Solar Boat CO

[Bob Blues]

Hello,

I have been seriously considering converting my boat to Solar and have been trying to contact the Solar Boat Co for several weeks for prices and design specs but they are not answering mails and there is no phone number on their site.

 

Their site has been changed recently and the prices page has been removed and it looks like they are no longer doing the conversion work I see it is AGNI 48V traction motor and they seem easy to get and the 48V Inverter charger also seems to be easy to get hold of. With the drop of price of High Voltage Solar panels I will take the plunge.

 

Does anyone have a phone no or a contact or any detailed kit list.

 

Regards

 

Bob B

[Theo]

Hello,

I have been seriously considering converting my boat to Solar and have been trying to contact the Solar Boat Co for several weeks for prices and design specs but they are not answering mails and there is no phone number on their site.

 

Their site has been changed recently and the prices page has been removed and it looks like they are no longer doing the conversion work I see it is AGNI 48V traction motor and they seem easy to get and the 48V Inverter charger also seems to be easy to get hold of. With the drop of price of High Voltage Solar panels I will take the plunge.

 

Does anyone have a phone no or a contact or any detailed kit list.

 

Regards

 

Bob B

 

The link that I have is http://solarboat.co/, Note that there is no www.

 

This is a quote of the email that Hugh sent to me:

 

Hello Nick,<br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; "><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; ">It is a good time for converting to solar, with solar panel prices<br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; ">halving in 2011.

 

For a 60' NB

1kW solar panels £1200

700AH, 48Volt traction battery £4000(new) or £2000(ex-rental)

8kW Motor and control panel £2200

12Volt supply for boat equipment £200

1kW sine wave-inverter £700

3kW charger £800

Fuse boxes and power components £250

Belts, bearings and pulleys £300

Installation £3000.

Hope this is useful. I can do a more detailed quote after a discussion

Prices are subject to change

Hugh Swann

07900 432249

In response to an enquiry about range he replied:

Nick,

1 kiloWatt of Solar PV provides about 1kWh of battery charge per day in winter (October-March average)- 14 miles per week at about 3mph

1 kiloWatt of Solar PV provides about 3 kWh of battery charge per day in summer (April-September average)- 42 miles per week at about 3mph

Going faster uses more energy per mile.So you would go twice as far at 2mph or half as far at 4mph

A non starter as far as I am concerned

 

Nick

Edited October 7, 2012 by Theo
remove html code

[Justme]

1 kwp of panels should cost about £600 now not £1200.

 

In summer you are more likely to get 6+kwh per day not 3kwh per day.

 

In winter 1kwh is probably optimistic.

 

You could possible squeeze up to 2kwp onto a canal boats roof.

[IainW]

It's sounds exciting, will you have a blog going so we can follow progress?

[Bob Blues]

If I can get Solar boat to respond I'll start collecting the equipment.

I was looking at High Voltage Solar Units and a 80A Mppt controller with 900A batteries. I managed to get a quote for batteries and they were a lot cheaper than Solar Boat.

 

I'm looking at getting the guess Motor and control panel from Solar Boat and the rest sourced from other places.

 

Looking to get a 1500 + for my engine so that will bring the total price down.

 

I'll think about blogging never good with all that. LOL

 

Bob B