Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Powered by only the sun, Phil Boyer hit the open waters of the Napanee River on Tuesday in his custom built catamaran known as Soul Cat, embarking on what will be a historic voyage.
Despite a less than ideal weather forecast, he departed from the dock at his Napanee home bound for Go Home Bay in Georgian Bay. His goal is to make the 970 km trip-there and back-all via his 18-foot homemade solar powered catamaran.
“Nobody has ever done that on 100 per cent solar electric power,” said Boyer. “Three boats that I know of have gone up the Trent-Severn (on solar power), a great looper in 2017 called Raw, I did it in 2018 in my other boat and then another boat called the Harvest, a catamaran, did it in 2020. Nobody has come down so I plan to be the first.”
On the roof of the canopy of Soul Cat is 1,500 watts of solar panels attached to a 10 kw battery bank. On a sunny day he can actually charge his boat while still travelling eight to nine km/h. His top speed is about 11 km/h, though it requires dipping into the stored energy bank.
Phil Boyer built and designed Soul Cat, which is completely powered by solar energy. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
“I can tilt the canopy left or right to maximize solar production,” said Boyer. “Even when I’m travelling if I don’t have a lot of yahoo boaters, I can tilt it.”
Aboard his boat is a head, kitchenette and a sleeping quarters-everything he needs to make his trip.
“If I had perfect conditions I could do (the trip there and back) in 20 days,” said Boyer. “I threw in four days of bad weather because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Boyer is no stranger to being the first to trek uncharted solar voyages, laying claim to being the first person to cruise the Rideau Canal on 100 per cent solar electricity. He was also the second person to the Trent-Severn-first Canadian and first to do the trip solo.
Before setting off on his 24-day trek, Phil Boyer took the Napanee Beaver for a test run on the Napanee River. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Building the boat took about two years followed by another year of tinkering with the panels to get it efficient enough to make the trip.
“There are no how-to manuals,” Boyer said of building a customer solar boat. “My background is an electronics technologist. I’ve always been involved in technology. As they say with any engineer, when you get an idea you just focus right on that.”
As much as he enjoys the ‘quietude’ of gliding through a river or lake without the constant hum on an engine, he doesn’t expect solar boats to replace gas powered anytime soon.
“Right now it’s not really economically feasible to do a solar electric boat,” he said. “It costs way more than a gas powered boat. Those prices are going to start dropping over the next five to 10 years. More motors are coming online to buy that are electric.”
That being said, he notes the electric car market could eventually lead to a reduction in the cost of electric batteries for all vehicles.
For now, Soul Cat remains a unique vessel on Canada’s waters, making history with each trek.
A live map of Boyer’s progress can be found at https://locatoweb.com/map/single/1454269032.