Sunnyside was a COVID project built in the spring of 2020. 14 ft in length, 6 ft beam, cruising displacement is 1,000 lb. While her topside, cabin, and coach construction is stitch and glue plywood, her hull is based on a Uffa Fox International 14 but, wider and flatter midships. She has 300 lb of cement ballast to assure stability with adequate closed-cell flotation. She has demonstrated very good seakeeping performance in normal summertime inland conditions. Her complete propulsion system includes 300W of solar on the coach roof, an EP Carry propulsion system including motor and battery, and a Victron solar controller.
Her complete propulsion system costs $2400, weighs 30 lb., and is renewably powered by the sun. On a rainy, cloudy day, Sunnyside can still travel over 20 nm on solar alone. The longest day trip on the water was a meandering circumnavigation of Vashon Island last year, a total distance of nearly 40 nm. Solar propulsion arranged in this manner is suitable for long-range pleasure cruises because the sunlight (or cloud light) scales with the propulsion needs of a displacement hull very well. Come and see my talk about solar cruising.