AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR BOAT WAS SPECIAL
Spectacular! What makes it go?
A BMW K1300cc 4-cylinder bike
engine delivering 140hp through
the rear wheels on land, or through
a Gibbs custom jet system on water.Does it handle and stop too?
We haven’t driven it ourselves but it
does have a proper car set up with
independent coil spring suspension
and disc brakes all round.What is it used for?
There are various military,
commercial and agricultural
applications, but it would also
make a fun recreational vehicle
or an entertaining superyacht
tender – you can even waterski
behind it! Sadly, it’s too big and
heavy to fit on the hydraulic
platform of anything smaller.Headlights or navigation lights?
Both!Cool! Can I buy one?
Not just yet. Gibbs Amphibians
develops amphibious technology
but doesn’t get involved in
large-scale manufacturing. The
Terraquad has been developed
to a pre-production level, so it
physically exists, but it’s now
looking for another company
to licence and build it.That looks a little like the
Quadski amphibious jetski...
It does, and with good reason.
It’s from Gibbs Amphibians
based in Warwickshire, who came
up with the aquatic quad bike.So what’s new with the
Gibbs Terraquad?
Well, where the Quadski was (as the
name suggests) based around a
quad bike, this is more of a small
Jeep-style vehicle. It’s physically
larger and occupants sit side
by side rather than in tandem,
protected by a roll cage and with
room for luggage on a load deck.Is it faster too?
Slightly. On land, it tops out at
50mph, on water it’ll reach 45mph.
It transitions from land to water
in five seconds and can be planing
three seconds later.The Skipper’s
Pocketbook
Basil Mosenthal
and Sara HopkinsonAt 21cm x 10cm (about
one third of a sheet
of A4 paper) and with
just 112 pages, The
Skipper’s Pocketbook
is certainly pocket
sized. A lot has been
crammed into that
compact package:
there are checklists on
‘preparing for sea’(‘all
hatches shut’ and ‘sail cover
off and sails ready to go’);
a chapter on skippering that
includes sage advice about
‘setting night orders’ and
‘having a policy on the use
of alcohol and smoking’;
sequences of pictures showing
how to tie everyday knots, and
a chapter about flag etiquette.
But if you are looking for a
book that will give you instant
access to information such
as the range at which you can
expect to see a lighthouse, the
paperwork you need to cruise
the Rhine, or how to stop heat
exhaustion turning into heat
stroke, this is not the one.Fernhurst £11.99The panels are fl exible,
saltwater resistant and
tough enough to stand onPV Logic FLEXi solar panels
Light and fl exible, FLEXi solves the solar panel issues
The ability to tap into a freely
available and unlimited supply of
solar electricity can be a godsend
for a boat, especially one kept on
a swinging mooring or for owners
who spend a lot of time at anchor.
The only problem is that until
recently solar panels tended to be
large, cumbersome, fragile things
poorly suited to life on a boat. Whilst
there’s not much that can be doneabout the size, what makes the
British-made FLEXi range from
PV Logic well worth a second look
for the boat owner is the fact that
they’re just over half the weight of
standard solar panels, and crucially,
they’re flexible along their entire
length, meaning that they can
follow the curve of a deck head.
Perhaps most relevant of all is
the fact that the panels conform toISO9227 standards for saltwater
spray testing, meaning that they
won’t delaminate in the harsh
marine environment.
You can even stand on them,
the panels are non-slip and the
‘self- healing’ surface recovers
from any slight abrasions. They
are available in sizes from 5W to
120W with prices starting from £55.
Contact http://www.solartechnology.co.ukBOAT MASTER NEWTECH