DIY Eco-tech Contest Sneak Peek: Solar Powered Hydrofoil
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 09. 2.05
We have already received some great entries for the DIY Eco-tech contest such as this solar-powered hydrofoil sent in by reader Terrence Breitsameter for the Solar Energy Society at Marquette University. Not only did they build this solar-powered boat, they race it competitively as well. In order to preserve the secrets of the trade (and prevent his competition from getting a heads up), Terrance wasn't able to give out all of the information about the boat, but we were able to pry some details from him.
The hydrofoil is a fiberglass carbon-fiber construction with commercially available parts that the team customized. Inside the fiberglass frame lies a hotswapable drivetrain that they can change in under 5 minutes to help them switch between sprints and endurance races. By using hand-made solar panels and hand-customized solar cells, they are able to have their lightweight hydrofoil lift up and float on top the water for speeds of up to 20 mph, hopefully leaving the competition in their mist.
Although Terrance states that the hydrofoil is used solely for competition, we know a secret agent vehicle when we see one. If you have a double super secret eco-tech innovation you would like to share, please send it to us at: contest [at] treehugger [dot] com by September 15th for your shot at a Voltaic Systems solar backpack, a two year subscription to MAKE Magazine, and a limited edition MAKE T-shirt.
Note - The original version of this post attributed the hydrofoil solely to Terrance. That is incorrect. Terrance himself described the boat as a team effort which he was only a part of. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Oooo...drooling. Tell us about the competitions--I didn't realize there was even a category for self-built solar-powered hydrofoils. I chuckle at the image of this boat swooshing from behind in the canoe competition, or coming out against the Harvard crew team.
With gas being what it is and will be, who can afford this winters windsurf trip to Hawaii, or filling up truck and snowmobile, or the gas to drive to that ski resort?
30 mph in a 10 mph wind, sailing up hill, and the wind is free.
Join the fleet, and this winter Windski! www.windski.com
Terry had nothing to do with the contstruction of this boat. It was created by a team at Marquette long before Terry joined. Terry has never driven the boat. It was driven in the SolarSplash competition www.solarsplash.com . The boat's website can be found at http://www.ses.marquette.edu/
It is actually a carbon fiber hull.
Let me begin by apologizing both to Terry and the rest of the team that helped build the solar hydrofoil we wrote about.
In Terry's description of the boat, he frequently refered to the project as a team effort, and never explicitly said he had anything to do with the construction. In our effort to link the boat with the contest entry, we mistakenly attributed the project to Terry instead of the team. Again, we apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Looking at the photos here:
http://www.ses.marquette.edu/2001/gallery/solar_splash/index.html
it seems that the entire article is misleading. It appears that the boat is made to participate in at least two competitions - an endurance race with solar cells for power and a speed competition which is probably a short battery powered race.
It can be seen clearly in the photos that in all of the instances where the boat is on its foils there are no solar panels present.