So to find one of these boats, in commercial operation, sporting a pair of the new Yamaha 300hp outboards flies in the face of convention. To compound the situation the boat is berthed in Port Ellen on the Scottish island of Islay, where one would think that diesel would be the preferred choice.

Eco tourism is underutilised in the UK but the opportunities available are beginning to be recognised. Nicol Mackinnon runs the Islay Sea Safari, taking tourists to view the wealth of wildlife around the island and on picnics and sightseeing trips.

When the time came to order a new, purpose built RIB to accommodate the growing business he turned to Redbay, based 60 miles across the Irish Sea. The company's boats have a reputation for handling heavy weather, suitability for carrying passengers and compliance with the work boat directive.

The Stormforce 11m was the final choice, but until Mackinnon put the idea forward Redbay hadn't considered building this model for outboard power. On the picnic tours Mackinnon requires a boat able to be beached and much of the wildlife watching takes place in shallow waters with a need for running with the legs up.

Experience with his previous boat, a 7m Cobra, had shown that a high turn of speed gained business, so instead of opting for the more usual diesel sterndrive setup he persuaded Redbay to redesign the stern of the Stormforce to accept twin Yamaha 300hp outboards.

Extra deck space With the engines stowed astern there was immediately extra deck space to provide more seating and cargo carrying capacity. The weight advantage, in the order of 1.5 tonnes with virtually identical power, raised the power to weight ratio significantly. And by using 2-stroke hp instead of 4-stroke turbo diesel hp the throttle response is immediate, an important consideration when working close in.

The outboards provide the means to operate in shallow water with the legs raised without putting undue strain on the drive train, while a sterndrive will soon suffer complaints from the Hardy Spicer department if run for any length of time with the legs raised.

By opting for the twin Yamahas there was also a major cost saving on the installation.

Twin Yanmar 315s mated to Bravo 3 drives are priced at £39,990 ex VAT as compared to the twin Yamaha 300 outboards at £23,700 ex VAT.

The modern 2-stroke technology also provides other benefits. The clean, quiet running associated with the new Yamaha outboards sits well with a boat whose passengers are very much "green aware" and the quiet running engines allow a closer approach to timid wildlife.

Multi-functional role The boat has a multi-functional role in addition to the tourist market. With regular cargo carrying work on behalf of the lighthouse board, the after end of the cockpit was configured to take two, four way pallets specifically for this purpose.

The aft dual seat pods are removable to provide the necessary room and lashing eyes on tracks. This doubles to provide two dedicated wheel-chair facilities with lashing points at the sheltered, after end of the passenger compartment with a good view either side for wildlife and sightseeing tours.

Access over the tubes for the wheelchair users is provided by reinforced patches over the tubes via a custom built gangway. This design ensures the boat meets the new disabled access requirements for businesses and has already provided positive publicity for Islay Sea Safari.

The forward cockpit was also built around the dimensions of a four way pallet and the very neat, recessed liferaft housing is another of Mackinnon's ideas that Redbay has incorporated.

The cargo carrying capacity has been used for other, more diverse, requests that Mackinnon could never have foreseen.

For instance he moved the new school teacher over from Ireland to Islay with furniture piled high in both cockpits.

Then he was asked if he would take a hen party over to Ireland for a night out. The fully enclosed passenger cockpit with its all over cover and her high speed sea keeping abilities provide a COP of 60 miles from a safe haven.

He took the girls over and that spawned a whole new business stream and he now gets regular requests for birthday parties and stag parties and he does a two day trip to the famous Lamus Fair each year.

With over 50 knots on tap, fully fuelled and with a full complement of 12 passengers and two crew, the run to Ireland takes less than an hour and it revives a valuable and ancient link not otherwise available.

Islay is also famous for whisky production. There are no fewer than seven distilleries on Islay and another on Jura, a near neighbour. These high profile businesses have picked up on the high speed RIB as a valuable corporate entertainment tool.

Mackinnon receives a good deal of business from the distilleries, taking visiting dignitaries out on high speed wildlife tours or just for a hair raising blast. At the whisky festival, held at the end of May he carried no fewer than 543 passengers over the week and 139 on one hectic day at the Ardbeg distillery.

The decision to fit the lighter, cheaper, space saving outboards with their higher performance has proved to be a bold but worthwhile decision. The extra passenger capacity more than offsets the difference in fuel cost and the saving on the initial investment means the business is more viable from the outset.

The success of this RIB and the extra opportunities it has opened up has led Islay Sea Safari to start thinking about a bigger version already. It will be interesting to see which engines they go for on the 15m version.