This $150,000 version of the “Batboat” is the brainchild of 35-year-old engineer Chris Phillips, who spent five years designing and constructing it on his father’s farm. With a marine-adapted 9.4 liter engine originally designed for American Nascar racers, Phillips spent $50,000 producing the four-seat vessel, which boasts 2,000 hp and can reach speeds of up to 60 knots.
Phillips is hoping that the self-built, Batman-style luxury hydroplane—that’s more along the lines of the one featured in Batman Forever—will sell to interested parties. There may, in fact, be a market for it. An original Batboat used to film the 1966 Batman movie was auctioned off for $45,000 back in 2014 (a third of the cost of Phillips’ boat).
After selling his car so he could afford to take the prototype to display at the Southampton Boat Show, Phillips says he has now attracted “significant” investment to produce more.
The vessel is the first ever high-speed hydroplane craft for leisure use available for general sale. Up until now the motor boats, designed to skim over the surface of the water, have only been available for boat racers.
The boat, which Phillips named Alpha-Centauri, only started getting comparisons to Batman’s aquatic ride after Phillips sprayed it black.
“It wasn’t supposed to look like Batman’s boat when I made it, but after we sprayed it black, everyone was saying it and we’re embracing it,” he explains.
Per its design, Phillips notes that the boat “… uses computational fluid dynamics in order to give a low coefficient of drag while maintaining stability at speed.” Similar hydroplane machines have previously been used only in the racing circuit, but Phillips’ design, which includes an accelerator pedal rather than a throttle lever, is aimed at “anybody who wants to have fun” on the water.
So who is Phillips’ target audience? “It’s been designed primarily as a superyacht toy, and I am hoping this will completely change the face of power boats and allow people to show off like never before,” he says.
We’re looking forward to see whether Phillips’ boat catches on. The inventor notes that he is “about to sign a significant deal with an investor,” so as to scale up production of the Alpha-Centauri, and that he’s already lined up several possible buyers. —Rex Features
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