| Gunboat |
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Photo: Richard Langdon, Ocean Images |
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| Lighter, faster, stronger |
| I did a couple of record attempts on Playstation and Team Adventure, and that's what really caught my eye as to what a catamaran could be if you could really keep the weight down. |
Gunboat founder Peter Johnstone
in a 2008 CNN interview |
| Left: Gunboat 66 outruns its bow wave |
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Racing sailboats are much lighter and faster than cruisers. Yet they're also much stronger, built to withstand the punishment of round-the-clock, round-the-world racing. Peter Johnstone took the materials and engineering standards of race boats and added them to his own design for a spacious, easy-to-handle cruising catamaran. The result was Gunboat.
All unnecessary weight has been removed from the structure, yet safety margins are superior to those of any production cruiser. Furniture is honeycomb-cored, tanks are built-in, electricity is routed by electronic bus systems and much of the interior is hand-finished. Weight aloft is minimized with carbon spars and carbon/Kevlar rigging.
The high-tech composites, clean minimum wetted surface underbodies and strict weight centralization create an easily driven platform capable of sustained, high-speed passagemaking: 300 nm days are common; 400 nm days are possible.
"I've always played at the top end of technology," Johnstone said in his CNN interview. Now he's kicking the technology up a notch by adopting E Motion hybrid drive as Gunboat's new motoring auxiliary - clean, quiet electric propulsion powered by sun and wind.
E Motion is standard equipment in the new Gunboat 60 and a factory option in the Gunboat 66. (More) |
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| E Motion System Specs - Both Boats |
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Motor (2)
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18 kw
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144 vdc
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Generator (2)
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22 kw
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144 vdc
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144 v lithium ion battery pack
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23 kwh (standard)
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Five 9-pack modules of 3.2 v, 160 a-hr cells
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144 v lithium ion battery pack
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46 kwh (option)
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Ten 9-pack modules of 3.2 v, 160 a-hr cells
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24 v lithium ion battery
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160 a-hr
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One 8-pack module of 3.2 v, 160 a-hr cells
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12 v AGM battery
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210 a-hr
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Standard marine 4D
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3.5 kw inverter (6 kw option)
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144 vdc - 110/220 vac
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Sensata Dimensions 150/3500D or 6000D
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Battery charger
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110/220 vac - 144 vdc
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Powernet ADC 7480/160
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Cross charger
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144 vdc - 24 vdc
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Powernet ADC 7480/24
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Cross charger
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144 vdc - 12 vdc
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Powernet ADC 7480/12
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| Boat Specs |
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LOA
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60 ft
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18.28 m
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66 ft
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20.11 m
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LWL
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59.75 ft
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18.25 m
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62 ft
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18.92 m
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BOA
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28.2 ft
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8.6 m
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28.2 ft
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8.6 m
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Beam On Centerline
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21.44 ft
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6.52 m
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21.7 ft
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6.6 m
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Draft Bd Down
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9.2 ft
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2.8 m
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8.5 ft
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2.6 m
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Draft Bd Up
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2.62 ft
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0.8 m
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2.2 ft
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0.7 m
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Mast Clearance
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85.4 ft
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26 m
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87 ft
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26.6 m
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Mast Length
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78.75 ft
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24 m
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78.8 ft
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24.1 m
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Displacement Lightship
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26,889 lb
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12,200 kg
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34,000 lb
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15,454 kg
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Displacement Max Load
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33,060 lb
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15,000 kg
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40,120 lb
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18,236 kg
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Headroom - Salon
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6.5 ft
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1.98 m
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6.5 ft
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1.98 m
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Headroom - Hulls
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6.5 ft
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1.98 m
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6.5 ft
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1.98 m
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Hull Width
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6.66 ft
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2.03 m
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6.66 ft
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2.03 m
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Bridge deck height
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3.28 ft
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1.0 m
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Fuel Capacity (2)
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100 gal
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492 l
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100 gal
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492 l
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Water Capacity (2)
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100 gal
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492 l
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100 gal
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492 l
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Sail area upwind
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2,239 sq ft
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208 sq m
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2,232 sq ft
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207 sq m
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Sail area downwind
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5,059 sq ft
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470 sq m
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4,667 sq ft
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433 sq m
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Main
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Quantum Carbon/Vectran fusion membrane |
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Quantum Carbon/Vectran fusion membrane |
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Solent (self tacking)
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Quantum Carbon/Vectran fusion membrane |
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Quantum Carbon/Vectran fusion membrane |
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AP Screecher
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Quantum Carbon/Vectran fusion membrane |
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Quantum Cuben Fiber |
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Asymmetric spinnaker
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Quantum 1.5 oz nylon |
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Quantum 1.5 oz nylon |
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Storm jib
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Quantum 12 oz Dacron |
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| Gunboat 60 CAD rendering |
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| Gunboat 66 |
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| Gunboat 66 off Cape Town |
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| Gunboat 66 "back porch" |
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| Gunboat 66: Light weight means high speed |
| Below and left: More 60-footer CAD renders |
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