Florida Couple Lists 120-Foot Solar-Powered Floating Mansion For $15 Million

A Florida couple has put a 120-foot floating mansion up for sale for 15 million dollars, a four-story aluminum vessel built to run its lights, air conditioning and pool almost entirely on solar power. The boat, named Shine Down, is currently listed in Apalachicola through World Wide Yacht Sales.

Built by Breaux Brothers, the vessel sits on a flat-bottomed aluminum barge hull with a 38-foot beam and weighs roughly 330 gross tons. It offers more than 11,800 square feet of total deck space, with over 6,400 square feet of that enclosed as living area.

The layout spans three main decks plus a rooftop pilothouse. Inside are five king-size bedrooms, seven bathrooms, several salons and lounges, dedicated offices and two laundry rooms, with interiors designed by Rita Durio and Associates.

A swimming pool sits on the rear main deck, alongside a side-loading garage built for a tender and jet skis. A dumbwaiter carries dishes and drinks up to the rooftop pilothouse, which doubles as a party deck and observation lounge overlooking the water.

The roof carries the vessel's defining feature: 108 high-efficiency solar panels arranged edge to edge across the top of the boat. They feed more than 300 kilowatt-hours of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery storage, a chemistry increasingly used in grid-scale battery installations for its durability and heat tolerance.

Behind the battery bank sits 170 kilowatts of inverter power. According to the builder, the solar system handles lighting, cooking, climate control, freshwater production and wastewater treatment, allowing the boat to sit at anchor for months without a shore power cord or a running generator.

Rhonda Shelley, who owns the vessel with her husband Phil, told Louisiana television station KLFY that the setup lets them live off the grid for months at a time when needed. The swimming pool itself also draws its power from the solar system.

Breaux Brothers has described Shine Down as the largest solar-powered houseboat in the country, though no independent body has verified that claim. The vessel was relisted in April 2026 after its asking price climbed to 15 million dollars, and it remained on the market as of the middle of the year.

Despite the emphasis on solar power, the boat is not powered by the sun when underway. Movement relies on three Cummins diesel engines drawing from a 5,000-gallon fuel tank, a detail that separates the vessel's stationary energy independence from its actual propulsion.

The project reflects a broader trend of scaling residential solar systems into larger, more self-sufficient structures. While rooftop solar on a house typically offsets a utility bill, the same technology on Shine Down is engineered to replace shore power and generator use entirely during extended stays at anchor.