I gotta be upfront here and admit I know next to nothing about seamanship. Despite both of my parents being retired Navy. I have never sailed or navigated anything more complex than a single engine fishing/pleasure boat. So after coming across this E yacht, to make sense of things I had to look some stuff up.
So lets start with the fun stuff, options/configurations. Silent Yachts makes up to a hundred and twenty foot vessel and the pictures show them to be as modern and luxurious looking as you'd expect. As temping as it might be to go big. If it was me I'd pick the silent 62. Not only is it plenty big enough for me and the amount of folks I'd want to hang with. I feel like going any bigger and I'd need "people" just to help me maintain and run it. While I am sure they will do whatever you want if you've got the cheddar, Silent Yachts seems to offer three main trim levels of each of their vessels independent of drivetrain or other options. Would that still be called body styles? Any way, you know what I mean. I would imagine with a purchase of this caliber options are where its at. Not only can you choose different interior layouts there is also exterior configuration or body style options. Mostly focusing on the top floor or bridge area. One small open to the elements fly bridge that you can retract the roof on making it a two story, a larger also open fly bridge and then the even larger but fully enclosed permanent 3rd story version of the Silent 62 three deck. The enclosed larger bridge would ultimately be my choice. Not just for the added usable space but because I cant imagine I would want to be in the elements the whole time I was "driving" or actively piloting the yacht.
But let's get to the meat and potatoes at least for me of the boat. the powertrain. Silent Yachts offers three versions. If I had that lotto/dead rich uncle/aunt money and was pulling the trigger my impulse is to go for the E-Power+ to get the bigger batteries and biggest electric motors. Seems like the thing to do right? My American sensibility tells me when it comes to engines, bigger is always better. But does that apply to yachts as well? Turns out in this case at least, maybe not so much. So what does that level three upgrade mean performance wise? Shockingly its doesnt seem to mean a hell of a lot really. Cruising speed stays the same between six and eight knots but top speed jumps to between thirteen and twenty knots up from ten to eleven knots for the entry level power plant. That doesnt seem like a major difference. At lease to me, maybe I am missing something? Maybe the difference is in run time? I kind of wish they explained the benefits/differances in more depth. Unable to find more info on the differences I decided to focus on the info the Silent Yacht website did offer.
Again, I am no sailer, I didn't have any real concept of what a knot is other than knowing it was a measurement of speed. So since this is supposed to be a sea worthy long distance vessel I thought, what can I compare this to? Since in this fantasy I can just pack up the provisions and go where ever I want, however long I want, why not compare it to a typical cruise ship? Per the inter webs it seems most cruise ships go between twenty and thirty knots which is about 23 to 34.5 MPH which doenst seem fast to me even for a vessel as big as a cruise ship. So the Silent Yachts dont seem like they are particularly speedy. To put that further into perspective I looked up what a trip to Hawaii from California might look like. leaving from San Diego it looks to average 18 to 24 days following "the safe route". Boy that seems like a long time looking at nothing but water. So while the Silent Yachts dont seem fast I guess they're not exactly slow either. But when your traveling this distances how long can it maintain those speeds and then when it needs to recharge how long does that take? So many unanswered questions! Another question I had after reviewing the site was after noticing the available parasail. How much does that add to the boats speed, if at all? Or is it a just in case type thing? Or maybe its supplemental? like for while the boat is recharging or if the sun isnt great? I also feel feel like you probably couldn't use the parasail in a storm so then what do you do? Also the site mentions that the para sail is automated how does that work? You can probably tell by this time I was spiraling, my ignorance really ran wild. Then it occurred to me, if your actively traveling across the ocean I'd imagine someones gotta be at the helm the whole time. I certainly didn't see any mention of any " auto pilot" or self driving technology. How many hours would you be able to stay in the hot seat and when you are done you obviously cant pull over. Do you drop anchor or just let shit ride?
When it comes to applying the technology, electric/Hybrid a yacht seems to be the perfect application for solar/hybrid electric technology. Even better than say a big rig or class A motorhome. with a Yacht you have plenty of room for motors and batteries as well as lots of potential surface space for solar panels to recharge.. without the limitations being street legal requires. You can do all sorts of things even the before mentioned deployable para sail to help with speed or in case of issue.
Personally though as intriguing as personal yacht seems the more I thought about the commitment and time it would take to actually use something like this... Maybe this is one of those dreams better left unrealized? Maybe there is a reason all those sheiks and Oligarchs send their yachts ahead then fly in to meet their yachts at certain locations? Like anything else I'd have to try it first to see if its even something I'd actually like doing, Not that I am in any position to pursue anything like this. Still I am a fan of technology in general and transportation specifically, the electrification of everything seems to be the direction we are going. While electric cars have major limitations in regards to surface area and size, yachts dont. So I cant help but think something like this gets a lot closer to the electric dream of being completely self sufficient and not reliant on a power grid to recharge. The more you think about it, the electric/hybrid platform seems like a fantastic match with the yacht world. Especially in combination with sails. Something you definitely cant do with a road going vehicle.
In short while not particularly clever in name, Silent Yachts is a decidedly clever company. Like I said , after the purchase price I have to imagine upkeep and Fueling a typical gas/diesel/jet powered Yacht has to be the biggest expenditure. I have to imagine that the Solar electric capabilities would offer a significant savings over running a typical yacht. I was surprised that this wasn't part of the info conveyed on the site. A comparison of straight fuel vs hybrid cost over a typical trip seems to be the main selling point and its not included on the site in any way I could find. Despite that oversight I am stoked on the idea and as far as the available info shows, the execution looks pretty legit. If the savings is there I am sure we will be seeing a lot more yachts built this way.
James
The Lowered HMFIC
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