An Isle of Man company has unveiled the first fully recyclable leisure boat.

Douglas-based ExoTechnologies, a maritime green technologies start-up, has said it wants to revolutionise boat building.

In its efforts to achieve this, it has built a high-performance leisure boat that can be fully recycled.

The £350,000 vessel was built at the Ultimate Boats boatyard owned by ExoTechnologies in Glasgow.

It was unveiled at the Southampton International Boat Show where it was further showcased after being sold to a private owner.

ExoTechnologies chief executive Shane Mugan explained that the company can ‘massively disrupt recreational and workboat boat building by providing a green alternative to fibre glass built boats, most of which end up in landfill’.

He said: ‘We are so proud to see the first M-Class boat slip off the production line for the leisure market.

‘We think it is one of the very best on the market for performance, safety and innovation.

‘It has state of the art Raymarine Electronics and a top speed of 50 knots.

‘But critically it is built from our own DANU material the most resource-efficient composite on the planet.

‘The boat has incredible manoeuvrability and is perfect for the family with capacity for up to eight people and an operating range of 400 nautical miles.’

DANU is a material that is fully recyclable and can replace fibreglass and carbon fibre.

ExoTechnologies has said the material can ‘transform’ the global market, preventing millions of tonnes of boats being dumped into landfill each year.

This latest venture into the leisure market is said to represent another landmark for Ultimate Boats following a £7 million investment in research and development by its parent company ExoTechnologies.

Mr Mugan says he sees recreational boats making up around a third of future turnover.

‘We are now seeing real momentum in the business as more people become aware of our technology,’ he said.

‘We know we are making a significant breakthrough in transforming boat building, as DANU with its superior mechanical strength can replace fibreglass. DANU has the potential to tackle the ecological time bomb which sees hundreds of millions of kilos of fibreglass and thousands of boats dumped into landfill across Europe and America each year.’

Mr Mugan added that ExoTechnologies is actively seeking investors and strategic partners ‘to scale the company to realise the potential of its market leading technologies capable of accelerating the green transition to a circular economy across all industries and markets’.

In June, the company launched its first DANU built workboat for Police Scotland.

The boat had a top speed of 50 knots and operating range of 400 nautical miles and the deal represented the first culmination of the aforementioned £7 million investment in research and development by ExoTechnologies.

range

The boat was the first of the new range being built at Ultimate Boats.

The company said it planned to create 300 jobs at the yard within five years – something it still wishes to do.

Mr Mugan said at the time: ‘We are proud that this pioneering and internationally significant project is being delivered in Scotland, by our talented Clyde-based workforce, in partnership with Police Scotland.

‘To witness the world’s first ever fully recyclable boat, in action, made from our fully recyclable DANU composite material technology is incredibly rewarding after years of research and development.

‘Police Scotland’s boat marks a significant breakthrough in transforming boat building, as our fully recyclable DANU composite material technology of superior mechanical strength has replaced fibreglass entirely, currently the most common form of boat building substance.

‘This project demonstrates an example of a green transition pathway within the maritime industry.

‘Ultimate Boats’ full high-performance workboat range includes a crew transfer vessel, a multi-mission workboat and a support workboat which have attracted interest from commercial operators and military.’