ELECTRIC PHILOSOPHY THE CONCEPT, DESIGN, AND APPLICATION OF A NEW SOLAR ELECTRIC POWERCAT by Joe Cline
E
d and Eileen Pauley launched their new custom 40-foot powercat, Electric Philosophy, this July. They’ve been living aboard and cruising the Salish Sea for the better part of two months and have yet to plug into shore power. They have not refueled, because they have no fuel tank. Ed and Eileen are solar sailors, and they are successfully cruising a selfsustaining platform. Electric Philosophy is a Sam Devlin design and build, but Ed and Eileen are responsible for the concept of the boat and most of the implementation of its solar-electrical systems. The Pauleys call the midwest home, but their vision has Pacific Northwest roots. Ed and Eileen were visiting Ed’s cousin Phil — who lives in Port Townsend and is also a partner in the boat — for the Wooden Boat Festival when they wound up speaking with local electric outboard innovator and entrepreneur, Joe Grez. Inspired by Grez’s ideas and stories about solar sailing, and fueled by curiosity honed in their professions as a scientist (Ed) and an engineer (Eileen) — the Pauleys started learning and dreaming. Eileen and Ed did not have lengthy backgrounds as boaters. They are paddlers, regularly taking backcountry canoe trips in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Their main “cruising” experience, however, was land-yachting in an Airstream camper. Serendipitously, their Airstream explorations brought them along the waterways of the Inside Passage and Alaska on three separate occasions; they would ferry from port to port and camp nearby. All of this provided assurance that not only did Ed and Eileen enjoy traveling together in a small, mobile abode; but they also wanted to see more of the exquisite Inside Passage.
In each hull of this powercat, you can access the astounding battery banks, as well as the electric drive and tanks. 48º NORTH
32
NOVEMBER 2021