Comment by so-cal-schemer
3 days ago
I've been thinking a solar-powered catamaran or trimaran would be a nice project. Could generate and burn hydrogen for fresh water. Or batteries for ballast in a monohull. Extra panels can be vertical.. who is going to invent sails with integrated solar cells?.. Oh, I see that exists now. Very exciting!
https://www.hallberg-rassy.com/news/news/solar-panel-sails-2...
And for the unacquainted:
Lin and Larry Pardey, most famously, made a long life together sailing the world, first, in their homemade, engine-less 24ft cutter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_and_Larry_Pardey
Cruising in Seraffyn
https://pardeytime.blogspot.com/
They guy behind the Helios 11 solar-powered boat (which was recently wrecked alas) is exactly the kind of scrappy know-best upstart rebel that the solar powered catamaran world needs .. with Helios 11 on the rocks, he's returned to Sweden to build his solar-powered catamaran. As much as his methods are cheap and nasty, I think he has a lot of the momentum needed to actually pull this off, having sailed Helios 11 from Finland to Spain ..
https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/helios-11-solar-explore...
With a few tweaks here and there, once he gets the cat design fleshed out, I'm quite sure I'll follow his lead and do my own version in the next year or so .. its such a great idea, and my section of the worlds oceans (Croatian coastline) seems like the perfect place to field such a vessel ..