On a conventional outboard motor, the Anti-Ventilation Plate (AVP) acts as a physical barrier between the propeller and the water surface to prevent ventilation. On the Flux Marine outboard, it serves a second purpose: dissipating heat produced by the power electronics. Carried over from the previous generation, the AVP passes hot coolant through an internal flow path that transfers heat into the surrounding seawater.

Starting in August 2023, I led continued development of the AVP with two goals: improving thermal performance and enabling integration with the new belt housing architecture. Over the course of development I evaluated four manufacturing methods — two-piece CNC machined and bonded, single-piece diffusion bonded, two-piece SLM printed, and single-piece SLM printed — alongside a wide range of internal geometry designs. The most successful solution was a single-piece SLM printed unit with a complex lattice internal geometry. Its ultra-low-profile external form combined with an internal structure optimized for low pressure drop and high surface area produced a design capable of dissipating 15kW of heat, which was ultimately delivered on over 50 production systems