Photo / Courtesy Taylor Appolonio
The electric skiff noses up to an aquaculture barge in the Cousins River.
Updated: May 29, 2025
Southern Maine firms team up on workboat designed with electric propulsion
Photo / Courtesy Chris Cary, New England Ocean Cluster
The developer of a workboat custom-designed for electric propulsion performed successful sea trials over the winter.
The developers of a workboat custom-designed for electric propulsion performed successful sea trials over the winter.
Now, after four years in development, the team is marketing the prototype as an example of how electrification in general can benefit the working waterfront.
The boat is a collaboration between Chad Strater, co-founder of the Boat Yard LLC in Yarmouth, a marine construction, logistics and vessel electrification services company; and Nick Planson of Shred Electric, a New Gloucester firm that partners with manufacturers and marine and farm businesses to electrify equipment.
Over the past season, the electric workboat clocked some 150 hours hauling freight, towing vessels and delivering materials to offshore islands.
“We were out in every kind of weather,” said Strater. “The boat performed flawlessly. With nearly 4,000 pounds of payload capacity and 18 feet of open deck space, it’s become a reliable workhorse in our daily operations.”
Strater also led the purchase and redevelopment of Sea Meadow Marine, a nonprofit business incubator and marine business hub on the Cousins River in Yarmouth.
Specific design
Strater and Planson refined a line of U.S.-built aluminum workboats designed specifically for working waterfronts. The goal was to develop designs that work with electrification, said Strater.
The outcome was three styles — a type of skiff called a Garvey plus a landing craft and a barge. Each vessel has a self-bailing and slight "vee" hull.
The design includes protected below-deck housing for the battery and electrical system. Power comes from Rhode Island-based Flux Marine, maker of electric outboards and battery systems.
With a 100-horsepower electric outboard, the vessel reaches up to 35 miles per hour unloaded, with a cruising speed of 22 miles per hour.
“We were doing service work off Harpswell, and we beat the truck back to Yarmouth that day,” said Strater.
The boat plugs into standard shore power and is ready by morning.
“It’s virtually silent, too,” he said. “All you hear is water under the hull.”
Funding for the prototype came from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Maine Technology Institute, the Island Institute and Coastal Enterprises Inc. through its Marine Green loan program.
While remaining in daily use, the prototype is also used as a sales and marketing tool.
“This is about delivering zero-emission tools that meet the demands of working waterfronts,” said Planson.
The Boat Yard has sold several boats and works with boat owners and operators to evaluate electrification opportunities.
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