The boats
The two Grebe class boats are being made for us by Rossiter Yachts of Christchurch. The boats will weigh around 50kg and will be 7.62m long; and .75m wide. These boats were originally coastal boats that have been modified for river touring. They will be strengthened with Kevlar as an outer skin to provide additional toughness due to the risk of grounding and waterborne hazards. They will have watertight access into the bow and stern sections to allow stowage; as well as contained stowage compartments below the rowing positions; lifting handles and fastening points for hauling blocks. The boats will be equipped with Integrated GPS, and communication systems powered by solar panels. Each boat has three rowing positions and will have 3 pairs of oars. The boats construction will be a mixture of 165g Aramid twill and 290g Carbon twill; with 411g carbon bi-ax tape at centreline and gunwhale; 6mm high density closed cell foam and 210g Carbon/Aramid twill; all using Ampreg 21 epoxy resin.
Take a look at the video:
On-board equipment
Each boat will be equipped with the Yellowbrick Adventure Tracker, fully automatic satellite tracking device see here.
The Row Zambezi website will be integrated with the Yellowbrick online tracking system to provide a realtime view on Google Earth of where the boats and vehicles are. In addition the boats and vehicles will have CB Radio. Power will be provided by a combination of a 40Ah battery; Solara Solar panels from Barden with a regulator and a spare 12v socket for charging other devices.
