When we last wrote about the father-son team of David and Alex Borton at the end of May, they had just left Bellingham, Washington, on their 27-foot solar/electric boat Wayward Sun, headed for Alaska. They wanted to be the first to take such a vessel all that way, without using any fossil fuel at all.
And they succeeded. Using only the sun for power, the Bortons cruised 1,216 nm from Bellingham to Ketchikan, Alaska, and then up to Glacier Bay and finally to Juneau, in a total of 45 days. They actually were underway for 38 days, averaging 32 nm a day at 3.7 knots; they only sat out two days because of rain or fog.
“People always ask us if we have any gas or diesel backup,” said Alex. “But the sun rises every day. If our batteries get too low, we just wait.”
Wayward Sun has 12 flexible Solbian solar panels on the roof, feeding six Torqeedo 24-3500 lithium batteries, that in turn power a 4kW Torqeedo pod drive. They also charge a separate 12-volt system for lights, electronics and an inverter for AC loads, including the ability to make waffles for breakfast.
The boat was David’s brainchild; he’s a retired professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. The Bortons worked with Sam Devlin, who designed and built the wooden-hulled boat in Olympia, Washington. It’s part of the Solar Sal lineup of solar/electric boats.
Alex says that even on an overcast day, Wayward Sun can cruise at 2 to 3 knots in daylight without drawing on the batteries at all. With direct sunlight, it can travel at 5 knots all day without using the batteries.
The boat was comfortable for the Bortons on their record-setting voyage. They stayed on board for the entire time they were cruising up the Inside Passage in British Columbia, because of the Canadian government’s Covid restrictions.
But when they got to Juneau, enough was enough. They put the boat on a ferry for the ride back to Bellingham.
Specs.: LOA; 27’5”; Beam: 8’1”; Draft: 1’8”; Disp.: 3,600 lbs.; Fuel: solar; Water: NA; Power: 4kW Torqeedo electric motor. Read more about their trip at https://solarsaljourney.squarespace.com and see the video below:
