introduction
As a mechanical engineer in the 21st century I've come to believe that almost anything we can imagine, (restrained only by the laws of nature), we can make happen. We are only limited by the resources and determination we have to reach our goals. But looking around at the state of the world today, I've also come to the conclusion that we need to imagine better.
As the Arc's construction progressed may years ago, we began to go out periodically to test improvements we were making on the propulsion system and were genuinely startled at the excitement we generated. I guess you don't see too many 50' solar powered boats going down the intercoastal waterway but we were still surprised by the level of enthusiasm and interest people were expressing about the Arc. Several people actually followed us back to the marina on land to ask us questions and whenever we stopped somewhere it was hard to get anything done because of a steady stream of people wanting to learn more about the boat.
After three years of working on the Arc, we were past ready to take it out for an extended cruise. Even though the ship was a long way from being completely finished, it was far enough along to take for a little spin around Florida. So we decided we would cruise from Cape Canaveral to Fort Walton Beach to attend an interesting energy Expo there as well as just get out and have some fun traveling on the Arc. If all went well, from there we would head for the Alabama/Florida state line and find a place to finish a few things we were still working on. Then we would give Big Ben, (our diesel engine) an extended vacation and see how far we could get operating strictly on solar energy alone.
To be honest, at that point, we weren't even sure we could make a solar passage as ambitious as the whole state of Florida. Limited financial resources have forced many compromises in the construction the Arc's new systems and we had only done sporadic testing of what is essentially adapted golf cart technology. When our deadline to leave the Banana River Marina came, I hadn't even finished wiring in all the solar panels and by then we only had 17 days to make the 600 mile passage to the Expo. So Big Ben, despite his advance age of 50+ years, was going to have to do most of the work getting us there, then get us to Alabama where we would find a place to finish a few more things before our attempt at a solar powered circumnavigation of Florida. Despite several nail biting episodes that brought into question whether we would even make it to Alabama, we finally arrived in a place called Pirate's Cove, just across the state line, where we laid up for about 10 days to make our final preparations.
Pirate's Cove, Alabama is wonderful and hospitable place that I highly recommend to any cruiser. After 10 days of working on all our loose ends, we left the sheltered water of the cove on a cold and windy day in the beginning of April for our maiden "all solar" voyage. We decided to keep a low profile as we built our confidence in the Arc's new system's ability to endure the rigors of extended electric cruising. And we soon learned, as it turns out, April is a lousy month to be "solar" cruising across the Pan Handle. But that was OK, because it really provided a worse case scenario for our shakedown cruise. For the most part, we had partly cloudy or rainy weather with strong headwinds prevailing from the East almost our entire trip. And the rough conditions on the open sounds of that stretch of the ICW didn't help much either. But, even though it became a bit of a slog at times, the Arc proved seaworthy, albeit slow at times, and we stuck to our principle and used only the sun to propel us all the way across the Pan Handle of Florida.
Everything worked well! Slowly but surely we completed the 200 mile journey in a 20 ton floating tiny house running on nothing but Sunshine. So the idea for "a little Cruise Aid for a Sustainable Florida" was now officially born. Although the Arc is technically a diesel/solar hybrid, we will continue our attempt to complete a circumnavigation of the entire length o Florida's intracoastal waterway propelled exclusively by solar energy to graphically demonstrate that renewables are ready to meet the challenge of our growing energy needs, especially in Florida and the Sunbelt.
As the Arc's construction progressed may years ago, we began to go out periodically to test improvements we were making on the propulsion system and were genuinely startled at the excitement we generated. I guess you don't see too many 50' solar powered boats going down the intercoastal waterway but we were still surprised by the level of enthusiasm and interest people were expressing about the Arc. Several people actually followed us back to the marina on land to ask us questions and whenever we stopped somewhere it was hard to get anything done because of a steady stream of people wanting to learn more about the boat.
After three years of working on the Arc, we were past ready to take it out for an extended cruise. Even though the ship was a long way from being completely finished, it was far enough along to take for a little spin around Florida. So we decided we would cruise from Cape Canaveral to Fort Walton Beach to attend an interesting energy Expo there as well as just get out and have some fun traveling on the Arc. If all went well, from there we would head for the Alabama/Florida state line and find a place to finish a few things we were still working on. Then we would give Big Ben, (our diesel engine) an extended vacation and see how far we could get operating strictly on solar energy alone.
To be honest, at that point, we weren't even sure we could make a solar passage as ambitious as the whole state of Florida. Limited financial resources have forced many compromises in the construction the Arc's new systems and we had only done sporadic testing of what is essentially adapted golf cart technology. When our deadline to leave the Banana River Marina came, I hadn't even finished wiring in all the solar panels and by then we only had 17 days to make the 600 mile passage to the Expo. So Big Ben, despite his advance age of 50+ years, was going to have to do most of the work getting us there, then get us to Alabama where we would find a place to finish a few more things before our attempt at a solar powered circumnavigation of Florida. Despite several nail biting episodes that brought into question whether we would even make it to Alabama, we finally arrived in a place called Pirate's Cove, just across the state line, where we laid up for about 10 days to make our final preparations.
Pirate's Cove, Alabama is wonderful and hospitable place that I highly recommend to any cruiser. After 10 days of working on all our loose ends, we left the sheltered water of the cove on a cold and windy day in the beginning of April for our maiden "all solar" voyage. We decided to keep a low profile as we built our confidence in the Arc's new system's ability to endure the rigors of extended electric cruising. And we soon learned, as it turns out, April is a lousy month to be "solar" cruising across the Pan Handle. But that was OK, because it really provided a worse case scenario for our shakedown cruise. For the most part, we had partly cloudy or rainy weather with strong headwinds prevailing from the East almost our entire trip. And the rough conditions on the open sounds of that stretch of the ICW didn't help much either. But, even though it became a bit of a slog at times, the Arc proved seaworthy, albeit slow at times, and we stuck to our principle and used only the sun to propel us all the way across the Pan Handle of Florida.
Everything worked well! Slowly but surely we completed the 200 mile journey in a 20 ton floating tiny house running on nothing but Sunshine. So the idea for "a little Cruise Aid for a Sustainable Florida" was now officially born. Although the Arc is technically a diesel/solar hybrid, we will continue our attempt to complete a circumnavigation of the entire length o Florida's intracoastal waterway propelled exclusively by solar energy to graphically demonstrate that renewables are ready to meet the challenge of our growing energy needs, especially in Florida and the Sunbelt.