What is Digg?71 Comments
- MemorableName, on 06/01/2008, -0/+23and if you can't afford this one, why not try that other kind of green boat that's been around for 1000s of years?
- geekchic, on 06/02/2008, -5/+18"Ever find yourself relaxing by a lake only to have a loud, obnoxiously high-powered boat zoom by, and all the beauty of the lake is dissipated when you think about how much nasty pollution that boat just inserted in the water?"
Nope - I honesty can't say that I have ever thought that frankly. - inactive, on 06/02/2008, -3/+13Electricity and water?
- SpaceDreamer, on 06/02/2008, -0/+9It's supposed to have "14 square meters of solar panels and an 80kw electric motor".
Well that's clearly not enough solar panels to feed that motor. You'd need at least 10 times more panels.
There is something fishy here.
Maybe you're supposed to leave it for 10 hours recharging its batteries in the sun just so that you can get a 1 hour ride ... - DrCrankenstein, on 06/02/2008, -1/+8Yes, I have seen loud, high-powered boats zoom by, and wondered about how much gas they're using, and how much they're polluting.
I've also wondered how I could get one, and how fast it would go, and how many girls I'd have to turn away I had one.
Just kidding, sweet solar boat. Let's see if it can come in at under $1.1 million and then we'll be talking. - borez, on 06/02/2008, -1/+7If I had a spare $1.1 million to spend on a boat...it wouldn't be that one by far.
- inactive, on 06/02/2008, -0/+6Now if only we could make a wind powered sailboat
- Rawler, on 06/02/2008, -0/+6Yes my friend, we have entered a new realm...
- MidnightRealism, on 06/02/2008, -1/+7Someone's never been boating!
- BigglesPiP, on 06/02/2008, -0/+52 stroke engines spew oil into the water, rather a lot.
And almost all boats exhaust into the water, where anything in the exhaust typically mixes with the water. - krellor, on 06/02/2008, -0/+4http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/mmsp/index.html
Section 4-7 - ratedsar, on 06/02/2008, -0/+4Ethanol in the U.S. gasoline is actually really hurting a ton of boats.
A) Fiberglass/Plastic tanks are used which break down and gum up with ethanol use. Nothing like your fuel tank leaking into the bilge/body of the boat for a disaster
B) Most, if not all boats use rubber fuel lines as opposed to metal... the whole way. Meaning that ethanol is breaking down a lot more spots with highs and lows than on cars.
C) Remember, ethanol is not an efficient fuel... it takes more energy to create, uses food crops, and provides less energy per gallon than gasoline while still making carbon emissions. - Diganta, on 06/02/2008, -0/+3First? I guess the one the University of Michigan made in 1994 is irrelevant then.
http://www.engin.umich.edu/solarboat/
http://www.engin.umich.edu/solarboat/history_99.ht ... ...
http://www.solarsplash.com/ - xxTazxx, on 06/02/2008, -1/+4For all the people who keeps saying this, do you really think the engineers left the electronics hanging out the bottom? Or that all the wires were uninsulated and waterproofed? I really don't understand the logic of all these comments!
- mojonandha, on 06/02/2008, -1/+4I think digg got the digg effect earlier. Was down for a while. What a shame!
- Azohko, on 06/02/2008, -0/+3I see your point, and I agree that the only to invent is to make things before their time. Thomas Edison's light bulb comes to mind. "100's of Ways to Fail" etc.
But I was more commenting on the description, which, at least in my mind, made it seem this boat was on the market today. I was saying that today, no one would buy suck an expensive boat on moral principle, unless you could throw money away. However, I agree that someone needs to work on it, to perfect the technology for the future, so one day we can have awesome solar sneaky boats. However, what you said, with some dude having money and building a boat, doesn't seem accurate to the article. It makes it seem like it IS the start to a business venture. I am saying that this is a terrible idea, because no one is going to buy such a boat in great number. I'm sticking with what I said earlier, that if you want to make money on a greener boat, make smaller changes, something affordable. To the people making prototypes, have fun with Solar Energy.
I was hoping to end with an awesome pun, but I fail in the witty pun making part. So no pun. - tbk123, on 06/02/2008, -2/+5yay for less water pollution!!
- Laminarcissus, on 06/02/2008, -1/+3But with that one you can't sneak up on and run over personal watercraft.
- Laminarcissus, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2A full 30 percent of the gas/oil mixture can go out the tail unburned.
Two-strokes suck. - pathouston22, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Was out on my jet skis this weekend. 2 cycle engines destroying the environment through noise and pollution. I enjoyed it immensely. Sorry environment.
- xutopia, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Explosions on a boat?
- dafunkmonster, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2"Ever find yourself relaxing by a lake only to have a loud, obnoxiously high-powered boat zoom by, and all the beauty of the lake is dissipated when you think about how much nasty pollution that boat just inserted in the water?"
Actually, I've never experienced this. Generally, when I want to relax by a lake, I go fishing at 5am at a lake that bans anything bigger than a low-power outboard. It generally works out.
Then again, I happen to enjoy loud speedboats, jet engines, and wheelstand competitions...and I'm not even a redneck! Surprise! - Laminarcissus, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Actually, that isn't accurate. Most personal marine motors are inefficient two-stroke engines that let up to 30% of the gas an oil go unburned into the atmosphere and the water.
With 1.5 million personal watercraft and 13 million registered boats in the US it's a real issue. - tkstock, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Solar, wind, solar, wind, solar, wind...
What nasty stuff do speedboats put in the water? What if the speedboat uses ethanol? - inactive, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Now... when I think about boats, somehow I can think of a better fuel source: WATER! One of the other building blocks of life/energy. Water, sunlight, oxygen, carbon dioxide.
- martynda, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2I guess they haven't invested batteries where you're from.
- subliminalurge, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2I haven't either. Most boats I don't even hear over the noise from my own engine, anyway.
- PBRbeer, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2That boat is pathetic! for 1 million dollars it's a complete joke, i've seen faster sailboats
These are real boats and 1/10 the price with 10 times the performance
****VIDEO****
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBMh_Sxl-iI - Keles65, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Thank you, you took the words right out of my mouth! I own a boat and I like it loud. Where I live most people do to judging by whats at the lakes near my home. And yes there are lake for fishing and its quiet there. Its a personal preference and not any ones to take away.
God Bess the USA and our FREEDOM!!!!!! - pathouston22, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2They are not produced anymore and you can't buy a new one, but it is not illegal to run a 2-stroke.
- Asdfglpwglion, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2Imagine the poor drunken fishies!
- Rickler, on 06/02/2008, -1/+3Exhaust on most boats is below water level to reduce engine noise; even on sail boats.
- inactive, on 06/02/2008, -0/+2I was thinking the exact same thing when I read the article.
- scott88008, on 06/02/2008, -0/+130 knots does not equal a "speedboat".
- Dustmuffins, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1Yeah, because they're such a huge source of pollution, while the oil tankers that dump millions of gallons of oil into the ocean annually arent' doing anything wrong.
- Bersy, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1I prefer to drive something that doesn't hurt mother nature.. it's a go-kart, powered by my own sense of self-satisfaction!
- Azohko, on 06/02/2008, -1/+2Perhaps, but an issue like this is going to be solved economically, not by rich millionaires buying prototypes. Only when people refuse to pay for gas, will people develop good alternative fuels. Seeing as gas is still, in retrospect to the rest of the world, cheap, I don't think this makes a difference.
As you said, "Most personal marine motors are inefficient two-stroke engines that let up to 30% of the gas an oil go unburned into the atmosphere and the water". In my mind, a boat that used an efficient engine, and was affordable, is a much better story than this mythical boat. - Keles65, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1The smell is sweet and the sound is all American. The lakes just wouldn't be the same with out them. If Libs had their way WE AMERICANS wouldn't be able to breath the air.
- Manhigh, on 06/02/2008, -1/+2Typically theres some unburned fuel in the exhaust stream.
And in 2-stroke engines especially, a lot of oil ends up in the exhaust stream. - dpantages, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1actually photovoltaic cells also absorb infrared waves too, so it will still gain energy even on cloudy days just not at quite as high of a rate
- IronDonut, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1I celebrate the glorious sound of a high powered American made v-8 engine. It's combustion music.
- Laminarcissus, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1You're treating it like it's a monolithic market. It isn't - people have different budgets and different objectives.
There were plenty of impractical and expensive electric cars before the Prius came out, and they sold. And even now that the Prius is on the market it's proving that ordinary people will pay somewhat more to achieve a social goal.
In this case, a dude had the money, knew boats, and decided to build one. If I had a pantsload of money I might actually buy one for its silence. But that's not its only value -- now that one is built then maybe they build a second one cheaper, and find better parts, until it's the Prius of boats. That's how these things start.
Not everything arises when the demand curve requires a paradigm shift. That's the last time you want to be fishing around (ha!) for new technology. - inactive, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1He just wanted a reason to post a comment using some sort of slur and this is the best he could come up with.
- dpantages, on 06/03/2008, -0/+1this is true, I mean I dont have 1.1 million dollars to buy one do you?
- TDot1980, on 06/03/2008, -0/+1@Tkstock: This was exactly my point, thanks. Yes I know how boats work, I've been on boats my whole life. I volunteer with the local marine rescue. I was commenting about the sensational garbage that was in the title of this article.
- lozzobear, on 06/03/2008, -0/+1Booooo. http://digg.com/design/Gorgeous_the_world_s_first_ ...
- subliminalurge, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1But it's solar! Solar I tell you! Besides, who ever boats for more than an hour at a time anyway?
/sarcasm
Seriously, though, you can't argue with the enviro-whackos. They'll never let dubious concepts like practicality or, for that matter, reality get in the way of telling the rest of us what horrible, evil people we are. - michigander, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WepYoOJQf4 - elf25, on 06/02/2008, -0/+1Looks to me like they spent that Mil getting high-output panels custom-fit under the curvy sexy foredeck. What a crap video presentation, they didn't spend any money on THAT. Looks like it's got a very narrow beam also, even for a racing/sailing hull, which, is a good idea as those have been proven to be real efficient. I need someone to fund my efforts to build a real hybrid solar yacht (one that real humans can afford as opposed to goofy multi millionaires looking for their next toy), using existing off the shelf panels and some small generators. Please send a couple suitcases of hundred dollar bills to...
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