The boat’s production method is innovative and ecologically friendly. Natural fibre flax cloths are applied in layers in a mould. With vacuum infusion the shape of the boat is created. Biomimicry is used here: the hull contains a kind of ‘grain structure’, comparable to that of a leaf. This gives the boat its stiffness, without the need for a plastic core. The weight is therefore less than half of what a traditional speedboat made of glass fibre composite weighs: 490 kilograms.
Thanks to the 100% natural fibres, the boat is CO2-neutral: 1 tonne of CO2 is stored for a long time during production. ECO2boats wants to buy back old boats to grind and melt the composite for reuse. The specially developed epoxy glue can even be reduced to natural fertiliser after a life cycle of fifty years.
According to the planning ECO2boats will show the circular speedboat to the general public in the autumn of 2021. The selling price will be somewhere between thirty and sixty thousand euros. To finance the development, ECO2boats is currently raising money through crowdfunding. Next year ECO2boats wants to cross the English Channel with the OCEAN7.
Image: ECO2boats
