Cal Poly Pomona Solar Boat

Hello everyone,

I want to start by thanking everyone on this forum for your words of wisdom. I have come to the site many times searching for advice on composite boat construction. I thought I would share with you a little bit about the boat we constructed last year and our current model under construction.

For the past three years our team has competed in the Solar Splash, an intercollegiate competition where teams from around the world race their solar powered vessels. We are the only team representing the West coast and have done very well considering how long we have been competing and the resources at our disposal.

Last year we constructed a boat completely out of pre-preg carbon fiber. Everything was done in house, from design to final fabrication. We designed our own boat, did our own flow analysis, rapid prototyped scale models, constructed a plug, made a mold off of this plug, and cured the layup. Again, everything was done in house including building our own 20ft oven that could cure our hull at 350F for 4 hours. Our boat was one of the most innovative at the competition, featuring a monocoque carbon fiber hull, vector thrust steering, counter rotating propellers, a comprehensive data acquisition system, and a custom electrical and solar system design.

Here are a few picture of our boat from last year:

















This year we are building a new design again out of pre-preg carbon fiber. We have done much research and have greatly improved our manufacturing procedure. Our goal was to use only industry grade materials and techniques. We are currently finishing up our tool and will be curing our carbon part after finals.














As you can see this is a huge project and requires 1000's of hours from our team of committed student volunteers. Without the help of our sponsors, both of materials and financial, we would not be able to produce a quality product and compete as well as we have. If you or someone you know would be interested in learning more about our project or potentially becoming a sponsor please check out our website at: http://www.csupomona.edu/~av/

Under our sponsorship page we have a detailed package which tells more about our club, our mission, and the benefits of becoming a sponsor.

Any questions or comments are welcome!

Regards,

Cal Poly Pomona Solar Boat Team

 

Looking good.

Do some more research on props, if you can afford it. It really helps. For the rest no real comments.

 

Those Volkswagon Bug propellers don't belong on that Ferrari boat.

 

looks like a great project, the best way to learn is to actually have to build something that works.

What are the rules for the contest? Is it speed, distance, is there a size requirement?

 

Thank you for the comments! I should have mentioned, we actually just grabbed two random propellers from our lab and put them on the drive train for the picture. We ended up running a much different setup than this, just didn't have any good pictures of the drive system out of water.

As far as the competition is concerned there are very few restrictions which makes it a great opportunity to see how far we can push the design. We are limited to a maximum width and length. There are also various restrictions on the electrical system to level the playing field. For more information about the competition check out:

http://www.solarsplash.com/index.php

 

Ah, the prop picture is to confuse the competitors...

 

You'll be familiar with this boat then.

 

And this perhaps?

 

Those are pictures I know. Lot of teams participate. I believe at this moment we sponsor the Twente team, but we supply more teams.

 

I ask becasue it seems to me that a canoe shaped tail would seem to have less drag than a flat transom, unless you are reaching planing speed (which I doubt). The flat transoms create a lot of drag when in displacement mode. Other than that the hull shape looks excellent.

Also, the motor should also have a smooth faring over it, or at least on the front of it to avoid a bluff body. But as you pointed out, this was not your final configuration.

Was there a reason to use the cross shaped stiffening ribs inside the hull? Again it seems lateral ribs would be a more efficient use of materials since the skin would provide all of the diagonal bracing you would need.

Great project, it is always lots of fun to build boats when someone else is paying for the materials and other cost.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4fVkSWz_FE (OK, that is hydrofoils)

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WpGRDqWkIY (around 1:00)

Does that answer your planing questions?

Electricity is powerful stuff...

 

Aren't those cool!!

And no batteries!!!

 

Nice! looks like they do reach planing speeds. you could zip around all day and not burn any fuel. have to give a rest at night however.

 

They are on foils now...

 

I build this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj4oFh_FlB4
does around 15 kts, can go about 6-8 hours a day with some loading pause in between.
Right now it's being taken apart by students, the build of the next one with the university as a main sponsor this time will probably start in september. Can't wait to see what the students come up with, but there is a hydrofoil specialist involved...
(the 2012 delft boat was a dog. their hydrofoil system didn't work and wasn't very controllable. we ended up before them, while our boat was in a less powerfull class)