All of our boats require electricity. Well, except maybe my canoe. All those radios, refers, radars, and chartplotters take power. We store this electricity in batteries. Until we turn this stuff on, there is 'enough'. Using these electronic and electrical devices drains those batteries. How do we recharge them?
There are 4 ways to charge the batteries on a typical crusing boat: stay at the dock and plug into the AC, run the engine with an alternator or a separate generator, use a wind generator and/or use solar panels.
The first won't let us go anywhere for any length of time. Once the batteries are dead, the beer will no longer be cold. If the chartplotter goes dead, how do you get back home? Horrible to even contemplate! Having a method to recharge the batteries while underway seems essential.
The second method is noisy and smelly whether we use diesel or gasoline. The steady vibration of the engine as the boat calmly sails along is a nuisance, but we have cold cuts for sandwiches. Then there's the reocurring expenses of buying the fuel and changing the oil. All those dirty rags in the bilges, bruised knuckles trying to keep the beast running.
If there's a breeze, we can put up the sails to get anywhere. If there's a wind generator installed, electricity will be flowing into the batteries. The faster we sail, the more the charge. And, even at anchor, if there is a breeze and we're sitting behind a desk at the office, there is electricity flowing into those batteries. There are 2 big drawback to wind generators on a boat - the blades make a weird noise when they spin and these blades can take off fingers or cut lines without slowing down. Why do we see such long masts under them?
Then there are solar panels. These things have no moving parts, put out a steady charge while the sun shines and once bought, there are no ongoing expences. Lots of boats have them. Small panels on docked boats keep enough charge in the batteries to run the occasional bilge pump or just keep the batteries topped off. Larger panels augment other charging methods. An some of the boats in our basin have multiple panels which provide all the electricity the boat uses (except they also have an engine).
Sparrow has no solar panels. She is too narrow at 10' wide to support any athwart and have space to move ondeck and extending panels off the sides would make them fragile bumpers when we dock or have visitors. This brings us to the purpose of this article.
I want solar charging to augment my pair of wind generators. I can use a lot of power aboard. In addition to the above mentioned electronics, I have a big autopilot, SSB/UHF radio with modem, water heater, water maker and more than 1 computer. Until I get solar charging aboard, I have to pick and choose and watch the volt gauge constantly. I still have to run the engine an average of 2 hours every 3 days to keep the batteries up. When oh when will solar technology allow me to install something useful on my boat? My dream is to paint solar panels on the sails or replace the nonskid with panels I can walk on and still produce amperage after a getting a good coating of salt.
Neither of these is available from the local West Marine today. There are flexible panels that produce twice the power they did a couple years ago but these can't replace nonskid. There is hope, though. Several different projects are in process to make the above possible. Let's review some of these.


There are projects as simple as trying to replace rural oil lamps with cleaner smoke-free (and less prone to cooking houses) solar powered LEDs. Plastic Solar Cell Rolls seems off the path but these are solar panels of decent efficiency that are made via an ink jet printer! Cheap, easy manufacture is on the way. Try 3 nanometer Glitter to make cells from that could go into the printer ink. Or maybe mix these solar cells into the AwlGrip and paint the nonskid on the decks? Or maybe paint the sails? If not printer ink, they can use a Salad dressing assembly process. This seems to orient the cells onto a strata cheaply and quickly.
Something that's already here are solar panels used to replace roofing shingles
SRS Energy's Solé Power Tile^TM can replace pottery roof tiles. Check the efficiency of these beasts. Not practicle for a boat, yet, though.
And, finally, there are some off the wall ideas that may prove viable. Anything to increase the efficiency of a cell and decrease the cost to produce it. How about Engineered tobacco? This is outta UC Berzerkley so think what you will but these guys have hacked a virus that infects tobacco plants. Instead of replicating itself and destroying the plant, it causes the plant to produce mutated chromosomes that cause plants to make electricity from sunlight. These produce tiny solar cells. How can we assemble all these to make something usefull? Maybe use salad dressing to orient the cells as they are applied to a polymer?
So much is happening in the solar electric generation field right now. Within a year, I expect to be able to replace my non-skid with a solar cell paint something or other. Maybe paint panels onto my sails? Keep checking back for updates!