I bet a dis-masted sailboat with a small cabin and a centerboard keel would be PERFECT for your next boat project. Displacement hull, WAY more freeboard for mounting solar panels, a cabin to sleep in and get away from the sun and waves...I think sailboats are a legit use-case for solar propulsion, so it would probably interest sailing nerds too.

What totally blows my mind is, that we're at a point where you can PRINT large parts of a solar dinky, live on it for days, have it auto-pilot really well, have a video editing station on board, and being able to make fly-by and overhead footage ALL BY YOURSELF, and all this time be reasonably comfy. And it's completely sun-driven to boot. Just crazy.

I’m 19 and going to school for aerospace engineering and you truly are one of my biggest inspirations, thank you for quenching our thirst for these great engineering KZfaqrs. Hall of fame for sure!

Maybe try a catamaran hull on the next build? You could then have small displacement, make a big roof of solar, and have somewhere to build a cabin. I love this series. Thanks!

32:00 Woah, that's a KC-135! It's an air-to-air refueling tanker (you can see the boom arm and pod right below the tail when it passes over). It's probably part of the 92nd Air Refueling Wing out of Fairchild AFB since they have air-refueling training as part of the 509th.

The solar panel frame seems a little delicate. Maybe you could wrap a pool noodle around it? If it catches a wave, it should have ample buouyancy to glide over the top, preventing 'scooping damage'.

In terms of hull efficiency you may want to consider a small catamaran, say 16-20 foot, and put a rigid roof on it to mount the solar panels and keep you and the gizmos cool. Further propulsion efficiencies might be gained from putting a printed duct/cowl around your props and using a prop form optimized for that.

The flat ribbon of water is due to a subtle current. Currents are strange on dam-bounded lakes where you wouldn't expect. The old river channel is deeper, and that's just one thing that can cause subtle currents to do strange things. So, the wind is blowing just hard enough to kick up small waves, everywhere except where the current is already moving at that speed. OR, opposite, sometimes the wind blows the the other way, lightly, and it only scrapes up waves where the current is against it. I used to fish for bottom feeding catfish and knowing where the old channel was, helped locate them sometimes.

36:00 was the coolest shot of the whole video. Please do more astronomical time laps clips in your camping vids. It's just so cool to see the rotation of the earth via the movement of the stars.

Create a low cover for the front of the boat that would keep your electronics out of the sun without blocking the solar panels yet allow wind to pass underneath. This would greatly help with overheating. Maybe even one for the back as well. Use light aluminum frame with cloth streched to keep rigidity. Leave the middle areas open for seating and such.

I really enjoyed this. There are not a lot of 39 minute KZfaq videos I'd watch for the whole time but this was just so peaceful.

The dedication of this man never ceases to amaze me

I feel like a trimaran is the ideal design for a solar boat. You've got large flat space between the outer pontoons and the center hull, and the pontoons keep the solar panels supported properly. The narrow hulls allow the boat to move through the water with little resistance, and they keep the boat super stable.

This film was like a short holiday, love all your engineering projects and the nature around your place. Greetings from Germany 😊

What in carnation? 😂 It’s Tarnation! That was classic. Love your videos, and everything that you build. Got here from the snowcat video. Thank you very much for what you do.

This is awesome! Been living on board for 7 yrs now, I could only wish to do this kind of exploring on my diesel powered river boat! Hope to see more soon!

I wonder how difficult it would be to automate the speed based on the fullness of the batteries: eg, once the batteries are fully, increase speed to match what the solar panels are providing, and then decrease speed as the sun starts to go down. And theoretically, you could have a servo drop anchor when the batteries drop to a set point so you could go to sleep and let the boat just keep cruising until the batteries go down. Probably not a good idea for safety but it's a neat idea.

These solo expidtions with prototypes are wild and I'm absolutely here for it. Like the risk factor for results is so high, you're trusting (pun intended) your life with PLA layers

The harmonic, almost symbiotic relationship of your inner love of both tech and nature on full display. I dig it. Thanks for the inspiring video.

this was such an epic video..thank you so much for bringing us along. I'm really curious to see how your future experiments with the toroidal props do. keep at it

You’re an amazing person, Daniel! So glad you did this! 👍🏼 Thanks for taking us along…

If you had a roof system to protect yourself from the elements you could add another 3-4 solar panels and have unlimited energy even if you go faster. Just sayin…

What a great video. Great for you for having the will to do all of this, I cant imagine or underestimate your effort

I thought this was going to be click-bait, but I was really wrong! It was a well filmed documentary of your trip and a great review of the problems you faced. Very entertaining. You have a well informed group of commentators here as well.

at 12:53 , that's a wigwam burner (also called a teepee burner, or beehive burner) they're used to control the burning of excess sawdust produced by sawmills

This is one of the most satisfying and relaxing videos of the year, thanks for sharing your trip :) The fact that your boat has an autopilot makes it even more satisfying to watch! Maybe for the next trip you could add a solar roof, so you have more protection from rain and sun. You could also lift up the side solar panels to roof level, so they don't hit the water and can be used as side walls in heavy rain

Super compelling video, Daniel. I really enjoyed this format. Thank you for creating such cool content!

"Just gotta make sure you don't hit anything, but other than that you just hang out" lmfao hell yea

For the nautically inclined the reported speeds were between 3.9 and 4.25 knots with the regular props and 3.1 knots for the toroidals. A fast sea kayak likely could keep up, though probably not all day.

You make such great content dude, thank you for all the effort you put into this stuff and helping others learn and inspiring them to do cool projects. Really appreciate it

I have long wanted to do similar on a outrigger canoe down the Mississippi.....thanks for the inspiration! @38:45 so amazing the views!

Brilliant work mate, living for 72 hours in such a small boat is an epic mission in itself but building all of the power systems yourself is next level. A trailer sailer without the rig would be perfect for your next missions, as some of them have swing or lifting centre boards/keels and are displacement or semi displacement hulls. Keep up the great work

Suuuuuuuuuper coooool! Man, from what I could tell, you thought of EVERYTHING, from clothing to food to spare parts, and I'm sure WAY MORE than that! What a GREAT adventure! I'm sure it was pretty stressful and boring for YOU, but for we who are watching, it was AWESOME! Keep up the *GREAT* work! Cheers!

I can't wait to see this on Trending 😎😎 Great progress and I'm proud of all the contingencies and redundancy you've prepared for the trip. This is an awesome series! Cheers 🍻

You did really great man! Part of boating , you will find, is becoming acquainted with that feeling of being remote and entirely depending on yourself far from anywhere!

I love this project! I know others have already offered suggestions on the panel rigidity, so this might have been suggested and I just missed it. Consider using something like 1 inch square aluminum tubing for the solar panel frame. 3D print some corner brackets to allow for simple assembly, and you could still maintain your lightweight solar wings, while having the added rigidity and support that boxed tubing provides.

Wow ! what a trip . . . thanks for taking us along . . . Your engineering skills and sense of adventure will take you far . . . Thanks, Bob

Dude drove a boat with 3D printed parts like propeller... it's impressive

that was a pretty cool adventure, thanks for taking us along. mike

Loved this video! A small sports sailing catamaran (sans mast) might be the most efficient for power/speed. Steering could be achieved by differential engine power rather than dealing with the additional complexity of a rudder system. And more space for solar panels and maybe a small tent as well. Good luck with your iterations!

Fun video! Whilst I don't think there's much to be gotten out of toroidal props, I think your power absorption issue is related to the arrangement of your blades. I would suggest having another go with your design improvements but using angularly displaced blade pairs to reduce pressure/interference drag, and reducing that 9 degrees on the joining wall as that is acting like a large paddle.

This is the video I've been waiting for, love the boat adventures. Keep it up!

Bless you for restoring a 60's era 13' Boston Whaler!

That funny looking structure on the shore looks like an old sawmill.😊

i have to ask, have you considerd using pontoons for the solar panels to sit on instead of floating, you could also possibly add an extra panel on either side with the additional wight allowence since you wont be using those hinges/brackets. the pontoons would have to be able to fold inside otherwise it would be way to big. I freaking love your videos, they keep me so inspired for my own 3d printing and solar projects.

He has some of the chilliest videos on KZfaq

Great video,,I appreciate your in depth tech talk explaining what you are doing and what is going on with the equipment that you are testing,,very informative,,thank you.

I love Keller Ferry campground. We've ben camping up there for 6-7 decades. Water ski all day then play some volleyball and eventually card games in the evening. You can see the northern lights from the campground if you're lucky. My all time favorite place to be. Fighter jets would fly below the top of the canyon walls. The were told to stop because when they went supersonic windows would break. Now they fly higher and slower. You could see the pilots faces. Thanks for sharing another rad vid man.

I wonder how this would work if you upscaled the setup? Take a pontoon boat for instance. You could have solar panels covering the roof and then have side panels that fold up. Not sure that would provide enough power to run something like that. It would be an interesting experiment though.

Love your content. So informative and calming. And your camerawork/video editing skills have gotten almost as impressive as your engineering!

Pretty amazing journey in your solar boat!! Keep up the good work.

Hello from Australia 🇦🇺 really enjoyed this video, thank you so much. I hope you make millions from KZfaq and keep developing new boats, I want to see this grow.

Loved every minute of this, it'll be interesting to see what upgrades you make for the next trip, but will definitely stay tuned to see that. Happy sailing!

You gotta remake this thing with a roof that holds the solar panels. Doubles up as shade so all your electronics don't overheat from the sun 👍🏼

I’m not even into electronics or doohickies but this channel always amazes me ….awesome bro

I planned to just scan through this video and wound up getting sucked in. Your narration was great. The editing was just right. I've never been disappointed by even one of your uploads.

Wow what a trip. I've loved watching the progression from concept to idea to test to adventure.

This concept is amazing. Making the boat a little more comfortable will hopefully encourage you to take longer journeys. ❤❤ It's fun to watch too...

What a fantastic trip. Thanks for taking us with you.

I love when you run into people who are curious about your project. They're always so nice!

Can't wait to see what you use for a displacement hull. I have a Hobie 17T Kayak, but I think a small sailboat would be a better choice for your application.

Thank you for taking us along on your epic mission! I had so much fun!

I really enjoyed that, dude. Thank you for showing us the beauty of the pacific northwest and sharing all the nerdy ins and outs of your boat, its very cool! I also liked the electricity math for the dam, mindblowing what humans can achieve isn't it?

With solar power conversion & adoption being a important goal to achieve that will benefit our planets future,your input into the research & development in this new pivotal industry must be acknowledged & commended,i hope you can attract investors to fund your projects,you offer potential & value,best wishes

Extremely impressive sir!! So much tech you incorporated to make your excursion an efficient and beneficial factor of making a great video, sharing it with the viewers. From the 3D printing explanation of the boat parts and gear to editing your videos. The bravery of camping by yourself in various remote areas throughout the night is impressive also!! Well done sir. Well done indeed!!

Love this boat series. Pls keep going and take another trip :D

Love the projects. Sharrow style propeller was cool.

As a Washington native who spent many a summer on the east side camping at Steamboat Rock on banks and watching the lightshows at Grand Coulee, I can't wait for the day I can go back. I love the Columbia River basin and honestly just Washington in general. I've also spent plenty of time at lake Washington and Coulon park so it always nice to see your videos there too.

Great video! When starting into more longterm-missions probably time to look into collision avoidance options of ardupilot. I‘d bet that most of the boats and bujis do not show up on maps and also don‘t habe any ais transponders. Probably also see if you can integrate your depth-measurements so you don‘t run on ground…

Yes it's very likely only the rear part of your shaft-casing. There was likely a large periodic separation bubble before that caused the vibrations. Making the rear end come together over a larger distance (think truck vs sedan) decreases the chance for separation and thereby periodic flow patterns. It should also increase efficiency a bit. Although the motor shaft probably doesn't contribute too much to the overall drag.

Fun to watch! That's a lot of power those solar panels are generating. I cannot do this in our waters as they are too busy sadly, but would be a cool project.

I love this content so much. Thank you for all the work editing this must have been.

We definitely need to see more videos like this 👍 But I would make your boat more into a "house boat" and keep testing new prop designs to develop the most efficient prop. Plus maybe adding a small wind generator might not create too much drag to make it worth it?

I would love to see more of this series

Great video! I think a great addition would be a lightweight canvas roof with rollup walls for sun/rain protection.

Enjoyed watching this whole vid, would dig to see more long form water camping experiments like this

Hey, I got in early for once. Love your videos man. Keep up the good work

More of these adventures!

A few years ago I built hybrid sailboat with wing sails, it was pedal powered, plus the sails, plus the special twin hybrid motors. All three modes of propulsion were combined and used all at the same time. I used gas motors with specially designed propellers that were super high pitch, so the boat propelled to around 10-12 mph cruising speed. At the time solar and electric propulsion weren’t ready for prime time. The engines ran at a little over idle giving me forward motion, then the wing sails took over and propelled the boat up to cruising speed, regardless of actual wind direction or windspeed, ( the boat made it’s own wind), and could actually sail directly up wind, and got over 100mpg fuel economy. With a couple gallons of extra fuel on board I could go 300 miles nonstop. The boat was a trimaran, 22ft long and 12 ft wide. And could easily carry 6 people. The boat was open ocean capable, we used it mostly in the keys and as a dive boat, ( as avid scuba divers). The two sets of Hobie mirage pedal drives provided around 10-15% additional propulsion. I’m just saying going 3mph isn’t going to get you anywhere. Just doing rough calculations about your energy consumption, solar and battery power. Building a boat similar to what I had, ( with a couple hundred sq ft of wing sail area. And a planing type hull at least 20ft long,( boat length is very important). And the trimaran hull design there is plenty of room for 1500 watts of solar over the outriggers. You could easily cruise 10-12mph, ( regardless of wind, wind direction, and even with no natural wind). With your existing electronics, and power system. Keep in mind you will need to design high pitch props, ( your current speed is limited by your prop pitch and rpm. Of course you will need to learn how to design and build wing sails, also how to design hulls, but that’s all very simple stuff. The way the wing sails work is once you have forward motion, ( from your motors, ( and in my case my pedal drives). Your forward motion creates wind, once you have that forward motion, the wing sails take over and amplify the wind going over them. So for example with your motors running with no sails at all the boat goes around say 5mph, when the wing sails are raised, your speed goes up to 10-12 mph. If you are sailing into lets say a 5mph wind, the actual wind on your face, ( and over the wing sails), is 15mph… the wing sails do all the work. I designed and built all my own wing sails, actual material costs were under $300 dollars. Just trying to give you ideas. It’s way more fun to travel over 100 miles per day, and you could do it easily with the motors and solar/ battery setup you currently have, ( with different props of course, ( maybe start with 8” pitch)). With the wing sails up I think your consumption will be right around 300 watts, ( at 10-12 mph). Each of your motors will need to deliver 1hp of power, ( if thats any help). All just rough napkin calculations based on your video, and seeing what you have. I’m very impressed by your abilities.

I love the production value that your drone adds.. amazing!

This is the first video I've seen from your channel and this was super fascinating! I'd totally enjoy this kind of project! I did wonder if you'd considered making a roof assembly for the panels so you could have shade while also keeping the panels from getting caught in the waves.

Would love to see an autonomous sea going version of this. Something for the Puget Sound.

Mans got 3D printed propellers, self engineered water cooling system, fish finder sonar depth detection, spare parts for the struts, a water filtration system, automated self driving navigation software, video editing suite and a bloody drone. But the most impressive thing is actually enjoying nature on the lake in relative peace and quiet compared to more conventional means of transport. Not having to pay for fuel is also a massive plus.

Amazing job! Great footage and editing. Very impressive.

Hello, I noticed that you and your buddy Petersripol have been doing a lot of boat + solar stuff lately. Do you guys often bounce off ideas or is it just a coincidence of common interest? I know you are both KZfaq's premiere experts in RC vehicles, so it would make sense if you guys like doing similar things around the same time. It is more fun to talk to a peer than with yourself after all.

You should do the math for your speed and RPM range to find the optimal pitch angle for your props - my suspicion is that it's way, way finer (ie, smaller bite) than anything you've been using. Compare the boat speed to an e-foil's speed, reducing pitch proportionally should get you in the ballpark. PS the freeze dried chicken coconut curry will blow your mind

This was amazing. I showed my wife & we just planned a trip there. If you go bigger with your boat you should should out Phil Bolger’s flat bottom sharpies. They are wicked efficient and some have cabins (like the Idaho) We get 10mpg at 15kts. Only 1500lbs.

I feel totally inspired by this channel. I especially love these "adventure" videos using the "homemade" tech

Very cool trip!. Interesting that your boat uses almost 5X more power at 2m/sec. (4.5mph) as my ebike does at 12m/sec. (25mph) It would be interesting to see how efficient other hull designs would be.

I was thinking that the solution to the solar panels getting bashed might be simply mounting them higher, which could also afford some shade from the sun in the boat. However, I'd be concerned about them catching wind (i.e. trying to become wings) the higher they get off the water. I'm wondering if it would be possible to take a cue from the ground effect stuff you've done and add some "wings" to which you'd mount the solar arrays, which could also be used to support outriggers (fiberglass & foam construction would make sense) - that combined with a decent canoe hull might result in a more efficient hull design. Don't know, not an expert, just a thought.

Great video! Regarding the toroidal props: The Sharrow propellers are laid out for ICEs operting in the 2-3000 rpm range for 150+ Horses and god knows what kind of torque ranges. Since you are using electric motors to turn your props, you have a nearly constant, but narrower torque range. You may need to design some sort of planetary gearbox to drive the toroidal props at higher speeds, OR, modify the layout, for lower RPMs and higher AOA in this case with a step-down gearbox.

Everyone needs a boat like this! Thanks for this video, you got me into this and now I want to build one.

What would happen if you do two attachments for balance like a trimaran? It will be safer and the waves will not be able to tip you over.

"Because how many vehicles are there out there where you can just turn it on, start going, and then just chill, you know?" Trains!!! Such a relaxed mood :)

Super cool boat concept and execution, it shows the sky is the limit. For more predictable navigation, you could use nautical charts instead of maps. The charts shown depth, markers, old pillings, and other hazards. There are a number of Open Source navigation apps and NOAA makes charts available for free. Looking forward to another episode.

I would love to see a second part to this with a better boat and solar panels on the roof that aren't getting hit by waves, such a cool concept, epic video.

Another question, if build a roof for your small boat, with fold up panels and panels in the center, would that make it too top heavy? If not, that would keep the panels well out of the water and provide shade. At night, folding the side panels down would provide some shelter from weather. :D

I'm glad to see you're starting to take your personal sun exposure a bit more seriously (the neck/face covering, etc). As someone who has already gone through skin cancer I'd been a bit horrified at some of your previous all-day trips - sun lotion can only do so much. In a previous vid you mentioned that you'd discounted a roof style array but that would really help surely? Anyway, stay safe and don't forget to consider yourself when you are optimising your designs.

never stop theses are great projects i love seeing these come to life.

Would be cool to see a solar roof or some awesome brackets that you could go from their current position into a roof so your feet don't burn! Challenge!