Sailing Nahoa

After they met through sailboat racing on Vancouver Island in Canada, Ben and Ashley eventually married, bought a boat in Florida and have since traveled halfway around the world using RELiON lithium batteries. It had always been a life goal of theirs to sail around the world, though they initially planned for their journey to be a one-time adventure. Six years after they first took off from the coast of Florida, Ben and Ashley have traveled to and around the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Thailand. They also now have a trusty new deckhand mate: their beautiful fourteen-month-old daughter, Willa.

Now full-time digital nomads, YouTubers and videographers, Ben and Ashley are just getting started on their sailing journey and plan to sail through the Indian Ocean toward Africa in the next week or two. We spoke with Ben and Ashley about their short-lived experience with lead-acid batteries, why they recommend RELiON lithium batteries, and what it has been like to live and travel full-time off-grid in the ocean.

Ben and Ashley’s power system includes:

Four robust, long-lasting RELiON RB300 batteries and a 1.2 kW solar array power the refrigerators, air conditioning, kitchen appliances, fans, navigation electronics, laptops, electric winches for pulling ropes, and a fresh watermaker in Ben and Ashley’s 2005 Lagoon 410 yacht.

Why Ben and Ashley switched to lithium:

“We previously used lead-acid batteries that couldn’t hold a charge for very long and eventually ended up dying on us after only a year. We use our fridges and watermaker pretty heavily and quickly realized that lead-acid batteries just didn’t suit our fully off-grid lifestyle. It was always such a pain to have to try and plan ahead for cloudy days when there might not be enough sun to last us the whole day or to charge our batteries for evening use.”

Why Ben and Ashley chose RELiON:

“We actually met the RELiON team at a Miami boat show. After extensive research, we discovered that they offered the simplest, plug-and-play system. RELiON batteries are the perfect drop-in lead acid replacement, as we didn’t have any complications whatsoever during the swap out.”

How Ben and Ashley’s lithium system helped them challenge their limits:

“We’re able to be much more self-sufficient and feel a lot safer when out in the middle of the ocean. There are so many things that go into sailing safely around the world full-time. For example, our RELiON system allows us to reliably sail on autopilot at night. We no longer have to worry about having our batteries run out or having to stop our journey short. We also don’t have to worry about being able to produce enough fresh water through our RELiON-powered watermaker. Now we can relax, travel as well as work more.”

What Ben and Ashley love most about full-time boat life:

“The freedom, the independence, the ability to roam wherever and whenever we want.”

Ben and Ashley’s advice for people considering switching to lithium batteries:

“If we can trust RELiON lithium batteries to safely and reliably power our lives in the middle of the ocean day in and day out for years on end, they will likely be an exceptional choice for you as well. RELiON batteries simply enable a level of independence and freedom that lead-acid batteries can’t, due in part to the much greater allowable depth of discharge.”

Learn more about Sailing Nahoa through their website and follow along with their travels on Youtube.