Electric hydrogen blimp-boat

I'm not sure what this would solve, but I "dump" it in here anyways.

Helium is too expensive, so we use hydrogen.
Hydrogen is not safe, so we separate the lifting device (the blimp) from the main deck. If it explodes, there's no problem, because the cat below will prevent the batteries from sinking, whereas people on the main boat remain unhurt.

The blimp lifts the heavy batteries out of the water.
The main boat only has an electric motor, supplied by the power cables coming from the blimp.

Large surface area of blimp-boat allows for solar panels.

Drag in water is defeated and replaced by drag in air. The catamaran structure beneath the blimp barely touches the water surface.

OK.

 

And the area of solar needed to get say 100 hp for 24/7 is?

FF

 

Solar only works 12/7 on equinox with no clouds. I see issues with tow cables snapping and cutting through the air, a dangerous arrangement, more likely than a hydrogen explosion.

 

Ok, make the blimp really big, so it can lift the catamaran out of the water, and you can get away from storms. You will probably get more propulsion from winds blowing the blimp than from solar power.

But, when you run out of hydrogen, you can use solar power to create hydrogen from seawater to replace what you lose.

Note - thin aluminium covered plastic holds hydrogen in best, either that or the japanese trick of laquered paper works well too.

 

Look, I didn't say nobody was allowed to laugh at this idea.

It's just that batteries are so heavy, and I want to cheat my way into an electric boat that works.

 

wind is going to play hell with the "blimp" your better off using a kite and maybe inflating it. Or inflating the hull like the Orakle BMW boat did. Solar is not viable do a search and do some research. At some point you might just want to look into inflating a hovercraft hull and saving lift energy rather than dealing with drag from H2O