Greenline's Hybrid Chops

A Closer Look At The New Greenline 36 Hybrid

- Dag Pike

SVP YACHTS from Slovenia has made a specialty of offering hybrid yachts under the Greenline banner and they have been pioneers in the development of both electric and hybrid versions of their advanced designs. With experience taken from hundreds of hybrid motor cruisers, this new 36 is the latest manifestation of the Greenline electric power philosophy, and it offers some very interesting cruising solutions.

The 36 is available in several variations. You can have it as a fairly conventional diesel-powered motor cruiser equipped with a Volvo Penta or Yanmar engine. The choice of Volvo power gives you the option of a hybrid version, which allows running under either diesel or electric power but not both at the same time as happens with some hybrid concepts. The 370-horsepower Yanmar diesel does not have the hybrid option but you do get higher performance with speeds up to 25 knots. The Volvo Penta 220-horsepower diesel provides a top speed of 18 knots, but switching to the electric power drops the top speed to 6.5 knots.

HULL DESIGN

All these powering options forced Greenline to find a hull design that would operate effectively at both low displacement speeds and higher planing speeds. Greenline says this is the fifth-generation hull and is the result of extensive tank testing. Out on the water where it counts, the hull seems to live up to the claims, although it is quite sensitive to trim. On the sea trial, the trim tabs were not working, so experimenting with trim variations was a bit limited.