It’s a case of saying to Beneteau, Jeanneau, Hanse, Brunswick etc, this is the recipe, this is how it works, and you can buy the patent. If you give us £10 and make £100 for yourselves, good for you.
We want to do something else now, like invest in developing next-gen propellers. We developed a proof of concept with Finot-Conq naval architects in France for a doublehanded racing yacht for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
World Sailing has a sustainable agenda that 90 percent of the weight of the One Design classes in the Olympics has to be recyclable by 2030, so we designed a 32-footer purely for racing. Unfortunately, they’ve gone for kite surfing in 2024 instead.
These boats are already more than 90 percent recyclable, so we’re working on plan B, which is to create our own fleet for elite One Design racing.
So, what’s next for Danu?
We’re opening those discussions with the big boatbuilders because it’s unavoidable that countries will start taxing GRP. In fact, France already does.
We simply can’t go on with GRP anymore, but while there’s no incentive to change, shipyards can be very conservative. That’s why we’re building the boats to prove it. Our team of engineers can help start things up by recalculating a design’s laminate schedule and testing it.
Like I’ve said, we’re not the answer to the entire composite world, but we are 100-percent sure we are the answer to GRP. There is no discussion when it comes to price, economic viability, mechanical properties and so on.
It’s all approved, and we have independent lab reports available as well. What’s more, there are many other industries that this can be used in, from wind turbine manufacturers to food storage to ski manufacturers. Pretty exciting times.