# Solar powered John boat



## budgetprepp-n

There is a thread right under mine where a guy wants to solar power a big boat with solar power. 
I got to thinking but I didn't want to highjack his thread so I started my own.

Please check out his thread so I don't feel bad.

Anyways I have a small aluminum John boat with a trolling motor. I also have two extra 285 watt solar panels.
If I'm lucky on a sunny day I should get a least 180 watts from each panel total of 360 watts using 12 volts
that's 30 amps. Would that run a small trolling motor? The motor I got might be a little big but I guess I could 
not run it all the way up on high speed if necessary so the panels could keep up. 

I could mount the panels up a few feet in the air like a roof to give me room to sit and cast. 

I would mount a volt meter on the battery to see if the panels were keeping up or not

Could this work? I just finished up with my 12 volt security lights. and was wondering what to try
next. What do you think could this work? 

I know I think I can charge up a battery in less time than it takes to run it down trolling.
If you had the stuff would you try it? 

top heavy maybe? ideas?


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## Medic33

ahh no, I mean it could work but why? are you that lazy? wind is free and paddles work fine or push sticks? you can also go real old fashion and use a drag-chute so the currents can just pull you through the water.
just my Opinion.


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## budgetprepp-n

UH-OH I just saw a flash in my head it was a trolling motor running in a barrel of water with a battery and two solar panels hook to it.
Or it may have been a seed that poped. nor sure


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## jim-henscheli

Budget, I replied to birdbrains thread, stating I run a trolling motor off of a battery charged with solar. It works but it's really slow, and the only way to make it faster would be more panels. But a tohatsu 3 is still faster, lighter, cheaper and smaller.
But shtf, solar could work, but it's big. 
If I had a 12 foot double hull fiberglass boat, then I could carry, say, 3 or 4 batteries, and always keep them charging, then it would work. But it's still slower than a gas motor, and much heavier. And actually only a little quieter.


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## 8301

Yes it would run at about .3 hp. Add a battery to store extra energy for short power runs and you could make it work assuming you could still cast around those panels. Using a 1 hp trolling motor the battery plus solar could run you for 15 minutes, then play the fish at low power from the motor, then a bit of high speed, ect... through the sunny day. 

Keep a set of paddles for backup.


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## budgetprepp-n

I don't know what size the motor I have is but it pushes the boat a about as fast you can row if you really go to it.
And when I had the boat out with a fully charged motor it lased hours and hours I think longer than what it would
take me to charge it back up with two panels. 
Seems like the over lap of running time and charging time would keep the battery charged. ARRG ahoy me matetees shiver me timbers


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## hag

I can charge up a marine battery at home and put it on my boat and it will last two days of fishing without any recharge at all on a 60lb thrust trolling motor. If you start with a full battery and keep charging as you go with your panels, you could probably do much better. Mine is a 16ft John boat. Good luck


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## GTGallop

Adapting my post from his thread to fit your much more plausible scenario.

The panels on my house are roughly 6'x3' and produce 435w at PEAK OUTPUT. That means they have to be at just the right angle. Most of the time they are producing about 60% to 80% of that. So about 300w.
http://us.sunpower.com/sites/sunpowe...-datasheet.pdf

If you had a Grizzly Tracker 1754 that was 6.5' wide and 17' long...
TRACKER Boats : All-Welded Jon Boats : 2016 GRIZZLY 1754 MVX Jon Specifications
You could put a rack like a covered awning on top to shade people on the boat and put your cells on top of that. You'd have room for about 5 panels giving you 1,500 to 2,000 watts of power - or 1.5 KwH to 2KwH.

You'd need a hoss of a battery bank for that kinda juice, but fortunately the Minn-Kota Vantage 101 requires 36 volts (three deep cycle batteries) and produces over 100lbs of thrust. I think you could probably use 9 batteries to give you 3 36 volt banks and maybe a 10th aux 12v battery to run other electronics like coms, sonar, radar or a minnow pump.

That kind of set up would keep you cool and cruising along at a reasonable speed or let you take on a slight wind or current.

Even better a pontoon boat would have about as much contact with the water as a jon boat, be more stable, and add more space on top for more panels, and below the panels you could have a sizable deck for what ever you wanted to do. I prefer a nice flat platform like that over the irregularities of a jon boat.


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## budgetprepp-n

I was thinking 2 panels and one battery.


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## budgetprepp-n

hag said:


> I can charge up a marine battery at home and put it on my boat and it will last two days of fishing without any recharge at all on a 60lb thrust trolling motor. If you start with a full battery and keep charging as you go with your panels, you could probably do much better. Mine is a 16ft John boat. Good luck


 Ok here we go That battery will last for two days,, But it only takes a few hours to charge doesn't that mean that 
I could charge it faster than it is being drained? So I would think the charge from the panels would be greater than the 
power being used by the trolling motor.

I'm thinking on panel 245 or 285 watt whichever it is I have out in the shed and one
battery. I'm thinking I can run the trolling motor and keep the battery fully charged.
Just so long as the panel puts out more than the motor uses. 
How many watts or amps does a medium size trolling motor use?


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## GTGallop

budgetprepp-n said:


> I was thinking 2 panels and one battery.


My scenario was considering 100% run time. More like traveling from A to B at full speed.

Most of the time I use a trolling motor to fish, I just use it to correct the angle of the boat or distance to shore when I drift too far off the mark, so maybe 10 minutes of run time for every hour. I'd think a smaller set up would work for that.


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## Operator6

We run Jon boats on batteries and trolling motors all the time. It works great for fishing the inlets off the river. Friend of mine has a fishing kayak that has a trolling motor, it works even better. 

You'd be better off just charging the batteries back up with the panels and skip mounting them on the boat.


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## budgetprepp-n

Operator6 said:


> We run Jon boats on batteries and trolling motors all the time. It works great for fishing the inlets off the river. Friend of mine has a fishing kayak that has a trolling motor, it works even better.
> 
> You'd be better off just charging the batteries back up with the panels and skip mounting them on the boat.


 What fun would that be? Just like everybody else dose 
I must be weird or something I just think it would fun to see if I could cruze my john boat with solar power.
for some reason I enjoy this kind of stuff as much as Fishing or hunting. And most of the time you learn something new. 
<-------------the car you see was a "why not?" project (that was fun 
Watch for a post If I decide to do a project on this boat check it out and feel free to make suggestions


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## Medic33

you know man if you think it I fun and get a kick out of it, why not?
your not weird or anything, bored maybe but not weird.


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## Operator6

budgetprepp-n said:


> What fun would that be? Just like everybody else dose
> I must be weird or something I just think it would fun to see if I could cruze my john boat with solar power.
> for some reason I enjoy this kind of stuff as much as Fishing or hunting. And most of the time you learn something new.
> <-------------the car you see was a "why not?" project (that was fun
> Watch for a post If I decide to do a project on this boat check it out and feel free to make suggestions


I'm all for experiments but the experiment your talking about has already been tried. Why waste your time ?

It comes down to how many panels you can carry and how efficient your boat and motor is.

I can tell you right now a jon boat isn't designed to be efficient through the water......trolling motors are not the most efficient motors either....

How many cars do you see running on no battery with just panels ?

How expensive are the total electric cars compared to a gas engine alone ?

See where I'm going ?

Not trying to be rude or discourage experimenting but all of what you're trying to do has been tried many times. All failed with the current crap you can buy.....


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## budgetprepp-n

Operator6 said:


> I'm all for experiments but the experiment your talking about has already been tried. Why waste your time ?
> 
> Not trying to be rude or discourage experimenting but all of what you're trying to do has been tried many times. All failed with the current crap you can buy.....


 Your right,,,,,,, What was I thinking? This has been tried by others and they have failed.

Only fool would try something that someone else tried and failed at. Boy is my face red.

I think I'll turn over a new leaf and only do experiments that others have succeeded at.

Darn,, I already called to have the paper work for getting the boats licence renewed.


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## Operator6

budgetprepp-n said:


> Your right,,,,,,, What was I thinking? This has been tried by others and they have failed.
> 
> Only fool would try something that someone else tried and failed at. Boy is my face red.
> 
> I think I'll turn over a new leaf and only do experiments that others have succeeded at.
> 
> Darn,, I already called to have the paper work for getting the boats licence renewed.


There's nothing wrong with trying something new.......but your not trying something new. That's the simplest way I can put it.

How much weight do you think a 14' Jon boat or similar can hold ?


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## budgetprepp-n

Operator6 said:


> There's nothing wrong with trying something new.......but your not trying something new. That's the simplest way I can put it.
> 
> How much weight do you think a 14' Jon boat or similar can hold ?


It's not 14' it's only 10' and I think it will hold all I need it to


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## Operator6

budgetprepp-n said:


> It's not 14' it's only 10' and I think it will hold all I need it to


If you build a top to put the panels on be careful and don't let the wind capsize you. Pontoons ?


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## budgetprepp-n

Before I dig out my jon boat and send in for my license I'm going to do a test and see if this is feasible.
If the sun is shining tomorrow we'll see what happens. I'm going to try it with one panel first 
I moved all my stuff to the other end of the porch where the bigger panels are
I think they are 235watt I can hook up two of these if I need to


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## FLPrepper

Thinking of buying a Goal Zero Yeti, was wondering if anyone out there has owned one and could give me some input before I lay out the cash?


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## GTGallop

Be wary of proprietary plugs and fittings on Goal Zero. they use to be bad about that but not so much now. If I had GZ equipment I'd pull off the connectors and put Anderson Power Poles on there. But that's just me. All in all their stuff seems to be solid.


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## GTGallop

@budgetprepp-n, You sir are the MASTER of applied science! We all sit around here and postulate on past experiences and reference charts and stuff on the web, but we all know applied is totally different and you sir have no inhibitions about quenching that thirst for applied knowledge. If PF gave out awards for the Best Contributor, I'd nominate you in a heartbeat. LOVE the way you lay all BS aside and just get it done!


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## budgetprepp-n

I made 2 discoveries today 

First,, It takes two panels to run my trolling motor 

Second,, If you kick a trolling motor on high speed in a shallow tote you will get soaked


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## 8301

Operator6 said:


> I'm all for experiments but the experiment your talking about has already been tried. Why waste your time ?
> 
> It comes down to how many panels you can carry and how efficient your boat and motor is.
> 
> I can tell you right now a jon boat isn't designed to be efficient through the water......trolling motors are not the most efficient motors either....
> 
> How many cars do you see running on no battery with just panels ?
> 
> How expensive are the total electric cars compared to a gas engine alone ?
> 
> See where I'm going ?
> 
> Not trying to be rude or discourage experimenting but all of what you're trying to do has been tried many times. All failed with the current crap you can buy.....


Party Pooper.


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## budgetprepp-n

GTGallop said:


> Adapting my post from his thread to fit your much more plausible scenario.
> 
> The panels on my house are roughly 6'x3' and produce 435w at PEAK OUTPUT. That means they have to be at just the right angle. Most of the time they are producing about 60% to 80% of that. So about 300w.
> http://us.sunpower.com/sites/sunpowe...-datasheet.pdf
> 
> If you had a Grizzly Tracker 1754 that was 6.5' wide and 17' long...
> TRACKER Boats : All-Welded Jon Boats : 2016 GRIZZLY 1754 MVX Jon Specifications
> You could put a rack like a covered awning on top to shade people on the boat and put your cells on top of that. You'd have room for about 5 panels giving you 1,500 to 2,000 watts of power - or 1.5 KwH to 2KwH.
> 
> You'd need a hoss of a battery bank for that kinda juice, but fortunately the Minn-Kota Vantage 101 requires 36 volts (three deep cycle batteries) and produces over 100lbs of thrust. I think you could probably use 9 batteries to give you 3 36 volt banks and maybe a 10th aux 12v battery to run other electronics like coms, sonar, radar or a minnow pump.
> 
> That kind of set up would keep you cool and cruising along at a reasonable speed or let you take on a slight wind or current.
> 
> Even better a pontoon boat would have about as much contact with the water as a jon boat, be more stable, and add more space on top for more panels, and below the panels you could have a sizable deck for what ever you wanted to do. I prefer a nice flat platform like that over the irregularities of a jon boat.


 Ok I know you are right but usually I try and go "post shtf" style when the lights go out and don't come back
on you'r not going to able to order or buy anything so I'll see what a car battery or two and a couple of panels
can do. .......................you'r < that looks funny is that right?


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## GTGallop

budgetprepp-n said:


> Ok I know you are right but usually...


HA! Not hardly. You are the man when it comes to applied science. My stuff is all spreadsheets and mathematical formulas with a lot of estimated variables thrown in the mix.



budgetprepp-n said:


> ...I try and go "post shtf" style when the lights go out and don't come back
> on you'r not going to able to order or buy anything...


My mistake - I was thinking more pre-SHTF. Like building a bug out boat in advance. For a post SHTF build you are right on track.



budgetprepp-n said:


> you'r < that looks funny is that right?


Not sure I understand. I'm happy to double check. Quote out the part you are questioning and I'll go look.


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## batteksystem

Most probably you will need to charge the battery for 2-3 days in order for it to run 2-3 hours.


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## budgetprepp-n

batteksystem said:


> Most probably you will need to charge the battery for 2-3 days in order for it to run 2-3 hours.


 No I did an experiment and it took about 3 hours to fully charge a battery using two 235 watt panels and that was a really
dead battery. And,,,,,,The panels will keep up if I use the lower speeds of the trolling motor and the upper speeds were sort
of close. So it should take a really long time to drain the battery using the trolling motor and having the panels charging
at the same time. When the battery was charged in 3 hours that was with the battery really dead. Like 9.5 volts So if the 
battery is down a reasonable amount like 12.3 it should charge up quickly.

A trolling motor will run many hours on a charged battery. So with the solar panels helping you could go a very long time
before the battery would show any major loss of charge. And if you ran it at a lower speed the battery would charge up 
while you are using it.


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