The Energy 48
With modern yacht designers catering to the ever important trend of efficient powerboats the Energy 48 has to be one of my all-time favorites. Her exquisite sheer and her brightly finished house would lead one to believe that she is descendant of the venerable Jonesport line of lobster boats made so popular by the great Will Frost. For the oarsmen out there who have had any time aboard an Alden Ocean shell the lines may be familiar. The Barnacle as she, in my opinion, is so inappropriately named, a barnacle being a sedentary creature, is an enlarged Alden Ocean shell built by the late Arthur Martin, the designer and builder of the famed rowing shells. I remember, as a young boy, seeing her running smartly out of Portsmouth harbor at an easy 14 kts with her 100 hp Westerbeke barley ticking over.
This photo was taken while Barnacle was at rest a few summers ago on one of my family moorings in Kittery Maine. Before you write a check for an expensive and overly complicated hybrid solar powered motor boat it would be worth looking to the past for efficiency. Yankees hate fuel bills more than anyone on the planet and if you want an efficient hull, look for a boat designed north of the Piscataqua.
- Forbes Horton

- Forbes Horton
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Comments 2
nice one!
Great article but it didn't have 100hp. It was more impressive because it was powered by a Westerbeke 40.