14' Solar-Powered Camp Cruiser (2000) - SUNNYSIDE

Sunnyside She’s 1000 lb. of micro-dreamboat that runs on 100% solar electric withith just 30% of her footprint covered in Solar. Sunnyside traveled over 200 nm during the 2021 season including 100nm in the Salish 100, maintaining pace with the fleet and even towing others who’s trolling motor batteries couldn’t keep up. She also circumnavigated Vashon Island late summer, a distance of 37nm in one day against tides, wind and under some cloud cover. Sunnyside has been a great platform for validating our solar performance calculator soon to be shared online. She is capable of up to 40 nm a day without drawing from her 6-lb battery which adds another 6 nm of reserve range.
Sunnyside uses an EP Carry package for propulsion, 300 Watts of solar panels on the roof, a Victron solar controller for total system weight of 32 lb. and a total system cost of $2400. The video shows EP Carry tender applications, and the solar backstory starts 3 minutes into the video.
Running on solar is a unique experience but not for everyone. Sunnyside’s hull speed is 5 knots and she can do 4 knots at noon on a sunny day on solar- no battery. By managing the battery to produce a net-zero usage day-to-day, she can maintain 3.7 knots throughout 10 hrs. for 37 nm of range. In this case she uses some battery in the morning, charges while running mid-day and uses some battery in the evening so each day she starts with the same battery charge level. If it’s overcast this average net zero battery usage speed drops to 3 knots. A light catamaran with more solar would perform better but Sunnyside demonstrates a minimal continuous pure-electric daily cruising capability at 60% to 75% of hull speed on a normal heavy displacement cruising mono-hull form without ever charging from the grid. For more information on Sunnyside and other solar boats up to 40 ft, watch the solar cruising panel discussion Wed during the OCH boat show.