Gas Prices...

[allisonjr]

I wonder if we will ever see normal prices again. What i hate the most is that they want to price the fuel at top dollar and sell you crap that is worse on gas mileage and even worse for the internals of an engine. Our poor high performance engines are gonna protest this h2o fuel. If prices keep going and going and going up im gonna have to install a restrictor plate on my merc!

 

[suicidealli]

im thinking about setting my motor up for E-85.. reg 87oct gas is 3.40 a gal here...

 

[GotMyAlly]

Gas prices was part of my justification for gettin' an Opti..........

 

[strip]

Is this the tow vehicle of the future?

 

[ssv1761982]

I am thinking seriously about putting my 225 Pro XS on my XB2003 for the gas savings. It gets over 6 MPG on my old Checkmate.

 

[xb03fs]

might have to get a 175 Pro xs for mine

 

[strip]

between me, my wife, and my daughter we are spending $900.00 per month on fuel. Hince my pride and joy being on craigslist! We are now discussing ways of leaving 2 of the 3 vehicles in town and car pooling to the hizzy. Our busy schedule will limit us from doing this every day, but a few times a week will help.

 

[aeneas]

Re: Gas Prices... in Norway and Sweden

I thought I would report in on current fuel prices here in Norway - I filled up on Wednesday @ 13,49 NOK/litre ($9,07/US gallon). My car runs only on high octane so I take Shell V-Power99. Most of the fuel I use in the boat is Shell V-Power99 and the rest is Alkylate petrol from Aspen.

To and from my office I use public transport (bus and train) as this saves almost 1 hour everyday + congestion charges. Shopping, golf, skiing, boating and trips to the West Coast of Sweden (2 hrs to summer house) by car.

 

[strip]

Re: Gas Prices... in Norway and Sweden

I thought I would report in on current fuel prices here in Norway - I filled up on Wednesday @ 13,49 NOK/litre ($9,07/US gallon). My car runs only on high octane so I take Shell V-Power99. Most of the fuel I use in the boat is Shell V-Power99 and the rest is Alkylate petrol from Aspen.

To and from my office I use public transport (bus and train) as this saves almost 1 hour everyday + congestion charges. Shopping, golf, skiing, boating and trips to the West Coast of Sweden (2 hrs to summer house) by car.

I remember when i was in elementary school in the 70's and gas hit $1.00 per gallon. Our teacher said that Europe was paying over $3.00 per gallon. I thought to my self...They are Crazy!....But $9.00 that is obsene!

 

[allison xtb]

I may have to mount one of these on the short shaft.




http://www.minnkotamotors.com/_ui/sramk08/tpl/_part/album.aspx?id=4291&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=487&width=850

 

[GotMyAlly]

Here ya go.....

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=92792&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10110&subdeptNum=10654&classNum=10657

 

[allison xtb]

I may have to go to that but it would be ugler than a mans arse on the back of a 2002

 

[aeneas]

OT
Well, since electric motors has an all flat torque curve I am sure Darris Allison could build an awesome drag boat (ultra light carbon fibre XR-2001) with an engine like this or an even more powerful setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yNu2_LlO9s

 

[strip]

That is cool, I wonder what they are using for batteries. They are light and strong.

 

[aeneas]

OT
Strip: Here's some more info I found.

It is a modified 48 volt brushed motor from a forklift used to power the hydraulics, rated at about 15hp. We ran a Zilla speed control and put 140 volts and 700 amps to it from 42 Lithium Polymer batteries. Composite glass honeycomb boat I built. I think if you built a very lightweight boat had 12x 12v lead acid batteries and a similar motor 30 to 70mph is possible depending on how much run time you want.

Mike

And here's an article about Mike Bontoft. In the article MB states that the engine is attached to the boat as an outboard.

http://tdn.com/lifestyles/article_620ca646-3625-539d-8011-2a569592ba01.html

So perhaps the future is in better more efficient and quicker charged batteries..?

 

[strip]

I wonder what thad mid is off of? it looks like it has a little offshore exhaust snout sticking out. Very cool. wish it stated how long the batts last.

 

[RedAllison]

A couple of years ago Darris was telling me that he had been contacted by a person in Hong Kong who wanted to know if he could build an XR2001 that could hold alot of batteries in the gunwales. The guy wanted to put somekind of electric motor on it to commute back and forth across the bay in Hong Kong.

Being the marine engineer extraordinaire that he is, Darris was very inquisitive of the project but I want to say the limiting factor ended up being there was just going to be to much weight in the batteries to make the thing work properly. But that was a couple-three years ago, I realize battery technology is warping itself and advancing second only to computers in todays world.

I'll never say never because when DFIs first came out I laughed at them and swore to never own one. Now I own 2 and wouldn't have it anyother way, but I think we're a loooooong way from seeing any electric performance boats that can run and gun all day like we do now.

That 100mph electric hydro would HAFTA be a kick to pilot, and being typical of electric motors with their torque I bet it accelerates like a raped ape!!!

If it were ever made "reasonably affordable" I could see that being a neat and easy class to drag race. Doubt you'd really tear much up, times would probably be surgically close. :beer:
RA

ps
Fuel is fuel, the markets dictate the wholesale price. The ludicrous prices the rest of the world has on motor fuels is simply because of the socialistic taxes they have added onto each gallon of fuel. They actually use it to encourage you into mass transit or simply doing nothing involving transportation. Also, most countries over there are barely bigger than some of our western states. The U.S. is a BIG country and we travel alot more than the average european citizen. I could careless what the price of gas in Germany is, shouldn't have any bearing on what our fuel is over here or what it "should" cost. Unfortunately we're getting more and more aholes in Washington who think we need to be "more like them"...

 

[allisonjr]

I wonder if they make fuel with 15% ethanol if our high perf engines will run? I just wish at the pump theyd give you the choice regular gas without the water, or the new water gas lol.

 

[aeneas]

A couple of years ago Darris was telling me that he had been contacted by a person in Hong Kong who wanted to know if he could build an XR2001 that could hold alot of batteries in the gunwales. The guy wanted to put somekind of electric motor on it to commute back and forth across the bay in Hong Kong.

Being the marine engineer extraordinaire that he is, Darris was very inquisitive of the project but I want to say the limiting factor ended up being there was just going to be to much weight in the batteries to make the thing work properly. But that was a couple-three years ago, I realize battery technology is warping itself and advancing second only to computers in todays world.

I'll never say never because when DFIs first came out I laughed at them and swore to never own one. Now I own 2 and wouldn't have it anyother way, but I think we're a loooooong way from seeing any electric performance boats that can run and gun all day like we do now.

Very interesting! Since Darris Allison seems to have extreme knowledge within hydrodynamics, aerodynamics and a range of other important fields and Allison boats are very efficient designs they would be perfect for alternative power. I am not sure what the future will bring. It can be electricity, hydrogen, ethanol/alcohol, bio diesel... What I am sure about is that there will be high performance applications also in the future.

The hydroplane project is very cool. They are always spectacular!

ps
Fuel is fuel, the markets dictate the wholesale price. The ludicrous prices the rest of the world has on motor fuels is simply because of the socialistic taxes they have added onto each gallon of fuel. They actually use it to encourage you into mass transit or simply doing nothing involving transportation. Also, most countries over there are barely bigger than some of our western states. The U.S. is a BIG country and we travel alot more than the average european citizen. I could careless what the price of gas in Germany is, shouldn't have any bearing on what our fuel is over here or what it "should" cost. Unfortunately we're getting more and more aholes in Washington who think we need to be "more like them"...

I only wanted to inform you about what we have to deal with over here, it was never intended as a suggestion to how you should do. We in Sweden and Norway are among the most boat interested people around but speed boating is not as big as it is in the US due to many factors, fuel prices being one of them. But there are some enthusiasts...

I am a member of a Swedish boating forum - http://www.boatlife.se - where there are over 7,800 members from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, USA, the Netherlands and even France. The most popular thread there is about boating in the USA. Lars Str

 

[RedAllison]

I only wanted to inform you about what we have to deal with over here, it was never intended as a suggestion to how you should do.

Oh no problem aeneas, I wasn't implying you were doing that at all. Just reminding some folks that see european fuel prices vs Americas that most of it is taxes. The globe essentially pays the same for oil regardless of location, the end price difference varies mainly by a relatively small refinery/processing and shipping charge with the vast majority coming from heaped on taxation! :mad

Come on over, :beer:
RA