2024. Quite a year....

2024 was quite a year.

The most exciting thing about the work I did in 2024 was the range of projects that I was lucky enough to have been involved with, both in the Boat world and the Car world.

One of the biggest project I worked on, working closely with Rachael and the team at SmartSail, was looking at a range of opportunities for our SmartSail Technology. Having talked about this product for a number of years what was amazing was the number of hi tech marine businesses that we really seemed to align with, in terms of the capabilities and potential of the technology and how it could work within their business. We still have a way to go but we really hope that we can make some big strides in 2025

Still in the marine industry, we worked closely with the crew and engineers of one the top TP52's, along with the engineers at Rigging Projects, developing a new, highly efficient, simple system for their forestay.

Perhaps the most exciting project we were involved with in 2024, which is continuing into 2025, is working again with RAD Propulsion. Having been fortunate enough to work with them on their amazing RAD40 project, we were lucky enough to be asked to help them develop their next product, the RAD120.

Whilst there is not a huge amount we can say about this 120kW electric outboard at the moment, what we can say is that it will be both an evolution and revolution, compared to the RAD40. There are so many features of the RAD40 that have proved to be so efficient, that we will incorporate into the RAD120, but also a few areas that we know we can do even better.

The vast majority of the initial engineering of the RAD120 is being done on Dassault's 3Dx (Catia V6). Having used this system for a number of years now, it really is a massive improvement on pretty much all the other CAD systems I've used over the years and moves Catia a long way on from the "old v5" days.

What will be most obvious when the outboard is released later this year is that the 120kW outboard is not much bigger than its smaller sibling, the 40kW, but with 3 times the power. That is partly down to the ever advancing of the underlying technology within the electric motors but also down to advances in the materials and engineering used to create the outboard.

All in all, a really exciting project to be involved with but perhaps more importantly, a really amazing group of people to work with.

Since I started Light Black Design I've been really lucky to work on some amazing projects, with some phenomenal engineers, and friends. What's been amazing is that in the 15 years since I started this business I have only really ever had to fight for payments once. In the end, we were paid and we have moved on but it was an eye opener and really makes one appreciate how important it is, especially as a small business, to work with companies where everyone can trust each other.