More Pleasure at 2 Gallons Per Hour

Design Parameters:

Must be trailerable for affordable launching, over the road transportation, and storage.
Max beam 8 ; max length 40 (legal trailerable dimensions in many states)
Minimum length 24 , stem to transom
Trailerable weight (with engine) should not exceed 3,500 pounds
Must burn less than 2 gallons per hour (7.6 l/hr), maintaining a 10 knot cruising speed in a 2′ (0.6m) chop and 15-knot breeze while carrying 800 lbs/362 kg (family of four). Favorable consideration will be given for continued efficient fuel consumption and good seakeeping abilities at speeds in excess of 10 knots
Must include at least Spartan overnight accommodations (berths, head, galley) for two adults and two children
Must be a new design
Submissions should be the designer’s original, previously unpublished work, and include lines, profiles, sections, table of offsets, accurate weight study, cost calculations, and performance predictions. (All designs will remain the property of their designers.)

Submissions should be postmarked no later than April 20, 2010, and should be sent to:
Design Challenge
Professional BoatBuilder magazine
P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616 USA

Something we learned from our first design challenge (results to be announced online and at IBEX in October) is that there’s an increasingly popular ambition and necessity out there in the marine market to do more with less. As the heavy hulls of old amenity stuffed model lines linger unsold in dealer lots or unused in the storage racks of service yards, there are buyers turning to custom and semi custom shops to produce smaller, lighter, more efficient boats. In this soft marine market, simpler boats are one area where there is renewed interest and development.

Eric Jolly

A number of entrants in our modest first challenge noted that an 18′ (5.5m) planing hull at 2 gallons per hour is not the most efficient way to get around on the water. So the editors of the magazines resolved to look at a more fuel efficient target for our second challenge. With that in mind, we are offering a new challenge for new powerboat designs in any material that offer efficient cruising opportunities for a family in an attractive model with good seakeeping abilities and some reserve power to perform above cruising speed if necessary. Once again, this is not a contest to design the most fuel efficient boat in the world; it is a challenge to bring fuel efficiency to the market in a balance of practicality, pleasure, and beauty.

We will award $1,000 prizes to each of the first place designs in wood, composites, and metal.

The boat image on the top — WHIO — was featured in WoodenBoat No. 190. Read the digital issue here and go to page 68.
The boat image on the bottom — SHEARWATER — is from Paul Bieker: www.biekerboats.com/Bieker_Boats/25_Footer.html. She was featured in Professional BoatBuilder No. 115, p. 162.