A systems approach to disrupting boat design.
There are currently 850,000 boats registered in Australia, yet there are no regulations on emissions or fuel consumption for outboard engines. In the face of “peak oil”, it is evident that boating industry is unprepared for a future with reduced availability of  fossil fuels, jeopardizing the future of boating as a recreational activity and threatening 27,000 people employed directly within this industry.

Furthermore, vessels available exhibit little design innovation while producers and retailers do not appear to have access to emerging design methodologies or Digital development tools or advanced prototyping processes. Without radical innovation and departure from ‘Business as usual’ thinking, it appears that the industry will be incapable of meeting challenges of a sustainable transformation for the industry.

The challenge and objective for Turning the Tide is to present insights into how an evolution of recreational boating can be visualised to facilitate a discussion on sustainable futures for designers, producers and users of recreational boats.

This concept boat embodies a design method that embraces disruptive innovations in the design and manufacture of hulls, potential powertrains and energy systems used for small watercraft. This system is applicable across multiple styles of small powered vessels and includes agile manufacture for product diversification with minimal investment and offers solutions of new users and future participants in sustainable and recreational boating.

This proposed hull design employs digital simulation for structural and, fluid dynamic efficiency and inclusion of concepts for advanced manufacturing. The visualisation has been developed through virtual reality to ensure users can view and experience the future of boating through an immersive experience and provide feedback about their needs and desires.