Silence Is Golden

Solar power was the only option for liveaboard couple striving for complete sustainability.

- Hayley Smith and Ryan Collingwood

Ryan and I met in a marina where we both had traditional diesel-powered boats, but we had a green vision, we wanted to build an eco-boat.

Being on the Thames at Hampton and close to nature made us think more about the impact of diesel engines in terms of both noise and pollution. Given the rapid advances in technology for electric vehicles on our roads, we figured that there must be a more sustainable way to be on our rivers and canals too.

While my background is in television production, making natural history programmes for clients such as the BBC, ITV and National Geographic, Ryan is a former South African Navy diver with more than 20 years’ experience in the construction trade.

Having spent many years living on boats over many years he devoted plenty of time to researching and testing various technical and logistical elements of solar electric boat design before our boat, The SunFlower, was launched.

It’s a 65ft wide beam and took a year from steelwork to fit-out and is bristling with technology. There’s no diesel engine and no gas onboard, so when we are out cruising the Thames it uses 100 percent renewable energy. While we put sustainability at the heart of this build we didn’t want to compromise on style and we believe the interior is unlike any other boat currently on the water.