img6850This is, quite simply, an amazing engineering innovation. The Clamboat will cause as many doubletakes and slack-jawed stares in boat parks as amphibious automobiles did a generation ago.

img6849First seen at the London Boat Show this January (in it's Mark I version) the new Clamboat Mark II isn't the first folding boat the world's ever seen, but it's one of the biggest and has features never seen before. Most notable of its features is the integrated trailer. The tongue becomes the keel support, the wheels fold up into the hull. When these guys sell the boat "with trailer" they really mean it.

Unlike other folding boats, the Seahoppers for instance, this boat folds along the beam, not down the centerline.

The inspiration for the Clamboat came from an unlikely source: sleeping late on weekends. Inventor David Rolfe is not a morning person; he found that by the time he got up and got his boat trailered to the nearby boat launch there was no parking left. It's taken a team of design engineers two years to bring his concept to reality.

img6848The Clamboat measures 14 feet long by 5 feet wide, and folds at the beam, as a clam shell. Made of fiberglass and stainless steel, it can be sailed (it is available in either a single sail or main and jib configuration) or motored, and can take up to a 15 horsepower engine.

Over 450 people signed up for details of the Mark II boat at the London show, this is sure to attract huge crowds, and many buyers, when it debuts at Southampton. The version on display there will carry a retail price of £6,950 including VAT ($10,225) but with a special Show offer of £4,950 ($7,285).

For more information visit www.clamboat.com