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Finnish man builds inexpensive solar boat and sets off to mediterranian. Gives out the plans for free (m.youtube.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/solarpunk@slrpnk.net
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So i thought this fits here, he calls the boat Helios 11 and builds it with very little experience. He docunents the adventure quite well and shares what he learns, and also shares all the plans for the boat for free.

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[–] 103 points 3 months ago (3 children)

You might be better off buying an old aluminium tinny and modifying that. Lasts longer than plywood, and is already a boat. Hardest part done. Making a roof and adding solar panels is relatively easy

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  • [–] 33 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    I think the best option is to take two old sailboats (already efficient hulls) and connect them together into a large catamaran with a platform in between them. This greatly increases the possible surface area for solar panels, with a minimum of water resistance added. It allows you to add a large section of solar panels in the middle without anything adding drag in the water in that section.

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  • [–] 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

    A single-hull can be made self-righting, in case it flips in bad weather. A 35 foot catamaran? You're not getting that back up-right with a crew of one - you basically hope and pray a bigger boat comes along at that point.

    ... Now I've watched the video, there is no ballast, not even a dedicated bilge space, and with the shallow draft, I am uncertain how the boat in OOP isn't too top-heavy to stay up-right. Forget the "Sovereign Living" bit at the end, I'mma need to see some solid design and build data before listening to another word from that guy.

    In short: I take back any mean things I said or implied about Catamarans.

    I was just stanning one of my favorite things about, and pet criteria for, properly-designed boats. I just sold my first sail-boat because I wanted a bigger one, with a better capsize-rating.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    Now I've watched the video, there is no ballast

    He does end up adding ballast later. Added batteries, living stuff and about 150KG of rocks.

    His takeaway was that it didn't really affect cruising speed and that he should have made a sturdier, heavier bottom hull.

    Edit: he's in the process of turning it into a trimaran at the moment also for stability.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago

    Uhm. This is not done by welding a bit or using big bolts. If done wrong, your “catamaran” will not survive a single wave, let alone the conditions of the open sea. Don’t forget how much force water has.

    So if you do this on a lake, you’ll be fine, but not in open waters.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago

    Catemaran hulls are specifically designed as such, you can't use normal hulls.

    You do gain the extra room for solar, but equally you also make the boat wider, making it less flacrical in confined waterways like canals and rivers.

    In high latitudes having a vertical solar sail might actually work quite well to well as both a solar array and a wind sail. But that will require significant engineering design time to get right.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 months ago* (3 children)

    Fiberglass and resin or epoxy on plywood can last very well and is easy to repair if you go for "work boat finish".

    I have every book I can find on this. Phil Bolger, Dynamite Payson, Jim Michelak, all easy and good designs.

    The Birdwatcher style would lend itself well to solar panels, or Michelak's IMB (International Marine Beacher, from a magazine competition).

    I have a half-built "Cartopper" in my shed. I need to go work on it more. Sometimes it's more fun to read about than do.

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    • [–] 40 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I remember reading about a Finn who spent 5 years, half part calculating, half building a small aeroplane in his apartment. Neighbours were let in on the knowing when he needed them to open their doors to poke a plane part into their apartements to get the thing down from IIRC third floor and out.

    He flew it too!

    I read it in the early nineties and the thing was maybe from the eighties. He didn't solder anything but drilled like 30.000 holes and riveted it all together.

    Finns are cool.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    And then there's this German champ hobbying together an entire tank in their basement:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-33381772

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    • [–] 37 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    USA: and I took that personally.

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    • [–] 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (8 children)

    He want's to make it

    AI controlled

    aww man

    I respect his solar commitement, but listening to him it's obvious he's a libertarian Elon-Bro... my immediate reaction is "oh no... it's stupid."

    And the concept isn't new, solar boats have been a thing for ages now and most of them are (like @OwOarchist@pawb.social suggested) catamarans or trimarans.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Honestly not a terrible use of ai. I imagine it's pretty good at spotting things in a sparse environment like the middle of the ocean.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Oh, it's OK, he specifically addressed how to get good AI results. He commanded Chat-GPT to give him good info. If you just ask nicely it won't work, you have to be forceful. Forget boat building, he should clearly be teaching classes on using LLMs.

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    [–] 29 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    Someone in the comments said it best, it's a very cool canal boat but nothing that light would stand-up to open ocean waves.

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    [–] 25 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    Such a cool project. Now, if only I didn't live 1000 km from the sea in a small apartment...

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    [–] 11 points 3 months ago

    Frankly waiting for the news story where he gets killed "proving" his concept...

    The first warning bell was "rated for cross-atlantic"... "rated" by whom?

    Of course then there's the latter part where he talks about the next one is going to be super amazingly polished autonomous vessel with everything up to and including a sauna from the solar... And of course the sovereign citizen take....

    Cool doing a project like this, but it smells of overconfidence in what it currently is and how trivial it will be to get to something much much more...

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    [–] 8 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Does he say how much it cost him?

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    • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Leaving a comment so I can watch this later.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    maybe star/save your comment or something because i am doing the same. i'm planning on kitting out my camping setup with solar so i can take our ebikes with us and i bet this video has all the info i need (i am pretty sure i have it all figured out except the precise wiring but more knowledge never hurt okay i just thought up an exception to that but you know what i mean) i am not pausing babylon 5 tho

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    • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    And it lets you look like a super-spy.

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    [–] 5 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Is that a river boat they started with? That thing looks like it’d crack in two over a strong wave.

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    [–] 4 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    @Nickelalloy
    Initial thought: Wow, I'm sure many have started that but not finished.
    Subsequent thought: Of course.

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    • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    If only we could build an undersea country in this way, but without the psychopaths. And let the land people make hell for themselves if they want, just freedom for the sane ones.

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    • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I absolutely want to Rick my life on a first time jr devs code... Err.. boat design. 👌

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