From the discovery until its modification to a hybrid-propulsion : the story of our new boat from Switzerland… So sixties! 

Lake Geneva, on a bright and sunny day. Among all the boat in the harbour, we recognize the one we came to see thanks to the curves of its polyester hull, wide and sharp at the same time. It is a 21-foot runabout initially dedicated to leisure and nautical sports, a true testimony of the sixties. Its owner arrives and lifts the tarpaulin: mahogany deck, Chris-Craft dashboard, white leatherette trim all over, chrome deck equipment, and even a radio cassette player. When the engine starts, a GM V8 that you would also find on muscle cars, there we are, launched at 50 km/h in the midst of the lake. We are conquered for good. 

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Three month later, we take it back to France, straight to the shipyard in Rouen we usually go to. Along the way, we baptise it Lugano, as homage to its Swiss origins. Very few information remains, however: we barely know it has been built in 1966 on the shores of Lake Zürich, in collaboration with an automobile body designer. In order to be allowed to take passengers aboard, there is a lot of work: we have to upgrade the fire safety devices and the electrical wiring, create an extension for the rudder. But above all, install a second propulsion system. 

This workshop offers the opportunity to finally install a hybrid set-up we have long been dreaming about. The idea is to couple a silent and thrifty electrical propulsion to the combustion engine: the former to get down the river stream, the other to get back upstream. The icing on the cake? The power generated by the screws of the electrical engines while using the combustion engine load the batteries back! 

Here is how, since this summer, Seine Avenue proposes you to board Lugano, up until 5 people, for an intimate cruise along the Seine.