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Is electric propulsion the future of boating?

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goldnrod24

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Some one on our lake had an electric motor on the back of their toon, this year I saw they got a new boat and now there is a yamaha on the back of this one.  My guess is electric power has a very long way to come before it is practicle in the boating environment. Kaydano thought tubing with a 115 was boring...

I love the smell of a two stroke going by on the water. Puts a smile on my face because you know you're close to fun! You won't get that from an electric unless febreeze has a scent "1978 Evinrude" I don't know about.

But who knows, 25 years from now my artificial intelligence buddy Ted will read this post back to me while I am flying around in my Bennington E series fishing on Mars. Look how much things have changed in technology in just the past few years.
 
I'll pass. 20hp is slow enough ............. :blink:
 
I like how they advertise no fuel costs. Unless they are charging the batteries from hydro, wind, or solar generation, fuel is being burned to create the power for the charge.
 
I think this has a better chance than electric. Looks pretty interesting. With the abundance of natural gas this could be the future.

http://www.bluegasmarine.com/
 
Very Interesting, Thanks for posting Lakeliving
 
I work for an electric/gas utility and my boss sent it to me knowing I have a boat. He forwarded a article on it that is in pdf form and shows a yamaha on the back of their test boat. Curious at the conversion needed. I know we have a couple chevy trucks in our fleet that already run on natural gas. It will be interesting to see if this takes off. The article I have states fuel costs are reduced 2/3's without a drop in performance. I'll be watching this for sure. And when you think about it, most of us are already have a natural gas safely entering ours homes for the furnace, hot water heater etc. Think of how this could change refueling right at your dock. Very interesting.
 
Now, where in the hell would one fuel up such a boat? I don't see this as practical at all, without owning your own natural gas filling station.
 
See my post above. Most of us already have natural gas piped right to our homes. I don't see how running a line to a pump would be any different. My dryer knows how to let the gas flow, then ignites it inside my home and I consider that safe. I don't see how a pump 100ft from my home would be any more dangerous than that. Just my $.02 though. The infastructure is already there.
 
If and when there is a demand the marinas will invest in a providing
 
I do fleet repair work for our local natural gas company, and they have 3 vehicles that use CNG. Very clean burning, similar to propane.

The problem is, you can't use gas straight from the line, it must be compressed into a liquid form, and held in a high pressure storage tank, again, like propane.

So while you do have a supply, you would have to purchase the equipment to compress and store it, which i understand to be pretty expensive.

But if the idea did take off, Link is right, the marinas would invest in the equipment.
 
And...............................Some of us are all electric.
 
Natural gas not propane. I have propane.    :p
 
I am curious that the articles did not talk about getting Coast Guard approval for the storage of the CNG.  Reworking the engines to make CNG work should be the least of the hurdles.  
 
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