THE GENTLE GIANT

摘要

It probably won't have escaped your attention that there's a lot of work going on in the car industry to reduce reliance on the internal combustion engine. A few years ago, hybrids were all the rage; now the emphasis is on electric cars. In the boating world, something similar is going on - although without the same level of research spending, or the maverick entrepreneurs. Recently, we've noticed a big increase in the number of boats fitted with hybrid systems - a conventional engine with an electric motor bolted on, to give the option of cruising using either diesel or electric power. But here's a boat which has gone one step further. It has the latest version of an electric motor powered by a big battery bank. That battery bank still needs charging, though, and while this boat has a significant solar array, there's also a generator - powered by old fashioned diesel. The propulsion system isn't the only thing notable about this boat. It's also big - long and wide - and has room for three bedrooms.