The design of boats has always been characterised by the need to favour certain requirements at the expense of others. Clearly a boat that can offer all things to all people cannot exist!

In the case of the ‘LDL’ hull our clear objective has always been to optimise a range of speeds that lie anywhere between slow speed (the easy bit…) up to ‘swift’ speeds up to about 12-14 knots – beyond which planing-hulled designs will be more appropriate – especially if these speeds are needed for much of the time afloat. 

During the dark days of Covid lock-down the only upside was that there was plenty of time to think, and in that apparently vacuous period it suddenly became obvious to me that the characteristics we had optimised with the development of the ‘LDL’ hull made it a perfect partner for the burgeoning development of electric propulsion.  

The problem bothering the world of planing-boats is that the inherently low energy-density offered by a battery often results in serious power-to-weight problems when compared to traditional gasoline-powered units that have always served the high-speed boating industry so well.

It’s clear from the above that there is an obvious symbiosis to be explored between ‘LDL’ boats (like ‘CLARA’) and the needs of the outboard engine industry with a view to offering boats that appeal to those who value the pleasure of travelling at ‘swift’ speeds (as opposed to ‘fast’ ones) in a silent boat that poses no threat to the environment in which it travels…..