University Of Michigan Electric Boat Will Not Compete In The Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout

Although the University of Michigan Electric Boat project team had every intention of running its fully custom 22-foot canopied catamaran from Liberator Boats at this weekend’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri, Nick Robbins, the operations director for the student-run team, informed speedonthewater.com that the boat is going to be on display during Wednesday evening’s Shootout On The Strip but will not be competing in the top-speed contest on Saturday or Sunday because it’s not ready.

The University of Michigan Electric Boat team’s 22-foot Liberator catamaran is still coming to Lake of the Ozarks this week, although it won’t be competing in the Shootout as planned. Photos by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

“We are disappointed that we will not be competing at the Shootout this year,” Robbins said. “We are still bringing the boat and our team to Lake of the Ozarks to show it off and talk to people about it, but we won’t be racing. We ran into too many compounding problems from waiting on parts to arrive, to not being able to source proper parts, to existing systems not working properly, to systems integration between all of the electrical systems taking longer than expected. We pushed as hard as we could this summer, but we hit some roadblocks and simply do not have enough time to finish the boat and test it in time for the Shootout.

“Of course we don’t want to shortcut anything by rushing to get the boat on the water when it’s not ready,” he continued. “We will be working very hard in the fall to finish the boat and have it ready for water-testing.”

Robbins, who like his teammates was extremely enthusiastic about the project boat during my visit to Ann Arbor and the team’s workspace at the Wilson Center in late July, said the team’s first competition is likely to be an all-electric kilo record event that the team is going to set up with the Princeton Electric Speedboating team.

“The time and location have not been finalized yet, but it is tentatively being planned for the spring—likely around April—in Lake Townsend, N.C., where Princeton set the current record,” Robbins said.

The 22-footer is going to be on display along Bagnell Dam Boulevard in Lake Ozark, Mo., on Wednesday.

True to form, speedonthewater.com will provide updates on the team’s plans. Especially after getting another close look at the boat Wednesday, August 21, at the Shootout On The Strip presented by Waves and Wheels.

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