solar powered pontoon boat?

[proscooter]

My main goal is to make a pontoon boat solar powered. However, while I work in HVAC and have a solid electrical background, I have no clue where to start (well from here at least). I have a very small solar panel with no label. It is only 5" x 10", and I want to start off by charging a 12 v deep cycle marine battery.....slowly. Do I need a "fuse" to go between the panel and battery to prevent over charge? The pontoon boat is a very seroius goal, but baby steps. (soon though)
Thank you for anyone's help!

[12vman]

A friend of mine built a small one to play around in his pond. He used a trolling motor with a marine deep cell battery and a small panel to keep the battery topped off..

http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/3875/mud20138bh.jpg

http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/3875/mud20138bh.jpg

I would use a charge controller between the battery and the panel to avoid overcharging the battery..

A 5"x10" panel would take many days to recharge a battery! You may want to consider using a larger panel but that would depend on how often you would be using the pontoon..
-Don

[wy0mn]

There was an article in either Solar Today or Home Power, last year about a solar pontoon boat. HP's search engine came up a blank, ST has no search engine that I could locate. I'll rifle thru my back issues and see if I can find it.
Lex

[proscooter]

I realize the small panel is not sufficient to charge the battery, however, the battery will be charged to start and it will not be used much. For now at least. I am still relying on my outboard until I find an electric motor strong enough to “get out of bad weather”, yet small and light enough to be efficient. My main concern now is safety in what I have now. Thank you for your responses, I hate being stalemated by ineptness.