From design office to shipyard
Ibaïa Boats is a new shipyard on the pleasure boat building market. But Thomas Serré, its founder, is no neophyte in the field. A naval architect, he worked for 10 years in the catamaran field at Sunreef, before creating with Jeanne Bertail his own design office, SB Yacht Design, in La Teste de Buch in 2015.
In 2022, Thomas Serré and his team created Ibaïa Boats with the aim of building their own range of boats, still in the Arcachon basin, in Gujan-Mestras.
Simple, affordable and low impact boats
Ibaïa Boats is targeting a very specific market, which is currently in full development: river housing (non-motorized) and houseboats (motorized). "Our idea is to make small series, with simple and reliable boats that everyone can use. We want to be as low impact as possible, with solar and electric motors. Our first boat is under construction, a 16-meter epoxy plywood unit. It should be in the water by early 2023" says Thomas Serré.
In order to fit into the budget of boaters, especially in river cruising, which is often more limited, the Ibaïa Boats team tried to take into account all aspects. "We made a boat on one level, with nothing in the hulls to simplify the fittings. This allows us to be accessible to PRMs and also to optimize and reduce costs. This is an important issue for river customers," says the naval architect.
A range of houseboats and floating homes
The fruit of these reflections is a range of 3 types of boats, all based on a catamaran.
- The Explorer 1200 for river and sea use, for private yachtsmen, in design category D, are 12 meters long and 4.55 m wide. They have a 2x20 kW electric motor and can accommodate 6 people.
- The Houseboat, mainly for river use, in design category D, allows to live on board, with the equivalent on land of a T3. It accommodates 6 people on 16.25 meters long and 4.40 meters wide and has 2 electric motors of 15 kW.
- The solar-powered boat, which is exclusively river-based, is aimed primarily at boat rental companies without a license. With a capacity of 4 to 6 people, it measures 14.27 meters long and 4.37 meters wide and has a 2x8 kW motorization.
