About

What Is Solar Splash?

Solar Splash is an international, intercollegiate competition in which schools from all around the world compete to build the best solar-powered electric boat. Teams are judged on a number of criteria throughout the competition, which not only include quantifiable ones such as speed, endurance, maneuverability of the boat, but also attributes such as teamwork, quality of design, technical writing, and workmanship.

The majority of the points come from the “on-the-water” events, of which there are three. The first event is the Slalom, in which teams maneuver their boats through a series of buoys to see who can complete the course the fastest. Next up is the Sprint, which is similar to the Slalom in the sense that it prioritizes outright power and speed over efficiency, but it only requires teams to run their boats in a straight line. Finally, there is the Endurance event, which is a test of teams’ ability to design for efficiency. This event sees teams attempt to run their boats for as long as they can on battery and solar power alone.

2023 marks the 30th running of the Solar Splash competition, which will be held at Champions Park Lake in Springfield, Ohio from June 6-10. For more information regarding the competition and its rules, details are provided on the Solar Splash website at https://solarsplash.com.

What Are Our Goals For This Year?

The 2023 TCNJ Solar Splash team is working diligently to improve upon the design and manufacture of the mechanical systems started by last year’s team. With exception to the design and creation of the hull, the other subsystems that complete the boat will need to be thoroughly redesigned and improved upon for competition.

These subsystems include but are not limited to steering, weight distribution, drivetrain, and electrical. Each team member will focus their individual efforts on the subsystem(s) of their choosing while simultaneously working together with the rest of the team to ensure the boat performs optimally at the competition.