Will $5/gallon gas change the next boat you buy?

Discussion in 'Powerboats' started by IMP-ish, Aug 11, 2011.

?

Will $5/gallon gas change the next boat you buy?

  1. Yes – going smaller

    8 vote(s)
    16.0%
  2. Yes – going single

    4 vote(s)
    8.0%
  3. Yes – going slower

    27 vote(s)
    54.0%
  4. Yes – going lighter

    13 vote(s)
    26.0%
  5. No

    17 vote(s)
    34.0%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. Frosty

    Frosty Previous Member

    Way off tug boat. An ALL electric vessel has just passed through Thaliand with nothing more than solar panels and motors. It is travelling the world.

    It uses straight thu power and stores some so it can EVEN travel at night. It can only get better.
     
  2. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

    ive seen it. and the whole boat is covered with solar panels- yes it CAN work-- but look at the size of the area needed and the amount of solar panels?
    you cant walk on that deck and how many kw's are the engines? probably not much bigger than trolling motors...u and i could not afford such a boat--......yet..its like the solar cars they run in those races every year- they work but arent really all that practical...they did prove it could be done--but our present battery technology cannot store this energy long enough...and those solar panels on deck...dont work if the sun is not 100% like a coudy day they dont get the same charging power...

    they should hook up some windmills to it as well...
    true -in time we wil find more efficient ways for electricity--im saying right now--its just not there yet,...it would be clean energy to be sure. we need to develop superconducting cells and wires...maybe were only ten years away from this better technology. at least i hope so--president Obama recently said--"oil is in now the fuel of the past"--but what he meant i am not sure...
     
  3. CatBuilder

    CatBuilder Previous Member

    Tugboat, batteries are there now. You can charge lifep04 batteries at more than C.
     
  4. WestVanHan
    Joined: Aug 2009
    Posts: 1,373
    Likes: 56, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 746
    Location: Vancouver

    WestVanHan Not a Senior Member

    Ford worked on a nuclear powered truck back in the atomic heydays.

    Hey Tug that tiny steam link is dead/out of business.

    FYI a friend has a Stanley Steamer,I've been in it a few times- it's only rated at 20 hp but I think it puts out 900 lb ft of torque.
     
  5. masalai
    Joined: Oct 2007
    Posts: 6,818
    Likes: 121, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 1882
    Location: cruising, Australia

    masalai masalai

    Fuel prices in Indonesia are incredibly low, go there for your fuel, but it is usually sold in small containers by roadside vendors. (they had rioting there last week over escalating fuel prices)
     
  6. sean9c
    Joined: Jan 2011
    Posts: 289
    Likes: 4, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 35
    Location: Anacortes,WA

    sean9c Senior Member

    I think this is the correct link to Tinytech:
    http://www.tinytechindia.com/
     
  7. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

    sorry westvanhan-this is the proper link...http://www.tinytechindia.com/steampowerplan.htm
     
  8. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

    how much are they?
     
  9. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

  10. CatBuilder

    CatBuilder Previous Member

    Not that much, if you consider life cycle.

    Charging at (if I recall) 2C
    Discharge rates very high as well
    Depth of discharge to 80% DOD vs 50% DOD with lead batteries, so you need a smaller bank for the same power
    Very light weight
    Between 2000-3000 discharges to 80% DOD.

    They are less expensive than lead batteries if you look at the real numbers and not just the purchase price. Also, you buy less of them because you can discharge to 80%.
     
  11. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

    yea argentina is 12 cents a liter-cost of goimg there would be terribly expensive...but how long will it last? how many years do we have left for cheap fuel? or no fuel?
     
  12. BPL
    Joined: Dec 2011
    Posts: 217
    Likes: 15, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 209
    Location: Home base USA

    BPL Senior Member

    Maybe true powerboaters will relocate to where the fuel is available!
     
  13. tunnels

    tunnels Previous Member

    Its time for Outboard manufactures to pull finger and come get on board with yet more and much better technology , 4 stroke is just the start , fuel injection and supercharging ! where to from there ? fuel ecconamy is the next and hardest step for motor manufactures so get with the progam .
    Lets take another step and lets sit on the boat designers and demand a better and more user friendly boat design . very little to no consideration is given to any thing to do with aerodynamics with boat design !!
    Im not finished yet !!
    The construction and using better engineering principles and well know design details .
    Car design over the years have changed dramaticly also there construction and materials used throughout !!,they have advanced from the square box shape of the model T to the latest sleek family car that uses race car design and advanced technology that we now just take for granted !.
    Boat design is so far behind the 8 ball its not even funny !!.Look at the latest designs that we are feed with and show me advancment in design , designers are mindlessly giving us crap and just keep recycling ideas fron years ago , They are going backwards !!, pushing box shapes that were the in thing in the 1920's and 1930 s, boxy cabins as areodynamic as a brick ,plumb bows we all saw in the late 1800s and early 1900s and built from horribly thick heavy over weight materials that could be used to build two boats from .

    Sail boats must be increadable fast i reckon because so many carry tons of lead to slow then down and keep them in the water !! look at whats happened since the Americas cup got the idea to let multihulls into there racing!! , look over the fence at the advancements of foiled sail boats .
    The wind blows all over the world every day,wake up and smell the flower people !! force change !! say we dont accept the rubbish you are giving us !!.
    How may people here look at the student design section of BOAT DESIGN ??
    I regularly cruise on through and look for whats recently been added .
    Ok some are totally out of it and would never work in a month of sundays ,but look again, there are some really innovative ideas! Its these fresh ideas are what we need to build on !! if the design of boats had changed as quickly as the design of the humble every day car we all use we could fly across and or through the surface of the water with very little effort ! instead we are still ploughing and digging holes and pushing water in huge bow waves and our designes still can get it right and make monumental stuff ups . There are libraries full of books with a mountain of theories and still we dont fully undertand how boats behave on, in or under the water .
    :D
     
  14. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

    very true--

    one thing that has changed that i would like to see a trend go back towards are hulls that have a D/L ratio of less than 250 we have gotten into fatter -shorter boats because we want floating apts. but what we really need are hulls that low resistance hull--longer sleeker and cutting through the waves low hp requirements..this is think is a step in the right diereciton especially if solar or wind is possible...
     

  15. tugboat

    tugboat Previous Member

    but any deep cycle batt takes a long time to charge up and true deep cycles(maybe this doesnt apply to this type of battery u r talking about)cannot be fast charged because they destroy the lead plates--ive destroyed many a deep cycle because of my half-cocked experiments trying to run my houseboats off inverters..lead acid always worked the best because you can charge them very fast on an alternator...i used a 8 amp charger -for deep cycles and it took about 3 hours-with a this small 1000 watt generator/8 amp charger... and after that...wouldnt hold a charge---
     
Loading...
Forum posts represent the experience, opinion, and view of individual users. Boat Design Net does not necessarily endorse nor share the view of each individual post.
When making potentially dangerous or financial decisions, always employ and consult appropriate professionals. Your circumstances or experience may be different.