Past Projects

SME worked with Ocean Infinity to outfit

the multi-purpose offshore service vessel

Island Pride with a 40 tonne, 6,000

metre deep-water winch and A-frame.

We developed a viable deck plan around

existing structures and equipment and

provided detailed design calculations

for grillage structure and seafastening

for securing the A-frame and 40t winch

permanently to the deck.

This work included detailed finite element analysis (FEA) of the vessel deck structure with grillage and all brackets for full DNV approval of the installation. Following this, SME provided continuous support for temporary deck arrangement and seafastening design and calculations for new jobs the vessel is chartered for and recently completed seafastening of several scientific survey containers and workshops for  data acquisition  in the Pacific.

The zero-emission boat will become the flagship vessel on Plymouth Boat Trips’ historic Cremyll Ferry commuter route between Plymouth and Southeast Cornwall. Following in the footsteps of the company’s prior conversion of a small, diesel work boat to a 12-passenger ferry (the e-Voyager), this larger 150-passenger capacity vessel will operate for up to 14 hours a day on a single overnight charge.

SME's naval architects, in partnership with Pelagic Design,  worked with Voyager Marine and Plymouth Boat Trips to create a clean, hydrodynamically efficient hull

form to minimize the required battery capacity while maximising range and operational flexibility.

This partnership, led by the University of Strathclyde with the University of Exeter, Solis Marine Engineering, Logan Energy Limited, O.S. Energy (UK) Limited and Chimera Energy Limited, investigated the potential for full decarbonisation of shipping by assessing the feasibility of transitioning existing ships to hydrogen fuels and powertrains using enabling technologies. 

The project was selected as part of the UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition with an overall budget of £628,000, funded by the Department for Transport in partnership with Innovate UK.

The TransShip project evaluated the engineering and economic feasibility of a full repowering modification of an existing diesel-powered research vessel to enable it to run on pure hydrogen, a naturally carbon-free fuel which can be produced using renewable energy. Our input ensured that all evaluated technologies could be successfully integrated onboard the vessel with minimal operational changes.

Our work began with preliminary evaluations of the vessel stability and anticipated weight changes to ensure basic viability of the proposed modifications. Further, the present capabilities and range of the vessel were closely evaluated and measured to ensure that the modified vessel would be able to perform to the same level as it does

presently. SME is working closely with the technology providers and vessel to develop the new arrangements incorporating all technologies and ensuring the modification work will meet all regulatory requirements and safety considerations.

Solis Marine Engineering has provided

on-going naval architecture support to marine robotics company Ocean Infinity

across a range of projects which advance

the development of low emission fleet

robotics, offshore service vessels and

autonomous vehicles to capture subsea

marine data.

Armada will be the largest fleet of unmanned robotic surface vessels comprised of a range of vessel sizes from 21m to 78m. Each autonomous surface vessel will serve a wide range of industries, outfitted to perform a variety of offshore data acquisition and intervention operations down to a depth of 6,000 meters. 

These robotic ships will be capable of remotely deploying a wide range of the latest sensors as well as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for subsea data acquisition.

RS Electric Boats asked SME to undertake analysis of two possible hull forms for their first electric boat. The focus was on resistance to minimise installed power and battery requirements.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis on the two hull forms. The results showed significant resistance reduction across a range of speeds, allowing RS Electric Boats to progress with a single hull option. 

Tugdock is the world’s first road transportable floating dry dock. It is a patented modular floating dry dock which is less expensive to buy, costs less to operate and is far simpler to use than any present drydock system.

SME supported Tugdock with the development of its modular drydock. This involved stability calculations and design support, where hydrostatics were performed using the stability software GHS and docking simulation in OrcaFlex.

Deck dimensions can be increased or decreased to suit the size and shape of the vessel or floating structure to be lifted. And it is transportable as shipping containers for cost effect global delivery.