Description
A complete solar-electric propulsion system for a 31–36 ft displacement monohull, sized to your boat’s real power–speed curve by the configurator and supplied as one coherent, documented system — not a box of parts.
MEASURED — FY25 proven envelope This is the size class we have actually sailed. SV Endurance, a Nicholson 35, is a 31–36 ft displacement monohull; it carried this architecture over 1,000 nautical miles of unsupported coastal cruising in FY25 with zero critical electrical failures, and its 48 V propulsion bank never dropped below its 50 % state-of-charge floor on a 1 kW solar array alone.
What the sea trial proved (MEASURED)
- 1 kW solar bus at 100 VDC (two 500 W sub-arrays) keeping the propulsion bank above its safety floor without shore power.
- 48 VDC propulsion bank, ~24.5 kWh in three parallel, isolatable banks — the “graceful degradation, not catastrophic failure” doctrine, driving a Torqeedo Cruise 6 kW outboard.
- A 12 VDC house/control bus off the propulsion bank via MPPT, on a central Victron Cerbo GX controller.
- The low-speed operating doctrine: at 2.5–3.5 knots the system draws roughly 200 W–1 kW — the band solar can sustain in daylight.
In development for FY26 (MODEL — not yet sea-trial proven)
Some components are modeled and being built, not yet proven at sea. If your kit is specified with any of them, we say so explicitly:
- Torqeedo Cruise 6 kW POD drive as an all-weather primary (the FY25 transom outboard cavitates in high sea states — the exact limitation this addresses).
- Hydrogeneration (~1 kW at 6 kt sailing) and a mobile LiFePO4 pack.
- A 2 kW solar upgrade with 2-axis tracking.
How it’s supplied
Kits are supplied and installed through a partner yard, never shipped as a self-install parcel. You keep your yard relationship; we de-risk the engineering. Every component and its MEASURED / MODEL status is listed in your quote before anything is ordered.