'Takes off like a Tesla ... '

As we close off the first full year of HopYacht, we have been reflecting on the overall process of designing and building the first HopYacht 30. The conclusion? Bringing a totally new catamaran concept to market in just 14 months has been a rollercoaster ride for the team! Without a doubt it's also been a lot of fun! However, sprinkled in between the fun stuff, have been moments of frustration too.

HopYacht co-founder Paul Tomes, commented on how the seemingly obvious solution to overcome a build problem, often doesn’t work for a new design and this forces you to go looking for the not so obvious solution. Or what Paul likes to call ‘the second right answer’

‘This is when the real innovation happens and it is both challenging and exciting in the same breath,’ comments Paul.

'There have been times when we have questioned our sanity! Whilst we set out to provide a solution that would truly change the way people are able to sail, at times we wondered if we were perhaps pushing the boundaries a little too far?

On top of being all electric, one sail, demountable hulls, we've have added many other design features that are far from the norm. However, the feedback we received throughout this past year from our blog posts, social media and industry colleagues, has kept us resolved to stay on track. The positive response from visitors who stepped on board our first HopYacht at the Cape Town boat show, was also a real boost for us. Here a few of the comments that made the past year all the more worthwhile.

Firstly, we loved this comment from a North American client ...

‘When I first looked at the boat I wasn’t really sure if this is what I was looking for, but then I realised you didn’t design the boat for me, you designed it for my partner who’s never been that keen on sailing! It’s the perfect balance of comfort and fun sailing.'

From an experienced blue water sailor ...

‘I’ve owned much larger catamarans in the past and done enough offshore sailing now … this is the ideal boat for just my wife and I to enjoy more relaxed sailing bay to bay'.

It's interesting how different people view the boat differently. A young professional couple gave us this feedback ...

We were keen on your shared ownership boat, but having seen it now I think we’d like to own our own. The way you have designed the interior it’s kind of like a hotel room on water! I reckon we can also get it to earn its keep, by offering it on Air BnB!

On a recent test sail we had a fun quip from a client on the performance of our E-Propulsion electric pod drive motors …

‘This thing takes off like a Tesla!’

Perhaps a slight exaggeration, however compared to a traditional diesel engine, electric motors do have a lot more torque! To ensure the acceleration created isn’t an issue, the dual throttle control has a ‘dock mode’ button which reduces the power input. This means it’s harder to accidentally ‘over-cook’ things as you approach your mooring.

And finally, one of the comments we hear most often ...

‘This is really cute!’

At first it was difficult for us to take this onboard as positive feedback! When you’ve worked hard to create what you hope will be a game changing boat, ‘cute’ isn’t exactly the reaction we were hoping for. But it struck us that ‘cute’ is hugely positive, reinforcing that the HopYacht 30 is exceptionally easy to sail ... understandably traditional yacht terminology falls away! We can rest easy now knowing that we’ve achieved what we set out to do … well almost. We have a number of new features we will be adding in the new year. We think these will be pretty cool … but 'cute' is good too!

One of the exciting industry trends in 2022, has been the speed of change within the yacht building world, with growing recognition that solar power and electric propulsion is the way to go. One our clients summed this up beautifully …

'If you have room for a couple of decent sized solar panels on your boat, there is no rational reason to fit a diesel engine on any yacht!'

Music to our ears ... however I do expect at this point we might get a few raised eyebrows from die-hard diesel fans. It is clearly evident that there is a groundswell of support for electric motors on yachts now. Our clients either own electric cars or certainly try to rent one when they are travelling, so it's only natural that they expect the yachts they sail to help lower emissions as well!

As we head in to 2023 we are excited about the future of HopYacht. Boat 001 will be shipped to Greece in February. After re-commissioning the boat in Athens, we will sail her to Preveza in the Ionian Sea, via the Corinth Canal, ready for the start of the 2023 sailing season.

The construction of HopYacht 002 is already underway and 003 scheduled to commence early in the new year.

Hull 002 is a motor only version, incorporating a lot of new features. We will be sharing more details shortly!

Thank you everyone for all your feedback and support in 2022 and wishing you a wonderfully quiet fossil-fuel free yachting year in 2023.

PS. Boat 001 is being offered on a shared ownership basis and if you are currently dreaming of relaxed sailing holidays in Greece, we still have one share left.

HopYacht off the grid!

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"Having electric propulsion on a yacht is fine as long as I can get into a marina each night to plug into shore power and recharge the batteries, but what if I want to anchor in a quiet bay for a couple of nights?"

At the recent Cape Town boat show this was a question we got asked frequently. Several visitors who have experienced chartering yachts in the Mediterranean also pointed out that many of the Municipal harbours don’t yet have shore power available.

In theory, we had more than enough battery capacity and solar recharging capability on our HopYacht 30 to sustain several hours of motoring during the day and continue to run all the house systems overnight. However, this needed to be tested in real life.

At the end of each day of sea-trials and test sails with prospective clients, when we return to our marina berth, we have deliberately left the boat unplugged!

Our all-electric HopYacht 30 has been off the grid now for over 2 months relying on the solar panels to recharge the batteries. The fridge freezer and other systems run 24-hours a day. Actually, we have yet to unwrap the shore power cable and the marina berth we currently occupy doesn’t even have an electrical supply!

Yes it’s been sunny in Cape Town and our solar panels have performed well, but we’ve also had a fair amount of cloud cover. As I write, the forecast is for unseasonal rain over the next few days.

Our theory has become a happy reality. With an electric propulsion HopYacht you don’t have to find a marina every night to be able to to plug into shore power. Instead, you can enjoy the freedom of being unplugged, off the grid, in your own secluded bay.

Paul Tomes

Here’s a brief run down of how the HopYacht electrics are configured

1. 4 x 400 Watt Sunpower Maxeon 3 solar panels

2. 4 x Victron Smart Solar MPPT 100/20-48V solar controllers

3. Victron MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-100 230V inverter/charger

4. 2 x Victron 48V Lynx distributors

5. 2 x Victron 48|12 DC-DC converters

6. 2x 14.4 kWh Lithium Ferro Phosphate Batteries with built in battery management and data communication.

More information on Sunpower Maxeon 3 solar panels ...

https://sunpower.maxeon.com/au/sites/default/files/2019-07/max3-400-390-370-au_0.pdf

The advantages of E-sailing.

Our first test sail in the new HopYacht 30 was off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. Whilst we would have preferred to have had a moderate breeze for our first sail, once clear of the wind shadow created by Table Mountain, it became very clear that like it or not, we would be testing the boat in 20-25 knots of wind.

Under full genoa the boat handled so well, that we double checked to see if we hadn't read the wind speed incorrectly. 23 knots of wind on a beam reach and HopYacht sped across the bay at a respectable 7 knots.

On paper, the designers had recommended reefing to the second line marked on the genoa. In reality with full sail, the boat felt completely under control, no weather helm and around 5 degrees of heel. Our first and now lasting impression is that our HopYacht 30 is exceptionally easy to sail and the low aspect rig is very forgiving.

We had a drone pilot onboard and this short video gives you a great feel for how the HopYacht 30 performed.

As designers and builders, we knew that we would be a little biased, looking for the positives and overlooking any negatives. So we invited Richard Chase, a colleague from Hout Bay Yacht Club, who owns a 42 foot catamaran. He's an avid sailor and a helicopter pilot. I mention the latter to make the point that Richard is a great fan of precision and control! He loves the boat and felt completely at home on the helm throughout the spirited conditions. Richard made the comment that HopYacht's upwind performance compared favourably to many of the new generation larger cruising catamarans and despite being a smaller boat with a one-sail rig, we averaged 4-5 knots, close hauled.

One of the temptations we discovered (through being equipped with electric propulsion), is that despite being a sea-trial where we wanted to put the boat through it's paces under sail, from time to time we couldn't resist just a touch of whisper quiet power from the electric motors!

It was during these motor sailing experiments that the term e-sailing first found it’s way into our vocabulary. If someone stalled the boat in the middle of a tack, we quickly discovered one of the huge advantages of electric propulsion - the motors are constantly on standby! With immediate power you can quickly give the boat a gentle nudge on to the other tack! In contrast it would taken a lot longer to have to turn the key, pull the starter and pause momentarily to get a diesel engine idling smoothly, before putting it into gear.

HopYacht handles beautifully under sail alone, however having electric propulsion is a game changer, making relaxed, easy going sailing a significant reality.

At one end of the scale a novice sailor can confidently get out of trouble fast with instant on demand power from the motors. For more proficient sailors there’s the thrill of having different ways to optimise sailing performance.

Of course, the purist sailor in me wants to get from A to B under sail alone. However if you have a deadline to get to your destination (perhaps the usual afternoon race to get a berth in the Med or facing a tide that is about to turn!), there is huge merit in using the motors to give the boat that extra push, especially when close hauled.

Over the past week, we have been e-sailing with different power settings to assess the full value. With just 250 watts of power on each motor (that’s less than 5% of the 6kW motors), in moderate winds, boat speed increased from 4 to 5 knots when close hauled. In the overall scheme of things this is huge, adding 25% more speed with just 5% input from the motors. Battery usage in this configuration is minimal ... self sustainable on a sunny day!

E-sailing makes complete sense with electric motors. No noise, no fumes and at very low throttle, free energy provided purely by the solar panels.

Under motor only, HopYacht’s performance is equally impressive. Equipped with two 6kW E-propulsion pod drives, instead of engine revs we now talk in watts.

In moderate to fresh winds and a swell of just under 2 metres, we were able to cruise at just over 4 knots with 2 500 watts of power. At 3 500 watts 5.5 - 6 knots. At full throttle the boat speed is just over 7 knots which given the amount of power used to add just an extra knot of speed, this is simply wasting energy. By throttling back you lose very little speed and the range increases significantly. In a strong tidal flow or a serious headwind however, it’s great to know that you have this reserve power available.

On a recent 4-hour voyage down the coast, we averaged 5 knots into a headwind and for a couple of hours pushed our way through a very lumpy and confused sea-state. The total trip, dock to dock, used just 54% of the battery capacity.

Our initial ‘on paper’ projection was a range of 7 hours at cruising speed. On the water, in less than perfect conditions, we now know that this is easily achievable - and more!

Perhaps one of the most exciting discoveries since launching the boat at the beginning of October, is we have yet to plug into shore-power!

Despite almost daily use and with the fridge running 24 hours a day, the 4 x 400 watt solar panels have provided enough input to top up the batteries and keep us ‘off the grid.’

We estimate that we are getting somewhere between 20-24% of the total battery capacity (28.8 kWh) per day added back by the solar panels. Ok, South Africa has a lot of sunshine, but recent weather has also included cloudy skies and rainfall.

Conclusion thus far. The HopYacht 30 is a delight to sail. The single sail dhow rig makes life really simple and electric propulsion makes motor-sailing a real joy.

E-sailing .... e-mazing!

Paul