Solar-powered vessel a bright spot for boaters

If you see an odd-looking craft on the Long Island Sound these late summer days, stop and offer a hello. Gary Minnick, owner of Riverhead-based Go Solar, has built a 26-foot-long solar-powered boat he calls the SunCatcher, and he's trying to catch the eyes of boaters who might want to consider solar in the future.

Minnick, 63, has been an environmental enthusiast since his days at Long Island University's Southampton College. He had read Rachel Carson's 1962 book, "Silent Spring," a look at the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides, and was hooked. Minnick's company installs solar equipment, but he has built solar-powered boats in the past.

The latest has an 8-foot beam, carries up to eight passengers and has a canopy of 12 175-watt Kyocera solar panels. The panels generate electricity when sunlight hits them. The boat's electric motor can keep the craft traveling at 4 knots indefinitely in the sun. An onboard backup battery system is able to provide up to 20 miles of nighttime cruising.

Minnick wanted to show how solar can work as an alternative to fossil fuel.

Solar has a good future, Minnick believes. And the idea of a solar-powered boat, he said, "is going to catch on automatically" when other boat people get a look at it. "That's what we do," he said of his company. "We inspire ideas."