Electricité de France
Inspired by an older design, yet fitted with a modern electric engine, this runabout is a pleasantly quiet way to travel, discovers Dan Houston
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Top: The mahogany hull catches the afternoon sun. The flared bow sections are pure 1930s speedboat
58 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2012
lectric boats have a different feel to them – they barely make any noise for one thing and perhaps because of that, they kind of slip by innocuously on the water. So it was a quiet acquaintance that we made with this electric runabout, from French designer and builder Marc Vuilliomenet, based in St Raphaël, in the south of France.
The 18ft (5.5m) Classic Power runabout is inspired
by, and partly based on, an older design from Jeanneau, dating from 1970 – itself no doubt influenced by the Rivas and Chris-Craft of an earlier era. Marc strip- builds the hull using mahogany and epoxy resin, with the vacuum method making it very stiff and lightweight; the hull weighs just 350kg. Using wood like this enables such a lightweight construction and the boat is easily towable, and easily driven. “If I made this boat in glassfibre it would be too heavy, wood is the only solution unless you go with carbon fibre,” he tells me. The boat is driven by a 5kW electric motor powered by four batteries giving 200 amps at 48V. “It’s a compromise between speed and power conservation,” Marc says, “but we can make the boat with other
specifications, either as a hybrid or with a fuel cell motor. The arrangement gives you a day’s power and costs less than a Euro to recharge. Speed is six and a half knots, but we have gone up to 10 knots on full power... of course the batteries don’t last as long.”
AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE RIB?
The Classic Power runabout has swivel seats forward, so driver and co-pilot can turn and face the bench seat a few feet aft. Behind this, a covered afterdeck conceals the lazarette, where the small motor and its bank of batteries are kept. It’s always surprising to see the guts of an electric boat – there seems to be nothing to it. She’s specified for four people in Category C (inshore, wave heights up to 2m). It’s unsinkable thanks to buoyancy tanks along the length of the topsides. Marc envisages it being an alternative to the ubiquitous RIB, and hopes that some of the larger classic yachts will want to adopt it as a tender. It certainly has elegant touches with its flared bow and bare teak-planked decks, and was surprisingly comfortable to board and to drive. The throttle and key are close at hand on the right of the steering position. The motor powers a simple saildrive
EMILY HARRIS
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