Thames Solar Cruise Cancelled -Why?

It is with regret that I will have to defer my cruise until next year.

The remarkable results I achieved with my early trials with a small solar panel and an 8 year old battery have not been matched when I upgraded for this cruise. As a result it will be impossible for me to meet the timetable I have arranged and it would take in the region of 2 weeks to complete the cruise.

I am grateful to Mike Manisty for sharing his experiences of a 3 week cruise upstream from Westminster to Lechlade in 2009 and for lending me some panels and test equipment. If the 2 multimeters I ordered on the internet had worked on arrival I would have discovered the shortfall sooner.

I was trying to run for 8 to 10 hours per day but this does not give sufficient time for the battery to recharge so solar input must average the same as electric output. This is not possible as the days get shorter.

When panels are available based on the latest research they could have 6 times the power and be a completely different proposition.
http://www.naturalnews.com/028691_solar_cells_efficiency.html

Sorry for any inconvenience caused. If you have arranged a meeting locally I will be pleased to come without boat to talk further about solar cruising and home renovation for 2050.

It would be good to prepare for June next year with another boat for company.

For any thinking of a similar trip let me share my mistakes. The good results of two trials led me to neglect the maths and concentrate on the publicity through July. I did want to calculate the watts I could pick up in various weathers so ordered a multimeter for the purpose. When it arrived and did not work I just ordered another more expensive one and this too did not work.

Mike Manisty lent me panels and, as I tested them in the garden using his more sophisticated controller, I realised I had over estimated the travelling I can do in a day.

Typically an 80 watt panel facing the sun generates 4.8 amps at 13.5 volts to charge a battery. This drops to 3 amps if the panel it flat on a table or on top of a boat. Any obstruction like an arm casting a shadow over 10% of the panel drops the charge to 1 amp. A cloud will drop the charge to 1 amp if the sky is still quite bright but as evening draws on the charge will drop to 0.3 amps.

These are good practical measurements taken on August 8th at 5pm which may help me and others to get the best out of solar energy on the water. I will add some more measurements later.

Thames Solar Cruise - 21 days to go

Now we are members of the Electric Boat Association and have enlisted their help for fellow travellers and companions for meals en route.
Have created an interesting table decoration to enable restaurants to join in. It can be printed from the web site http://www.3as.org.uk/solarboat
We need to find out how to enable Betty's mobile to send emails as we don't want to take the laptop.

Progress 19th July - responses and sunset

Good response to my emails to Transition Towns and Community Action Groups along the Thames. So far have received 4 offers of B&B, two of which are close to our planned stopping points. Also some good suggestions to contact Oxford Radio and the Electric Boat Association.
Wonder if anyone has a boat moored in Penton Hook Marina they would like to lend us for the night.
Need someone to be willing to rescue if all goes wrong.
Bought a new battery 75 ah which should keep our 30watt motor going for about 12 hours without charge if my sums are correct. Looks too good to be true.
Just resurrected this blog in response to my daughter's suggestion to record progress.
Checked sunset for 15th to 25th August and find it is 20:30 reducing to 20:00. Decided to start one hour earlier to make the best of the light and improve the margin of error.

Thames Solar Cruise 2011

We have had an electric outboard on our Tinker Inflatable dinghy for some years. It would run about 7 miles in between charging and on a fine day we wanted to go further. We bought a standard 30watt solar panel and a controller for about £120 and it works very well as you can see in the video . We wanted to meet others who have similar ideas so came up with the idea of a solar cruise.
It has been well received by Transition Towns and Community Action Groups along the route and could become an annual event. We have some offers of B&B near our night stops but could do with some more.

We would like others to join us to cruise from Lechlade to Teddington in the week from 15th August. We would like to link with well wishers on the way, either to cruise together or to chat at our lunch and evening stops.
We are a 70 year old couple, who now live just East of Oxford. Betty is nervous of the water and hates the cold. Not sure whether 8 hours per day in a small inflatible will be too much fun. Our objective is to raise public awareness of climate change and how people can help. More details on www.3as.org.uk/solarboat

We plan to maintain this blog during the cruise to explain the progress and any delays.

Oxfordshire Open Eco-Homes

What a long time since my first blog!
We have meanwhile had a major home renovation to incorporate ground source heating, heat recovery ventilation and lots of LED lighting.
The objective is not to save money but to support these emerging technologies which have the potential to take civilisation through this crisis. We are writing up our experiences and have opened our home, with other eco-renovators, to help others to avoid our mistakes.
More about that later but see what interesting homes you can visit on the ClimateX web site