The new trailblazer among houseboats
June 2011
News
www.powerboat-world.com
Who says there's nothing new under the sun?
Certainly not the builders of this radical new houseboat from Getaway Concepts, which extends both upwards and outwards in a bid to be fully trailable.
The story apparently started when the founders were asked to help a friend with building a houseboat - an old-style box on a flat-bottomed punt. While functional, it lacked the versatility and efficiency demanded of a new-age motorhome on water.
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A new class of boat demanded a trailer rethink as well. - Getaway Concepts |
The physical limitations of trailering have long caused headaches for designers. To build houseboats narrow enough to tow, they lacked stability. They were harsh riding because of the flat hull sections, and difficult to manoeuvre . not to mention downright ugly.
For all that, they're hard to beat in terms of space.
The Getaway team decided to redesign the whole concept and the 28-foot Reflection XXVIII is the innovative result.
There's a number of ways of altering beam width in trimaran designs - some tilt up, others pivot laterally, but the Getaway cleverly uses telescopic arms to extend the 2.5-metre trailing beam to 3.6 metres once on the water.
The conventional boat trailer was also given a once over to accommodate the hull, with room to spare for canoes, dinghies, even PWCs. It's equipped with four electric actuators to lift the boat from its transport mode then lower.
Read more at http://www.powerboat-world.com/index.cfm?nid=84735&rid=13&sc=arc
