Practical Boat Owner – June 2019

Composite teak

This teak composite decking material

looks like the real thing, but is made of

90% recycled material and is expected to

outlast real teak. Around 30% of the

material used is from recycled bottles,

while a further 60% is teak dust – a

byproduct from the traditional teak market

that normally goes to waste. Binding

materials and pigments account for the

remaining 10% of the composite.

The material is available in new or aged

teak colours as standard, although any

other colour is possible. It’s supplied in

panels, with or without the caulking effect,

that can be glued directly to the deck. The

same material is also used for a range of

cockpit tables.

Price US$220 per square metre.

■ eurodesign.se

Infl atable rescue

This looks like an ingenious system for
keeping a boat afl oat in the event of a
breach of the watertight integrity. The core
of the system are extra-large buoyancy
bags that are infl ated with a 2kg CO 2 fi re
extinguisher, via a custom-made nozzle.
The standard kit includes four buoyancy
bags that give a total fl otation volume of
3,200lt, while a larger kit adds a further
two bags, raising the
fl otation to a little under 5
tonnes. If necessary, a
number of packs can be
combined for larger boats.
The hull thickness of both
wooden and fi breglass
boats provides some
inherent buoyancy, so the
company says the standard
six-bag system is suitable for
vessels of up to 33ft, while
two packages would work for most boats
up to 46ft. Each bag takes 30 seconds to
fi ll with the extinguisher.

We’ve not yet had a

chance to try it, but Boat

Rescue System’s tests on

a J/24 show the vessel

retaining a few inches of

freeboard, despite the

hull being completely fi lled with water.

Price from r960 excluding delivery.

■ brsboat.com

Foldable canoe

Here’s a collapsible boat that you can
keep under your bed or under your desk
at work. This 15ft two-seater kayak could
therefore be an ideal way to get afl oat for
those who live in a fl at and don’t have a
front garden in which to store a trailer
sailer. The Onak 2.0 folding canoe takes
only a few minutes to assemble, weighs
less than 17kg and has a payload of
200-250kg. Even better, it collapses into a
wheeled box that makes transport easy.
Price from r1,395.
■ onakcanoe.com

New Gear

Rupert Holmes reviews the latest marine gear