doesn't matter just fire away :)

A brief description would be a 3 seat KL plastic canoe. PVC frame with adjustable outriggers. 8ft for towing on highway, 10 feet for calm small bodies of water and 12 feet for my crazy multi day trips on water ways like my 5day/5nights 100 trip on a remote section of the upper Columbia River. Winds can be calm one minute and 50 mph 20 minutes later ! YECK'S !!!

I have 3 solar panels and combined close to 400 watts. One panel is a flex panel and it can be unplug and the the front cover removed exposing the front seat for my grand kid etc.

Well I could go on forever so instead here is my first shot at a website with video's pictures and other information about my solar canoe.
https://sites.google.com/site/serenitysolarcanoe/home

Tommy
 
Very, very cool. Love the name :)

P1160134.JPG

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I've always wanted to "Sail" a canoe around Yellowstone lake for a few weeks, this might be even better.

PS - I hope you don't mind I posted a couple of your pics inline
 
Thanks Eclectic .....Actually I have not figured out the "post a picture" function yet so yeah post whatever you want to :) Yes a multi day trip is what I designed the canoe for. As long as the Sun is above you and you have Water below you.... it just keeps on going and going and going. Or is that a battery commercial with a bunny ????? LOL

Anyway it never has to be plugged in. If the batteries are at 80% when I get back to my truck.... I load it and drive 20 minutes home and its charged again to 100%...
Tommy
 
I love it Tommy. That is very nice looks like you keep getting better and better at the builds.

how much floatation does the outriggers give ? Just curious as they don't seem that large.

Still looks ideal. Love the pics will keep up with your site.
 
ohzee said:
I love it Tommy. That is very nice looks like you keep getting better and better at the builds.

how much floatation does the outriggers give ? Just curious as they don't seem that large.

Still looks ideal. Love the pics will keep up with your site.

The outriggers are 4 inch dia, and 10 feet long, There filled with a special closed cell foam and weigh under 5 pounds each. I have never figured out there buoyancy but the farther there extended from the boat the less buoyancy is needed to stabilize the canoe. In redneck terms... I weight 210 pounds and I can stand on the side of the canoe and hold onto the top solar frame and lien out as far as I can and with the out riggers half way out at the 10 feet selection I cannot get a pontoon to get half way under water.

At 12 feet out on the pontoons I can just get splashes on the bottoms of the outrigger pontoons. My redneck gauge says that its good to go in 20 mph winds and small to moderate swell's.
 
Damn that's impressive.

So in a worse case situation there's a good chance you could pull yourself back into the boat.

That's what I was wondering.
 
ohzee said:
Damn that's impressive.

So in a worse case situation there's a good chance you could pull yourself back into the boat.

That's what I was wondering.

Good Question 8)

Yes and I will post some picture and video snorkeling off the boat and getting back on the boat this spring. Also I have plans to complete at least 75 more miles of the Columbia River this spring and hope to get some high wind conditions the Columbia is known for on video also.

Tommy
 
I will also be using this guys excel spread sheet this spring to document amps used to achieve what speeds and distance. There is a spread sheet you can download half way down the page for your own testing.

file:///C:/Users/Tom/Desktop/Boat%20everything/battery%20info/Trolling%20Motor%20Performance.htm
 
One of the fist things that I noticed about it was the outrigger struts. They look like they are made of 2" pvc. I wonder how much weight they can support. I'm sure it is highly unlikely that it would ever happen but if you ever had a strong enough side gust of wind, you could end up supporting all the weight on a single pontoon for a few moments. Especially after a year or two in the sun, they could become brittle.
 
Eclectic: Yes the struts are 2" PVC but they are reinforced inside with 1 1/2 inch electrical PVC conduit and tucked in tight. The end joints are automotive exhaust pipe custom fit and angle for the application. The boat ends of the struts are still inserted 16 inch so that's good to go to. I have had it in some 20 mph winds with gust to 30 and no problems yet.

I have also strengthen the solar canopy frame by eliminating half the glued joints and inserts as well and all the remaining joints are also screwed together in case a glue joint were to fail.

Its still just a canoe but much much more stable to stand and fly fish or deal with some bad weather and large boat wakes as well as deal with the weight of 2 solar panels on the Canopy.

I need to post more video's in adverse condition to show how it all works. "Talk is cheap but a video says a 1000 words"
 
Eclectic: Your comments about PVC becoming brittle is a good point. From my research PVC can handle many years of use but as your stated it can weaken. The main reason this happens is UV Rays. Painting the PVC eliminate the UV rays. The other option I have is to replace the struts ever few years. That would be about 50 dollars.

Sense the struts slide right out of the pipes its easy to remove them. I always store the struts and pontoons inside the canoe and throw a tarp over the canoe. Also removing the struts and pontoons possible to store the canoe in a area 5 feet wide.

I have picked up a few interesting ideas by the postings here and depreciate the feed back folks :)
 
Life sometimes side tracks me and my solar canoe project but I always seem to come back to this canoe and try something new. I did not want to lose cargo and passenger space in my solar canoe but wanted more solar panels to create more amps. Mostly to deal with using the canoe in cloudy weather.

I am happy with how it worked out and thought I would share my latest upgrade I call "solar wings" I added 2 light weight 100 watt flex panels and mounted them to slide out from under my 2 main ridged solar panels. I also have moved and am on a island in Puget Sound in Washington State out side of Seattle. The pontoons are super important now with large boats casting big wakes at me and other water conditions requiring good stability for a little top heavy canoe. So far no problems the pontoons don't have to be really large if there extended out from the sides of the boat a good distance. Leverage is a good thing and these pontoons are filled with closed cell foam in case they get damaged and leak. The stance is 8 feet wide closed and to be legal to tow on the highway and 12 feet wide slid out on the water.

Here is my latest short video in salt water around the many islands here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0youRUmx3ss

Serenity Solar Canoe Project...
Feed back is how we learn so fire away my friends :)

https://sites.google.com/site/serenitysolarcanoe/
Tommy
 
Looking good Tommy. Was surprised to see you had 3 of you in there.

She looks pretty stable.

I like how you have the hitch secured. How do the wheels attach ?

I have a discovery 169 and some kayaks. If I had a nice body of water near me that's not moving quickly id love to do something similar.

How much battery do you carry ? Sorry if it's stated.

Thanks for sharing.
 
That is a separate hitch from my normal boat trailer. I used that a few times to launch and take out the canoe on remote beaches and to get around a dam. I use a fold up hand truck with a ball mounted on it and a canoe carrier on the rear of the canoe like this one.

http://www.amazon.com/TMS-CART-CANOE-KAYAK-KY001-Carrier-Transport/dp/B0082365AQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446417215&sr=8-1&keywords=canoe+wheels

I use 2 walmart 29 deep cycle batteries. if I want a lighter load I can just pop one of batteries out for that trip. I also have another flex panel I mount on a bow cover I made. When I have a 3rd passenger I pull off the panel and cover exposing the 3rd front seat.

A short half day fishing or scenic at slower speed works just fine with 4 panels. Long trips such as 25-35 miles a day works out better with 5 panels and 2 batteries :)

Tommy
https://sites.google.com/site/serenitysolarcanoe/
 
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