One year has passed since I launched the autonomous boat OpenTransat that has attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean and I wrote an article about it. The boat is lost in the ocean after being hit by crazy storms, but I didn't give up. Currently, I am working on the next sailboat with improved hardware and software and a more robust construction. The above picture is the design which is not final yet – it will be further improved in several aspects.

You see, it's based on interesting concept – a rigid wingsail that's adjusted by a "flap". It works much like an airplane wing. It's not something new – it has been used even on manned yachts:

However, I had no experience with this thing and I wasn't confident enough to believe it can work. Before going to spend a lot of time building a new 2-meter boat that will be designed for extreme ocean conditions, I've decided to build a 65-cm model to test and tweak the concept. Along the path, I've learned skills necessary to build strong composite parts.

The carbon fiber/Kevlar hull is filled with a closed-cell polyurethane foam and painted with a special antifouling paint. This kind of paint doesn't give as smooth finish as a gelcoat or normal paint, but it prevents subaquatic organisms from attaching to the hull.

A waterproof servo is used for steering. As this is just a model for lake testing, the IP67 rating is acceptable here.

The boat uses the same custom hardware and navigation software as the final design. The hardware is optimized for low power consumption and it includes plenty of sensors to provide more insight of what's happening with the boat. The program can be uploaded over Wifi which makes life a lot easier – I can debug and overwrite the program from the shore or motorboat. The battery provides enough power for 8 hours of continuous operation.

The wingsail is made from a foam wrapped with carbon fiber.

And here's the finished boat:

Check out the video of the boat sailing on a lake:

I'm happy to see it works!

You can follow the progress on this facebook page where I share all the details, attempts, mistakes and solutions:
https://www.facebook.com/OpenTransat/

Over the last few months, I have been busy building a fully autonomous sailboat that attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

It was initially launched from Newfoundland heading towards Ireland. Although the initial attempt was not successful, I've gained a lot of extremely valuable experience, and I am going to build another, more capable boat. You can find more details along with a tracking map on www.opentransat.com.

The base consists of a surfboard and aluminum profiles. It is balanced by a heavy keel with lead weights that would flip the boat back over in case it flips. All materials used should survive for years in the ocean. It is rather an experimental concept that can be easily modified to test various configurations. My next boat will be optimized for speed.

The primary power source is four LiFePo4 3.2V 36Ah cells that are being charged by a 100W solar panel. When the batteries are fully charged, the boat can work four days without any sunlight.

The boat reports its position via the Iridium satellite network using the RockBlock module and two additional SPOT trackers (Globalstar satellite network).

The main electronic components are sealed in a Pelican case. The Iridium satellite module, as well as GPS, are in a separate polycarbonate case for better signal reception.

There are plenty of sensors on board that tell us more about the condition of the boat, such as the humidity inside the waterproof housing, air temperature and water temperature. There is also a hacked action camera that is powered by the main source, and it is turned on by the Arduino controller for 30 seconds every hour. The video is recorded on a 128 GB uSD card.

Hopefully, I will recover the boat one day to see exactly what went wrong before proceeding to the next design. My next attempt will be most likely next year, but it depends mostly on the weather conditions (it's not a good idea to navigate the boat through icebergs or hurricanes). Crossing the Atlantic Ocean autonomously is quite a significant challenge. At the time of writing this post, nobody so far has ever attained this. I will keep you updated on this front!

The MicroTransat Challenge competition with the rules that my boat strictly follows is below:

www.microtransat.org 

Project website:

www.opentransat.com

fb group:

www.facebook.com/OpenTransat