17' Bowers Electric Launch (1986) - LIBERTY

17 foot launch “Liberty,” originally human powered, but later converted to electric power.

Liberty is a cold molded hull built as a prototype for a class of human powered launches. She was powered by a drive developed by Gary Hoyt for a boat known as a Waterbug. The drive was manufactured by Harken and Hoyt approved of its use in my boats in an attempt to get the numbers up to a point where it could be economically produced. This objective was not met as only about 5 boats were sold.

I entered the boat in a watercraft competition sponsored by the International Human Powered Vehicles Association in Washington, DC in about 1989 and was officially clocked over a 100 metre course at 5.42 mph or 5 knots. I took third place in the competition. First place went to a team from MIT, who had successfully flown the human-powered aircraft, Gossamer Condor across the English Channel. Their entry was an inflatable catamaran that rose up on foils and acheived a speed of about 14 mph. Second was a very light fiberglass catamaran piloted by a serious racing cyclist at a speed of about 7 mph. I knew I would be last in speed, so I took my daughter along as a passenger to illustrate the capacity of my boat. I think we were too far ahead of our time.

Eventually, the Harken gear wore out and I converted the prototype boat to electric power with a Minn-Kota motor that replaced the original rudder. The boat was sold to a friend, Chris Johnston, in Chaumont , NY. The lasting benefit to me was a second cold molded hull I built as a plug to create the frp mold. That hull was eventually made into the lovely sailing boat, Lets Go, which I am still sailing and which is also in this boat show.