A growing wave of small and light electric boats is hitting the market, bringing affordability to the masses. And with more options brings more diversity, including this interesting little electric sailing catamaran known as the IZIBoat.
The small catamaran measures 4.8 meters (15’8″) and is designed to fit up to four occupants for sailing adventures. The main sail and genoa offer a combined 15.4 square meters (166 square feet) of sail area, so the little boat has some big pull.
Even so, in its knocked down form the IZIBoat is just 62 cm (2 feet) wide, making it compact enough for storage in a garage or yard. Once assembled on the beach, which takes around 15 minutes, the sails can be deployed in just one minute. They roll in and out on the mast with the help of vertical battens, a sliding boom, and a rotating deviator.
An electric motor is included for navigating around the marina or returning home even once the winds have died down. With good winds, though, the IZIBoat is said to reach a top speed of 15 knots (17 mph or 28 km/h).
The sailboat is built to be easy to launch with removable wheels in the floats that are stored behind the seat when not in use.
Those wheels allow it to be pushed around by hand or even towed by a bicycle. But considering the 156 kg (344 lb) weight, perhaps an electric bike would make a better towing vehicle if you have any hills between you and the shore.
We’ve seen small electric boats that are designed to be towed by a compact car, but rarely are they meant for towing by bicycle.
The boat’s design was meant to make it as easy to operate as possible, including with the use of a central joystick for manipulating the sales from a seated position. As the company explained:
IZIBoat benefits from innovative hydrodynamics and aerodynamics offering exceptional stability, allowing users to drive it sitting in the middle, intuitively and comfortably. Its cockpit seat is ergonomically designed to fit any size of user and has a large relaxation area. All the controls are within easy reach, you stay in your seat, without changing sides.
The IZIBoat shells are also coated with corundum bead, an extremely hard form of aluminum oxide that is quite resistant to abrasion. That allows boaters to reliably beach the vessel right on the sand for smooth and confident arrivals on the beach.
With a starting price at around €14,500 (approximately US $16,300), the IZIBoat is also in line with the cost of other small sailing catamarans like a Hobie Cat.
It’s not quite as simple as a pure electric motorboat from Amazon, but if you’ve got a little sailing experience under your belt (or want to learn), then this might be a nice step up.
via: autoevolution
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