The next time someone asks how your sea legs are, it might not be what you think. They may actually be inquiring whether you’ve purchased one of Sealegs’ amphibious marine craft, as the company is expanding operations into North America, specifically targeting the megayacht market.
While Sealegs is only a few years old—it delivered its first production boat in 2004—the New Zealand-based manufacturer has grown to reportedly become the world’s leading manufacturer of these types of watercraft. To date more than 500 Sealegs amphibious boats have been delivered to 25 countries. Further impressive, the Sealegs 7.1m Amphibious RIB, a 23-foot model, received the Recreational Grand Award “Best of What’s New 2010”from Popular Science magazine.
What truly sets the Sealegs boats apart are the features and design, recognized with several international patents, as well as the performance. Take a look at the photo here, and you’ll see a set of wheels. They’re permanently attached to the boat and are hydraulically motorized, steerable, and retractable. As for performance, a few Sealegs craft have set world records. In 1997, for example, its 6.1m RIB, a 20-foot model, set a record for fastest on-water speed for an amphibious vehicle, topping 100 kph (62 mph) and crossing 500 meters (1,640 feet, nearly one-third of a mile) of water in less than 18 seconds.
Obviously, megayacht owners and their crew won’t be in need of blistering speed like this, so Sealegs’ production RIBs are a bit calmer than that. Still, though, they’re capable of 10km/h on the land, and 30-35 knots on the water. The wheels allow you to drive the boat right out of the water, perfect for taking guests to and from a beach for an afternoon barbecue or fun. And at the touch of a button, the three wheels raise and tuck away, similar to how the wheels of an airplane retract.
Each Sealeg model comes equipped with an Evinrude outboard engine: a 115-hp E-Tec for the 6.1m RIB and a 150-hp E-Tec for the 7.1m. Both models also have 80-liter (21-gallon) fuel tanks. This limits drive time to 10 minutes on land, which Sealegs says is due to the air-cooled nature of the engine and hydraulic transmission oil. This also results in nearly an hour of cool-down time. However, Sealegs does offer an option called Extended Run Time (XRT), a commercial upgrade that increases run time to 30 minutes of continuous operation in temperatures
Sealegs presently has demo centers in a handful of American cities, including Miami and Seattle, as well as Canada. It will be exhibiting at the Miami International Boat Show this week and the West Palm Beach Boat Show in March.
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