О верфи Sunreef Yachts
Sunreef Yachts is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of luxury sailing and power multihulls
Sunreef Yachts is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of luxury sailing and power multihulls
The industry’s biggest and most important challenge for the years to come should be the development of green technologies.
I feel that all in all, we are not doing enough to reduce the negative impact boating can have on the environment. Being at sea has always been part of people’s lives. Whether it is leisure, exploration, transportation or fishing, the human race has always had a special connection with the seas. Now, if we love and need the seas so much, we also owe them more respect. As boat builders we feel that this sense of responsibility should be a fundamental element of boat design, build and use. Companies should do whatever they can to come up with more sustainable crafts. Our response at Sunreef Yachts is the Eco range that we have been developing for quite some time now. We had long discussions with the team about the solutions we could envision for our Eco yachts. After launching two fantastic electric sail cats, we were ready for another big step forward: redefining solar panels for yachts. Sometime ago, I had the idea to fit a mast with solar panels throughout.
As we started working on this somewhat eccentric idea, we realized there is a way to integrate solar panels with composite.
This sparked another idea: solar panels all over the hulls, superstructure and every surface possible. It was a gamble, but today our R&D office has the know-how and integration is under way. All of this wouldn’t be possible without top quality cells. We found solar cells that ticked all the boxes for us: they are unbelievably light, flexible and shock resistant. We now have a system that can maximize solar power generation and on top of that, is easy to maintain and repair. We also wanted it to look nice, as we didn’t want any compromise on aesthetics. If you want sustainability to be cool, the appeal of the product is vital. Energy storage is just as important as energy generation. We wanted our Eco boats as efficient as possible so we use custom-engineered batteries. You don’t want you batteries heavy, as this will impact the performance and autonomy of the boat. We reached a density making our batteries close to 30% lighter than what is mostly seen in the industry. Lastly, the lifespan of our batteries was also on the priority list. After 10 years of use they will still have 80% of their original capacity. Durable components are what make your boat sustainable.
I feel that all in all, we are not doing enough to reduce the negative impact boating can have on the environment.
Being at sea has always been part of people’s lives. Whether it is leisure, exploration, transportation or fishing, the human race has always had a special connection with the seas. Now, if we love and need the seas so much, we also owe them more respect. As boat builders we feel that this sense of responsibility should be a fundamental element of boat design, build and use. Companies should do whatever they can to come up with more sustainable crafts. Our response at Sunreef Yachts is the Eco range that we have been developing for quite some time now. We had long discussions with the team about the solutions we could envision for our Eco yachts. After launching two fantastic electric sail cats, we were ready for another big step forward: redefining solar panels for yachts. Sometime ago, I had the idea to fit a mast with solar panels throughout.
Francis Lapp
President and Founder of the Sunreef Yachts Shipyard
