Hinckley launched the latest yacht, which became the world’s first fully electronic yacht. The Portsmouth based boatbuilder introduced Dasher, the world’s first fully electronic yacht that is 28.5-foot in length. It was shown to the world for the first time at the 47th Newport International Boat Show.
Dasher- first fully electronic yacht
Hinckley yacht’s director of new product development Scott Bryant says this boat is not an existing design, where they dropped a couple of electric motors in it. It is a yacht specially designed and ground up for an electric drive. Dasher is the world’s first fully electronic yacht, and it weighs around 6,500 pounds. The lightweight structure of the first fully electric luxury yacht, produced using carbon fiber in the frame and stringers. It does not use traditional dense hardwood but uses artisanal teak instead to maintain the yacht’s lightweight. Artisanal teak is a moldered composite material that is hand-painted with the wood grain to bring grace and beauty to the object. According to Bryant, artisanal teak is similar to the real teak wood.
Range of Dasher
The Hinckley yachts’ Dasher has a range of 35 marine miles. The Dasher can cut through the water with the help of its twin 80-horsepower Deep Blue 80i 1800 motors. Its motors are from a German company called Torqeedo. Each engine has a 40-kilowatt-hour BMW i3 lithium-ion battery.
Features of the world’s first fully electronic yacht
The Dasher has a range of 40 miles or 35 marine miles. It can go at a comfortable cruising speed of 10 mph, or 8.6 knots, and up to 25 miles (22 NM) at speeds of 18 to 27 mph (15.6 to 23.5 knots). Hinckley yachts’ Dasher is installed with a touch screen console that provides updated GPS information to the captain of the boat. It also has a circle icon that expands and contracts to indicate the vessel’s remaining range at the same time. It shows the data according to the boat’s current speed at a particular time.
Requirements to sail on Dasher
The main advantage of Hinckley yachts’ boat Dasher is that is can get fully charged in four hours only. It gets charged with a pair of standard 50-amp lines. The requirements as an individual needs to fulfill to drive Dasher is to have a boat license. Dasher’s construction is something that even an amateur can easily operate. It has a straightforward control system that one can learn to ride within no time. It has a retractable windshield and a JoyStick to make the docking easier. If you want to buy it for your personal use, you only have to pay half a million USD.
Test drives
Bryant, the Hinckley yacht’s director of new product development, says that when they started working on this project, the test boat used a different battery. But, it was similar in weight to the existing i3 batteries used at present. According to Bryant, those batteries had about 30 percent less power density, which meant 30 percent less range. So, they continuously worked to develop a product with more power.
Hinckley Yachts commit to maintaining electric expansion
After launching the first fully electric luxury yacht, Hinckley doesn’t have plans to go completely electronic. But, many of the features developed for Dasher- first fully electric luxury yacht will be seen in the future yachts to come. Bryant further adds that Dasher will be the only fully electric produced by Hinckley. They will introduce a bunch of features of Dasher into their other products in the future. According to the director of the new product development of Hinckley, there is wide scope in the automotive industry, and it will be silly of them, to not be a part of it.
