Maman les p'tits bateaux
What if the boat of the future was actually a plane? After three years of collective work, Vincent Dufour, a researcher at theInstitut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier (Isem), presents the Overboat. A technological and ecological jewel, it can navigate suspended above the water.
Neocéan
"What distinguishes our boat from others is that it has legs. A bit like in the song, except it's not for walking but for flying." And that's something Vincent Dufour had dreamed of all his life. An oceanographer specializing in reef fish, a keen glider enthusiast and a sailor since childhood, this researcher has always loved " going to the front of boats and putting your feet on the surface of the water. It's like flying!
His Overboat dream was exhibited last December at the Paris Boat Show, in the form of a single-seater boat measuring one and a half by three meters. Under its hull: four uprights just over a meter long, the famous legs, ending in a foil. A foil is an underwater wing which, like a kytesurf, lifts the hull out of the water thanks to hydrodynamic lift.
Except that Overboat doesn't just go with the flow. Equipped with electric propulsion, numerous altitude and position sensors and a fully robotized system linked to articulated foils, the boat steers itself almost automatically. "Not only is it a new way of getting around on the water, but above all, you don't need to be an expert, as the boat's intelligence will manage everything for you. All you have to do is pull a trigger to dose the acceleration."
Neocéan
A new way to get around
To bring this project to fruition, Vincent Dufour had to play the role of conductor and gather around him a solid team. Lionel Lapierre(Laboratoire d'informatique, de robotique et de microélectronique de Montpellier), Laurent Latorre(Polytech), Loïc Daridon(Laboratoire de mécanique et génie civil), Daniel Matt and Philippe Combette(Institut d'électronique et des systèmes) form "the dream team", enthuses Vincent Dufour. " Thanks to this collective brain-juice, we have already filed three patents", with one or two more to follow.
Another advantage of this all-electric flying boat is its ecological dimension. "When we lift the boat out of the water, the hull generates no resistance and we save 60% of the energy consumed. Aimed at both private individuals and scientists, the single-seater version will go on sale in 2019, but Vincent Dufour "doesn't see any real limits to this technology" and intends to develop an XXL version of the Overboat.