Figure 5.29 Solar-powered catamaran Solar Flair III (Paul A. Lynn).
Our second example, the 6.7 m (22 ft) pontoon boat Loon, has been designed and developed in Ontario, Canada, as a spacious canal and river cruiser able to accommodate up to eight passengers in comfort. Raising the 1kW, of PV modules on a canopy greatly increases passenger space and gives protection against rain – and maybe also sun! The input motor power to achieve 8kph is about 1 kW and the PV provides enough electricity, in the Canadian summer months, to travel an average of about 24km (15 miles) per day at this speed. On long cruises the boat's batteries may be fully recharged by plugging into shore power electricity.
The third example, 14 m Swiss catamaran Sun21, made history in 2007 by completing the first Atlantic crossing entirely on solar power. She carries 10kW, of crystalline silicon PV modules on a canopy, and needs about 3.8 kW of motor power to cruise at 8 kph in calm water. On the Atlantic voyage the PV provided up to about 45kWh/day and since the boat was travelling day and night the motor input power had to be kept down to an average of around 1.5 kW. giving a speed of about 5kph (3 knots) in sea conditions. Sun 21 is an impressive catamaran with accommodation for five crew members. Before the Atlantic voyage very few people believed that