Ingenity adds new 300K sq ft electric boat building capacity
Less than a year after introducing the Nautique GS22E wakeboarding tow boat, Ingenity is expanding its electric boat building capacity with 300,000 square feet of new production space at its headquarters in Orland, Florida.
Ingenity is a subsidiary of Correct Craft, one of the oldest boat manufacturers in the United States, and together with sister company Watershed Innovation developed the GS22E specifically for the wakeboard and water ski market.
E-boats built for wakeboarding demands
“The Nautique GS22E is incredible. It shows what’s possible with fully electric propulsion,” said Sean Marrero, who heads both Ingenity and Watershed. “But this is only the beginning. Not only will the new building double our current production space, it also gives us flexibility to scale for what’s to come. Our team cannot wait to share all the many exciting projects that are ahead.”
A milestone model in electric boats, the Nautique shows that e-boats and batteries can meet the speed and range demands of watersport towing. The 220kW motor is coupled with a 124kWh battery pack that allows for three hours of typical watersports use. Regular 240V AC charge time is 10 hours, a DC charger can replenish battery energy in 4 hours and the company’s Supercharger can do it in an hour and a half.
When the first GS22Es were shipped to eager customers last August, the company also installed an onshore automotive style “EB Charger” (electric boat charger) at Homewood Marina on Lake Tahoe, California. David Topol of Homewood said at the time “Our goal was to be the first charging station on the lake, but our vision is that this is the first of many.”
Electric boat building facility covers 198 acres in total
Correct Craft, the parent company of Ingenity and Watershed Innovation, was founded 96 years ago and is now central Florida’s largest manufacturer, with a portfolio of 11 brands that includes boats, motors, batteries and Aktion Water Parks.
Watershed was started in 2018, with the mandate to identify, research, and develop technologies for integration with the other brands. Its achievements, along with those of Ingenity, are one of the reasons the parent company has been recognized for the past two years as the most innovative company in the marine industry.
See the full details and specs on the NautiqueGS22E
Correct Craft President and CEO Bill Yeargin says “We work to fulfill our goal of ‘Making Life Better’ and we could not do it without an innovation culture. We believe innovation is much more than technology; it is an outlook that should affect every part of an organization and I am proud of our team that constantly demonstrates an innovative mind-set.”
Advanced telemetrics monitoring, diagnostics
Part of that innovation and mindset is being applied to the data gathering and management and user interface aspects of electric boating. One of the exciting features of the Nautique e-boat is the telemetrics capability – enabling real time remote monitoring of things like the state of the charge, boat location and other electric variables as well as over-the-air system diagnostics and software updates.
The video at the bottom of this article features four-time World champion wakeboarder Shaun Murray having a walkthrough of the GS22E and shows off some of the features of the boat. He raves that for the first time he can talk in a boat instead of shouting over the roar of the engine, and an wakeboard without fumes. Watershed’s Sean Marrero also gives a great example of the remote diagnostics.
The entire Correct Craft facility in Florida covers 198 acres and connects to a lake where all of the innovations can be tested under real conditions. Construction on the expanded Ingenity electric production space is underway and a transition will start in late spring.
