About

David O’Neill and Magda O’Neill David originally studied boat building in Falmouth as a feeder to studying yacht design in the Southampton Institute. Unfortunately he did not finish the Naval architecture due to shattering his right arm in an accident. After 3 years recovery he re-started life, traveling and sailing long range. Magda studied Computer Sciences in Warsaw University whilst also qualifying through the sailing side right up to Captain on unlimited size private vessels. She came to Mallorca as the captain of a 6-month old Custom sailing boat, working for a German owner. Both are heavily experienced offshore sailors. They arrived in Mallorca nearly 30 years ago and have been working in the boating industry ever since. David has mainly been focused on the engineering/installation side of the industry and Magda originally as Captain on a private vessel and then later to engineering/communications/programming sometimes working alongside David, and at other times working independently. They live, as well as work aboard and now are based in RCNP in Palma aboard their 39ft sailing boat. July is still reserved for sailing, not working. Magda has become a heavily trained and qualified Allen-Bradely PLC specialist due to challenges seen on an advanced project that multiple international companies struggled with. Magda’s success on that challenge has also translated into other programming challenges in various systems and programming frameworks. David and Magda often work as a team with David leaning on his deep experience of engineering, vessel construction and physical challenges and Magda leaning on her skills in communications and configuration. They have been working across various Marine projects including technical support for a manufacturer of round the world catamarans and working with installation companies focusing on vessels up to the 50m range. They are regularly pulled in to help assess or diagnose faults or issues on advanced vessels and work with surveyors and engineering teams on projects. When working with new projects they prefer to be in at early concept where they can try to keep a cleanliness to the project to better optimize efficiency and function. Their personal focus is on efficiency and `Eco´ style functionality and they have been the voice behind multiple successful refits and newbuilds. They like to support the projects right from concept, through design, build and on to commissioning and handover. In 2019, they were asked to join AkuPalma. The company was expanding and supplying lithium batteries with a strong focus on the marine market. There was a huge learning curve to get over with this new type of energy storage and the installers were struggling for technical support with new equipment and projects. The owner of AkuPalma, David and Magda had known each other and had been working and discussing various technical advances in the marine industry for many years and this is what triggered the tie-up for this new challenge. In the beginning, Magda’s work was testing and developing a new battery system for Relion, an American battery manufacturer who was later bought by the same group as Mastervolt. They continue to focus on support and education to assist project managers, installers and vessel owners with the new wave of products tied to Lithium family systems. AkuPalma is a family-owned business and has been the biggest battery supplier in Mallorca, supplying batteries to the marine market, since 1992. They were also part of the earlier transition from classic lead-acid batteries to Gel and AGM and the focus on installer education at that time was seen to be incredibly important. Akupalma now has dedicated teams for Residential Solar as well as the Marine teams and the legacy battery supply business. The company numbers nearly 20 staff and supplies secondary equipment such as solar systems, core electric and electronic components as well as the battery systems themselves from the 2 warehouses in Palma. Knowledge, education and support has been a core value to the day-to-day function of both AkuPalma and David and Magda personally