From repairing a family boat to creating an electrical panel
For Pierre Passet, a 54-year-old electronics engineer, the change of direction towards the nautical industry is the result of several factors. After holding management positions in several industrial SMEs, he is now questioning his professional future. His brother, owner of a sailing boat in Montpellier, contacts him to ask him to repair his out of order electrical panel. "The shipchandler had told him that it needed to be changed and that a new board cost 1,200 euros. When I saw the painting I thought to myself: it looks as if it was 30 years old. It was the same as the one on my parents' boat. In the end, I was able to repair it, but the seed was sown with the idea that there was something to be done about the technology of electric switchboards," says Pierre Passet.
The engineer then asked his brother to take a look around at the International Multihull Boat Show at La Grande Motte, to check that there were no other technologies other than that of his yacht. "The majority of the boats had the same classic technology and some top of the range catamarans were equipped with a more luxurious solution with touch screen and NMEA bus communication," he explained. To dig deeper and get to the heart of the matter, I went to METSTrade in 2019 and found that there was no simple, integrated solution between the panel from 30 years ago and the luxury version," explains Pierre Passet. While each architecture has its own specificities, we can nevertheless note the existence of players, not mentioned by Pierre Passet, such as Philippi, ETA's Power Plex, the Ship Control developed by Bénéteau with Scheiber and JPS Concept's products for ocean racing or Windelo catamarans.
With the departure from his position in industry organized, he founded his company in December 2019, named Koriolan, in homage to the ship of Herbert von Karajan's famous sailing ship, which had marked him in his youth.
A "smart" electrical panel
Several months of development followed, culminating in the first series of electrical switchboards called ShipHeart, which will be marketed in the winter of 2021. "I worked with French partners for the hardware part, while I took care of the design and software. The idea was to have something more modern, with a 10-inch touch screen and a largely dimensioned computing power with 2 processors for display and data acquisition" says the designer. Indeed, the electrical panel integrates a home automation and data recording aspect. Historical data such as temperature or load can be stored. Accelerometers can record shocks and locate them thanks to an integrated GNSS position sensor.
A connected panel for the yachtsman on board as well as on land
An integrated Wifi network allows the control of the board from a tablet or a phone. A 4G chip ensures that data is sent to the Koriolan company server for access from land if the yachtsman wishes. Through this server, he can also, via a secure process, launch key functions such as bilge pumps from his home.
For more safety, mechanical switches compensate for possible electronic failures.
Boaters, 1st customers for 2021
In order to continue to optimize its product and benefit from user feedback, ShipHeart will focus on private customers in 2021. "We will start slowly with BtoC, which will also allow us to upgrade the software as needed. The product is designed to be easy to install, with all connectors provided. In a second phase, we will target distributors and marine electricians in 2021. The 1st assembly and the shipyards will come later, when a fleet of equipped boats will give us credibility" explains Pierre Passet. In terms of price, the solution lies between the traditional panel and NMEA solutions, the ShipHeart Silver for 16 circuits ordered being offered at 3790 euros including tax.
"By targeting sailing boats between 8 and 15 metres and motor boats between 8 and 12 metres, the target represents 87,000 boats in France alone," concludes the optimistic inventor of ShipHeart.
