A few years ago I got interested in offshore motorboats and, more specifically, improvements in the generally horribly inefficient trawler yachts available.
I wrote a bunch of articles and Matt and I dug deep into the then newly designed Artnautica LRC58, to the point that I was noodling around with the designer Dennis Harjamaa to come up with an expedition variant.
My hope was that this focus would result in an efficient and seaworthy long distance motorboat, a bit like those being built under the supervision of our friends Steve and Linda Dashew, but without the eye-popping price tag—if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. And, indeed, several 58s were built, the first two by AAC members who heard about the boat here1.
But, unfortunately, as seems to be the trend in our world, what the market wanted was bigger, more expensive, and more complicated versions of the Artnautica 58, and of course Dennis obliged…and I lost interest.
But I just got an email communicating that Dennis is just starting the process of designing a smaller Artnautica LRC49. And he is looking for input on the boat.
Here are some brief preliminary thoughts on the boat:
