Electric Catamaran

Yesterday I went over to Galiano Island for the day by boat, and toured the first version of an electric catamaran by Rising Tide Boatworks.

This is the first Solander 38 anchored in Montague Harbour on Galiano.

Mike has a rigid inflatable and we’d been talking about this day trip for a while. Chee @chee.party was in Vancouver briefly so Mike arranged things.

Here we are at RVYC where Mike keeps his boat.

We first went into False Creek to the fuel dock, and then we were off. It’s about 2 hours where we headed out to the Strait of Georgia, around UBC and the Iona North Arm Jetty and then angling straight across to Active Pass.

I didn’t take many pictures, but here’s a shot of a small dinghy race looking back towards Jericho where we started.

Arriving at Montague, I initially thought from farther away that the electric catamaran was a small junk boat because it didn’t have a mast!

We circled it a couple of times to get a look.

We docked and went up to the Crane & Robin restaurant for lunch.

Mike & Chee got tacos, I got the sandwich version with pulled pork, plus a side of chips and smoke carrot hummus.

Then we met Avi @avibryant.com and went back over to the catamaran to get a tour and talk about what Rising Tide is up to.

Technically there are two companies: Rising Tide Research, which researches issues around electric boats, and Rising Tide Boatworks, which builds them.

Rising Tide Research Foundation

Rising Tide Research Foundation is a not-for-profit society established to conduct open-source research on electric boat design and to raise public awareness and understanding of clean-marine technologies.

The catamaran is a Solander 38 and it’s open source:

Solander 38 | Rising Tide Research Foundation

The Boatworks is actually in Ucluelet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, re-purposing an old seaplane base.

Rising Tide Boat Works

The Solander 38 design is great. It’s designed for the BC inner coast region, cruising around and charging, and space for a family of 4.

I didn’t do much documentary photos while poking my nose into the cabins and checking it out, but I did get this picture of a big wooden table with a map of the area on the surface - and a couple of hidden fridges embedded in one side.

Thanks Avi for the tour and the chat about research and boat building. I’d love to visit the boatworks in Ucluelet — and generally I’d love to see BC and Canada get great at electrification and local production.

Mike took us over to a shell beach at Montague Harbour Marine Park and we hung out in the shade a bit before heading back to Vancouver.

We went behind Galiano and went through Porlier Pass and then straight across back across the straight.

And then we were back at dock. Ask Chee about her winching experience.

Thanks Mike for the day trip and thanks Avi for the tour!