1/8/2023
Sail Ionian (stand J156 http://www.sailionian.com) is a family owned and operated yacht charter business based on the island of Lefkada, Greece. They operate the newest, best maintained charter fleet in the Ionian and pride themselves on outstanding customer service, winning a TripAdvisor Travellers Choice award.
Sail Ionian leads the industry in innovation in luxury small yacht charter. Today new developments in the efficiency of solar power, and the use of lithium batteries, coupled with low voltage cooling units, finally allow us to install air conditioning on small yachts! No generator or shore power required!
In a charter company first, Sail Ionian have equipped two solar powered yachts ‘Freedom’ a Bavaria C42 & ‘Aqua Therapy’ a Bavaria C38 with an exclusive low voltage variable-speed drive solar yacht air conditioning unit!
You can now charter a yacht without a generator and enjoy the comfort of air conditioning wherever you are.
This groundbreaking new tech is very environmentally friendly. Without a diesel generator running you’ll find the new system is quiet, and you won’t disturb the rest of the harbour overnight. What’s more it’s also completely without any exhaust greenhouse gases. So not only can you feel cool overnight and get a good night’s sleep, but you can also be smug about it too, without any fossil fuel guilt!
The system has been made possible because we use the latest technology from solar panels and lithium batteries. The panels are mounted above the bimini on a steel gantry as normal, usually two 215w panels. The Ionian sunshine gives us a great, reliable power source to rely on. The panels power 800Ah lithium batteries.
Lithium batteries offer huge advantages over traditional AGM units. Not only can they be discharged to around 90% without any damage, but they can also be recharged from flat to full capacity in under 8 hours. Far less than the 12-24 hours for a flat AGM to recharge. This level of discharge is, however, highly unlikely, even with the air conditioning running all night.
We usually see the lowest battery levels at around 50% of capacity in the early morning before the sun is up. A recharge to full capacity is normal by lunchtime without using shore power. This allows us to directly power the air conditioning unit without worrying about flat batteries overnight, as they will be topped back up quicky and efficiently the next day.
The abundant battery power has many other advantages too. Guests do not really need to monitor power consumption anymore. Diligently entering battery levels in the log book every hour is simply not necessary. Solar powered lithium means no power worries onboard – fridges can be run all the time, even in the August Ionian heat!
This clean power then directly feeds the low voltage variable-speed drive yacht air conditioning unit. The new units are powered directly from the batteries’ 12-volt system. There is no need for an invertor as the units run on the same voltage as the batteries, yielding further power savings previously not possible. The air conditioning units’ power consumption is carefully controlled so that they do not draw huge amounts of power when starting up. ‘Sleep Mode’ also slowly raises the temperature in the boat overnight while you sleep, further reducing power consumption.
The efficiency of the whole air conditioning system is far higher than was previously possible. This exclusive low voltage yacht air conditioning system has revolutionized the market and introduced a world of cooling to smaller yachts!
It will be rolled out to the rest of Sail Ionian’s charter fleet over this summer and into 2025.
Sail Ionian’s guests want new, luxurious charter yachts and the fleet has seven brand new Bavaria yachts joining this summer; a C38, 3 C42s, a Vision 42, a C45 and a C50. The 2024 season will see at least another four; a Cruiser 37, C38, Open 40 catamaran and another C50 consolidating the market leading yacht selection.
Sail Ionian’s legendary boat show special offers are back again this year! With discounts of up to 30% on late season charters and further discounts on early bookings for 2024. We have offers on bareboat, flotilla or crewed charters and RYA Sea School courses! You can also secure your 2025 booking with just a £200 deposit!
Join us at stand J156 for a free glass of bubbles to celebrate 21 years of Sail Ionian and a chat about your dream yacht charter!
