A bluewater sailing project · 2026
A classic GRP bluewater sailboat, rebuilt from the keel up — with no diesel engine, no gas, and no fossil fuel aboard.
SV NearlyZero is a project to take a proven offshore hull and rebuild it as a fully electric, sail-powered passage-maker — capable of crossing oceans on wind and sun alone. The name says it plainly: nearly zero carbon, nearly zero compromise.
Why NearlyZero?
The name is honest. A sailboat can get very close to zero — wind is free, sun is free, and a well-designed electric drive system needs very little of either to move efficiently through the water. But a sailing passage is not a thought experiment. You carry food, water, safety equipment, navigation electronics. You make pragmatic decisions. You get nearly there. And nearly zero, done seriously, is worth doing.
The Carbon
No diesel engine. No gas cooker. No petrol outboard. The inboard is electric, the galley runs on induction, and the battery bank is charged by solar panels and a wind generator. A boat can be refuelled anywhere the sun shines — which is most of the world, most of the time.
The Sailing
Going electric does not mean going slow, going short, or going cautious. The rebuild scope is offshore-grade: full standing and running rigging, bluewater safety systems, and a sail plan sized for serious passages. The destination is the Atlantic — and eventually beyond.
The Hull
The starting point is a GRP (fibreglass) bluewater hull from the era when British boatbuilders made offshore boats to last. Candidates include the Westerly Oceanmaster, the Rival 38, the Bowman 40, and comparable designs from the same generation — chosen for structural integrity, manageable short-handed sailing characteristics, and the hull-to-ballast ratios suited to blue-water work.
These are not glamorous boats. They are serious ones. A survey-grade hull in this class is the right foundation for a rebuild of this ambition — GRP that was built thick, ballasted properly, and designed to go to sea in weather, not to sit on a marina pontoon looking pretty.
38–45 ft monohull, GRP construction, fin or long keel, sloop or cutter rig. Bluewater-rated design — not a coastal cruiser pressed into offshore service.
Survey-grade — structurally sound hull with systems that require replacement. The diesel engine, standing rigging, sails, and electrics are treated as writeoffs from the start.
The diesel is removed entirely and replaced with an electric inboard motor — quiet, low-maintenance, and powered by a lithium-iron phosphate battery bank charged by solar and wind generation.
The shakedown is a full circumnavigation of the United Kingdom, sailed with experienced crew aboard. The Atlantic crossing follows — Canaries to the Caribbean, then onward. The boat is built for this from the start.
The Rebuild Scope
A rebuild of this kind is not a refit — it is a systematic recommissioning of every system on the boat, with the electric conversion at its centre. The work is approached in order: structure first, then propulsion, then power, then rig, then safety, then living systems. Nothing goes back in until it has been assessed.
The Builder
Builder & skipper
The builder is in his early sixties and based in Lancaster, England, where the rebuild will be completed. More about the project and the person behind it will be published here as things progress.
Follow the build
The rebuild will be documented from the beginning — every decision, every setback, every small victory — on a dedicated YouTube channel. A project like this takes years, and the point is to show it honestly: what it actually costs, what it actually takes, and what it looks like when someone strips a forty-year-old sailboat back to its bones and puts it back together as something new. The channel is coming. Check back here for the link when it goes live.
Follow the project
SV NearlyZero is an ongoing project. If you are interested in the build, the electric conversion, the boats being considered, or the passage plan, get in touch.
All correspondence is welcome — builders, sailors, sceptics, and the curious.
svnearlyzero@pm.me