My First Solar Powered Boat Project

[SunEagle]

The technique that you describe will allow you to reach what is called static balance. If the prop and motor are heavy enough and especially if the rotor of the motor is out of balance, you may need to add in dynamic balancing.

(To give an idea of the difference, consider a shaft with half of a prop on one end and the matching half prop on the other end. As long as the two halves are oriented 180 degrees from each other, and the halves are identical, you will always have static balance. But when you start to spin the shaft it will wobble badly. That wobble is removed by dynamic balancing, which in that example would involve adding a counterbalance weight to each half prop on the side opposite the single blade.
In the case of the trolling motor, if the motor itself if out of balance, it can be difficult to get dynamic balance just from adjusting the added weight of the prop at one end of the motor shaft.
That is where rotating the prop relative to the motor shaft as well as adding or subtracting weight at both the edge of the prop closest to the motor and the edge farthest from the motor may be helpful.
With any luck, you will not need to resort to dynamic balancing. If you have to dynamically balance, then getting the motor balanced first will make it a lot easier to balance the prop and the combination. Unfortunately, balancing a motor either by adding weight or removing material is NOT usually a DIY job.

Sort of like the way the tire companies use to balance your new tires for free (static) or for a small charge (dynamic). It was always worth going with the dynamic way. Now I think that is the only way to properly balance a new tire. Probably the same for boat props.

As for the small RC plane props. The static test works just fine since the motors are small and surprisingly well made. If you start to get a vibration after a few flights it is best to throw the old prop away and put on a new one. They are that low in cost.

[bcroe]

heated garage

buy a house out in the country with a nice big heated garage.

It can take a lot of fuel for that big heated garage (ask me how I know). Set up with a big
wood burner, to be affordable and to bring the heat up when you need it. Bruce Roe

[TomCat58]

[QUOTE=SolarCanoe;124683]Well I am back from the cottage vacation at Charleston Lake and I figured out what was causing the vibration in the trolling motor. It turns out it was a motor prop balance problem.

Another thing you might try is a Minn Kota -6 prop. It out preformed the stock 45 lb prop my Max Endura came with big time. My speed per amps increased ! Its cheap and easy to find one also. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Minn-Kota-...-Prop/16408591 It looks like the surface on the MKP-6 is almost twice the surface of the stock prop. When I hooking my small generator to the trolling motor I reached speeds up to 10mph. Video is on the Serenity website.

Yes old man winter has shown its face and I am thinking about calling it a year myself.

Tommy

[SolarCanoe]

[QUOTE=TomCat58;124798]

Another thing you might try is a Minn Kota -6 prop.

Tommy

That is the Weedless Wedge prop that I have on the motors now. By-the-way they really are weedless. The stock power prop would load up with weeds immediately when we passed through a weed bed. So bad there was no forward thrust. The Weedless Wedge took us through the same weed bed with no problem and did not pickup any weeds.

[inetdog]

Sort of like the way the tire companies use to balance your new tires for free (static) or for a small charge (dynamic). It was always worth going with the dynamic way. Now I think that is the only way to properly balance a new tire. Probably the same for boat props.

Exactly. And the way that the tire shops were able to get dynamic balance was by separately determining (at the direction of the balancing machine) which weights to add to the inboard rim of the wheel and which to add to the outboard rim. For static balancing they would split all of the weights evenly between inboard and outboard when adding (if they wanted to do a good job) or just put all of the static weights on the outer edge where they were easier to get at (they sold a lot more dynamic balancing after they did that.)

[SolarCanoe]

Final Photos

Here are a few photos I took before dismantling the solar electric canoe:

IMG_0465_1080p.jpgIMG_0466_1080p.jpgIMG_0467_1080p.jpgIMG_0469_1080p.jpgIMG_0470_1080p.jpg

In the long run I am not sure I will go with the canoe and pontoons for the boat platform. I keep thinking some form of catamaran with very streamlined pontoons might be better. The one advantage to the canoe is that you can always pull up the motor and paddle it to explore shallow bays. My current plans are to have pontoons that can be extended to increase stability and retracted to allow for passage through tight areas.

Overall I am quite pleased with the results and I can't wait until I have somewhere to work on this project.

Cheers!

[TomCat58]

[QUOTE=SolarCanoe;124832]Here are a few photos I took before dismantling the solar electric canoe:

Its nice you got it in the water. I had to do the same before I could see what I liked and what I wanted to improve on. Thanks for sharing

Tommy

[SolarCanoe]

Onward & Upward

So we had a great time this fall at Charleston Lake touring around in our Solar Canoe. While the speed running just on sun power was adequate we often wished we could go a bit faster. So when we got home I ordered another 4 of the 50 watt panels I am going to use to build the solar canopy for the bigger boat. So it will have 800 watts worth of panels instead of the 200 watts we had this fall.

Originally the plan was to build the canopy for the large cargo canoe we used this fall. My wife put in a couple of upgrade requests that meant the canoe would not cut it. 1) We should be sitting beside each other. 2) She wanted to be able to use our zero gravity lounge chairs. 3) She would like us to be able to take another couple out with us. 4) She would like to be able to swim off of the boat like people we saw who were on pontoon boats. So you can see where the canoe was just not going to cut it.

Today I purchased some pontoons that a local fellow had made for a sailing catamaran project. These are really nice epoxy pontoons. All I have to do is give them a sanding and paint them. Then hang a nice cedar deck on it, then on with the solar electric project.

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These pontoons are 20 feet long and very streamlined. I expect to end up with useable deck space of about 8 feet by 16 feet.

Now all I have to do is buy a house with enough garage space for me to get to work on this bigger boat. I found a nice house with a double car garage and it is on the water. It is on the banks of a very slow moving waterway that leads to 4 different lakes. Just perfect for cruising on a solar powered catamaran.

WaterHouse.jpgWaterHouse-3.jpgWaterhouse-4.jpgWaterhouse-5.jpg

OH!, and guess what! The house has solar and wind power!
SolarHouse.jpg

I can hardly wait for spring to come.

[dudevato]

those pontoons will make for a Great Solar Boat. Take lots of pics of construction.

[TomCat58]

So we had a great time this fall at Charleston Lake touring around in our Solar Canoe. While the speed running just on sun power was adequate we often wished we could go a bit faster. So when we got home I ordered another 4 of the 50 watt panels I am going to use to build the solar canopy for the bigger boat. So it will have 800 watts worth of panels instead of the 200 watts we had this fall.

OH!, and guess what! The house has solar and wind power!

I can hardly wait for spring to come.

Wow it looks like you found your own slice of heaven.... You must be super excited. I looks forward to more posts as the new plan comes together

Tommy
Serenity Solar Canoe

[dudevato]

SolarCanoe, 'been thinking about your new boat build. I noticed on your canoe you used PVC unions. That's a good idea.

Looking at your gauge console and outrigger set up I've got you tagged as a master tinkerer. Let me suggest you take a look at an alternative to a PVC pontoon panel structure. The pics are of 1" EMT (electrical metallic tubing "conduit") I think I remember it goes for like $4 per 10 foot length at Home Depot?

I got a used 'bender' on Craig's List for like $15. Anyways I like that it lets me make nice, smooth bends in the tubing and the finished product looks a lot like Factory Production

So this might be something that works its way into your Build. I've got I think 5 different size benders 1/2 to 1 1/2" Boy, that large one takes some weight on it to get the tubing to bend 007.JPG008.JPG82-30.JPG

[dudevato]

'already thought of some more to say on the subject:
My panels are 130 watts each (have 6) and are like 24x48" They are supported by the tubing with some 6" overhang on each side. I've welded tabs to the tubing then have 8 pop rivets securing each panel. I fully believe this will require No Maintenance but will keep an eye on things every Trip to the Lake or so.

Side note: I'm in Northern California, 45 miles from Shasta, a 30,000 acre lake. I can't believe how much rain we get up here. The lake has gotten 38 feet deeper in the last month. At the current depth there is 215 miles of shoreline. I lay in bed at night and dream of being some 10 feet off shore gliding along silently just checking out God's Creation humming a favorite tune.

I can not wait for warmer weather, I'm going Solar Boatin'

[russ]

I'm in Northern California, 45 miles from Shasta, a 30,000 acre lake. I can't believe how much rain we get up here. The lake has gotten 38 feet deeper in the last month. At the current depth there is 215 miles of shoreline. I lay in bed at night and dream of being some 10 feet off shore gliding along silently just checking out God's Creation humming a favorite tune. I can not wait for warmer weather, I'm going Solar Boatin'

Sounds fantastic - I grew up in Central Oregon myself.

[bcroe]

Looking at your gauge console and outrigger set up I've got you tagged as a master tinkerer. Let me suggest you take a look at an alternative to a PVC pontoon panel structure. The pics are of 1" EMT (electrical metallic tubing "conduit") I think I remember it goes for like $4 per 10 foot length at Home Depot?

I got a used 'bender' on Craig's List for like $15. Anyways I like that it lets me make nice, smooth bends in the tubing and the finished product looks a lot like Factory Production

So this might be something that works its way into your Build. I've got I think 5 different size benders 1/2 to 1 1/2" Boy, that large one takes some weight on it to get the tubing to bend

Thats cool, but maybe you would like to say something about welding the 3 way joints. The
tubing is plated, which doesn't directly lend itself to a simple MIG weld. Bruce Roe

[dudevato]

Bruce,
I use an oxy/acc torch. I weld outside and have the breeze blow away the smoke & toxins. The tubing Is galvanized (zinc) and surely poisonous or at least 'won't do you a lick of good

I also have a 110 volt Inter shield FireFeed welder (flux is inside the wire so no gas needed) I use on the heavier projects up to 1/4". If they are larger pieces getting welded I use the torch to Take the Chill Off