The Nantucket
Presentation of the Nantucket, a new motor boat for a new energy age, where expensive oil makes designers rethink hull lines for economy.
I first saw the Nantucket in the French boating press last year, in La Rochelle I also saw it on the water. An easily driven hull with an inboard diesel between 40 and 80 HP. A small cuddy with a double berth, head and refrigerator. A new generation of picnic boat is born! The Nantucket is a smaller sister to Nigel Irens Rangeboat which shares this exciting new concept.
The cockpit is where all the action is. A large U shaped rear seat around a table for 6 to 8 people which drops to form a huge sunbathing platform. Seen here with a bimini, one could imagine the whole cockpit under canvas for summer camping. The motor box is sufficiently sound proofed and in the center of the cockpit. As an option an out bord in a well is also available.
Under the water the propellor is well protected and two lateral fins (an option) make beaching a breeze. They would also stabilise the narrow hull in a swell. The 2.53 metre width and 1.7 metric ton weight makes the boat trailerable as well as very easy to drive with low power.
The composite hull is finished with a teak and mahogany trimmed deck. The resulting package is very eye catching.
I hope that this kind of boat will inspire designers to provide amateur builders with plans for similar craft. Of course I also hope it will inspire amateur designers too! What plans are out there that could be adapted for small inboard diesel power? Maybe some of the older plans from the 50''s and 60''s that can be found on the net (no URL because the main site with these plans is often unreachable for me) are ripe for conversion...
What is your opinion on slower, fuel economical, easily driven hulls? Chip in with your opinion in the motor boat design forum. I know that I would much rather be out on the water looking at the scenery than at the fuel gauge and calculating how much the afternoon was costing me!
Tony Grant
La Rochelle, 2005-09-21
