A company in the United Kingdom, Tubmarine, has designed and developed a new outdoor hot tub that uses wood as its primary source of heat.
“Combining expert craftsmanship and quality, eco-friendly materials including Kebony wood, the Tubmarine heats up in under two hours, and requires no electricity and little maintenance, making it a perfect addition for your garden in 2020,” the company says.
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The Tubmarine has an overall height of about 40 inches tall (excluding chimney), an overall width of 80 inches, and a depth of 79 inches. Company docs say the tub is corrosion resistant, 100 percent recyclable, hygienic, and requires no additional wood treatment down the road. The product is the culmination of a six-year journey by Chris Galley, founder and creator, who has been working on development of the product with engineers and suppliers throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
“I created my first wood fired hot tub seven years ago,” Galley says. “I wanted to create something for my family to enjoy together, but something stylish and well-engineered that was built to last. I wanted to make a statement piece that stood out from other tubs on the market, so I designed the Tubmarine.”
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Because the Tubmarine does not use electricity, it has a slightly different operation than a traditional hot tub. Users fill the tub with water (no need for any chemicals), light the wood burner and keep it topped up with logs, and stir the tub to mix the hot water with the cold until the desired temperature has been reached. Homeowners can recycle the greywater by watering the garden, the company says.
There are other wood-fire tubs on the market, but they mostly have a rustic design and use cedar as a primary component. Galley gave his unit clean modern lines. He chose marine grade stainless steel for the most of the tub, but opted for Kebony modified wood to dress up the unit with a warm, organic feel. At least 80 percent of the materails are from recycled parts and materials, directly responding to the growing consumer demand for eco-friendly home and outdoor products, the company says, adding that Kebony plays a role in that.
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“Selecting materials which were sustainable, strong and maintenance-free in equal measure was essential to ensuring the vision for the ultimate wood-fired hot tub was realised,” the company explains. “In addition to Kebony’s environmental credentials, the wood was a perfect choice for the Tubmarine due to its outdoor lifetime guarantee of over 30 years. Developed in Norway, Kebony uses a ’s revolutionary technology is an environmentally friendly and patented process which modifies sustainably sourced softwoods by heating the wood with furfuryl alcohol--an agricultural by-product."
Galley founded his company with the expressed purpose of creatiing nothing but wood-fired hot tubs. "We're not interested in mass-producing lots of different products, we want to produce products that are considered and well made." The company is already eyeing additional version of the Tubmarine, whcih is sized to fit four adults. "We hope to be able to launch our two-person model later in the year," Galley says. "This will be along the same design lines of our four-person tub, which will have the added benefit of a heating time of around one hour."
At the moment, the Tubmarine does not have distribution in the U.S., though the company is interested in finding suitable dealers. Still, Tubmarine offers worldwide shipping, so trade customers can order directly from the company. There is a current lead time of 12 to 14 weeks before shipping, Galley says.
The Tubmarine is priced from £15,450 and comes with a 25-year guarantee.