Building my solar cat in Auckland, New Zealand

gazz i agree!!

 

Hey Jonathan,

Auckland is about as far from here as you can get without a spacecraft. Sorry I won't be dropping by to help

I have heard good things about the Sanyo panels, although I have not used them. The Sunpower A300s are hard to come by- they are a great cell but production capacity is limited and demand is high. The A300 is the cell of choice in solar-car raycing right now, at least for those teams that don't like spending six-figure sums on spacecraft-grade GaAs. I'm not sure how the cells you're planning to use are encapsulated; in my experience the encapsulation is much more critical than the cell itself where longevity is concerned.

The Wharram cat strikes me as a great platform for this kind of conversion. The designer might consider it a bit of a travesty to chop down the mast, but I really can't think of a better stock hull to work from. (Of course, if building from scratch, one could optimize differently.)

 

Matt
Have you seen any prices on Sunpower A300.

What do the 200W panels cost in North America? It is hard to find prices for Sunpower there.

Rick W

 

Last I checked (mid 2007) A300s were around $10-$12 per watt, if you can find them. Maximum warranty on their assembled panels is 25 years. Solar car teams and other special applications can get the bare cells in custom-size panels with SunKat encapsulation (they don't sell the unencapsulated cells individually). The SunKat laminate is getting pretty close (but not quite) to Gochermann quality. For your boat though I think you'd be looking at assembled, tempered-glass panels. Sunpower does sell these for commercial applications, http://www.sunpowercorp.com/Products-and-Services/Commercial-Solar-Panels.aspx and you would probably be able to get your hands on some for a boat if you asked nicely.

 

Hi Gazzabo, Are you in a position to recommend any boatbuilders or machine shops in Whangerei? Whangerei is probably better than Auckland if costs are advantageous. Of course I would have to figure out how to get a couple of 52 foot catamaran hulls to Whangarei. Any ideas on that?

 

Hi Matt,

Being in the southern hemisphere NZ is about as far away from all the trouble of the industrial revolution as you can get, too. Clean water and air and no traffic jams (most of the time). Only a 9 hour flight from Hawaii.

Don't have to chop down the mast on my Wharram. It never had one. The hulls were built, and then the original owner passed on to the great ocean in the sky where I hope he is looking down on this project with amusement and maybe even approval. It was the perfect platform for me because I could afford it and it is exactly the right length and width for the sweet spot of a solar cat. Greater than 100 sq. meters of deck/roof space.

Jonathan

 

Matt,
Thanks for that link to SunPower Corp. I think I'm going to have my artist draw a couple panels into the hardtop on our sportfish. Having 400 watts on a clear, Florida day for not that much $$ seems like a no-brainer. The 25 year warranty doesn't hurt either. Of course, if the aluminum frame holds-up for 25 years on the sea I'll eat my shorts.

I went to the big IBEX boatbuilder's show in Miami on Monday and there was not one booth for solar panels. Seems if somebody wants to make a few bucks they'd be there selling solar solutions to boatbuilders?!

 

Hi GAZ,

Found a couple of promising looking marine machine shops in Whangarei. Thanks for the tip. Do you have any idea about how I could go about locating a yard to rent close enough to the water to launch from? Probably need at least 500 square meters. I will also be looking for assistants on the project. How is the labor market in Whangarei?

Jonathan