A lightweight and waterproof actuator is needed for adjusting the flap on the sailwing. The problem is, there is no such thing on the market – there are either small actuators, which are not waterproof, or heavy industrial products. So I tried improving a typical hobby actuator. The modified actuator has survived a few thousand…

This is the worm drive with position feedback that was tested a while ago. It has survived over 3 million cycles under load, therefore it’s my winner for driving the rudder. I have published the hardware schematics & software on GitHub: https://github.com/OpenTransat/ServoEncoder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Na8EOg1Mo Three shafts are mechanically coupled together: the rudder, motor and magnetic encoder…

The boat will be powered by 8 LiFePo4 cells, providing a total output of 12.8V and capacity of 30Ah. That’s enough to actively sail for a week without any sunlight. The batteries are protected by impact resistant polycarbonate tubes which are made to be waterproof for full submersion. They will work even if the hull…

This is the last carbon fiber part made by resin infusion. The keel has to be exceptionally strong as it will carry the heaviest part of the boat – the lead bulb. Just a reminder how the keel will look like. It’s swept back to prevent catching debris. The foam plugs The molds The first…

The same process from building the molds to resin infusion was repeated to make a strong and lightweight sailwing. Building foam plugs using a CNC foam cutter The finished plugs The molds released from the plugs Those black plastic sheets you see on the molds will form cavities on the final parts. The cavities will…