Unlike his terrestrial works, this 31-footer called is powered by a "torpedo-shaped" 4.2-kilowatt ELECTRIC (yes, electric) pod motor juiced by eight Varta 12-volt marine batteries. That adds up to 14.7 kilowatt-hours of storage, enough to get Stephenson and company from his home at Henley-on-Thames to the Cotswolds about ten hours away, and back.

Charging points all along the river mean he doesn't need to sweat range, though. Plus, the benefit to traveling on a river is that at least one direction could be simply floating, if necessary.

The boat itself is a combination of rosewood and mahogany from Africa and Brazil, laid up with fifteen layers of laquer when it was built and another five every year. As of this year it shines with 35 coats of protection. Up front there's a nod to his work on land that's still in keeping with the theme of times gone by: a mermaid hood ornament from a 1932 Cadillac.