Offshoreonly.com - >16,000 HP, 118 Ft, 70 MPH YOu gotta see this!

Yes, I love it too. Imagine being somewhere like Capri or St. Tropez and sitting it that. As if you transported your Manhattan penthouse to some of the best locations in the world. The Fabio Buzzi boat is a design which has been made to break all major endurance records. It has broken the "Venice-Monte Carlo" record although it encountered force 8 seas. The crew actually feared that they were going to lose the boat but still averaged almost 22 mph through the storm. Then, they broke the "Monte Carlo-London" record, followed by the "Round Britain" record. The plan was to attempt the Miami-New York run in preparation for the Atlantic crossing for the Blue Riband but due to the lack of sponsors those attempts were scrapped. But the boat is sweet. Those MTU 2000-series engines have two huge turbochargers which makes a total of eight and they actually overcome the noise of the engine itself so the boat sounds like it is turbine-powered. As for production, it seems that OTAM shipyards near Lavagna, Italy have bought the molds and are planning a production run with 4 new MTU engines @ 1800hp each. It should be good for 80+mph. If you do not know OTAM, they make nice boats. Especially the Millennium 55 which is powered by two 1420 CATS and Arnesons. Approaches 60 mph. Attached is a photo. As for turbines, I don't think corrosion is a big deal on that machinery. Turbines are made from aluminium and titanium parts, two materials which do not rust. However, there are other problems. Firstly, the time they need to warm up, spool up. Secondly, they do not idle very well. A turbine is ideally used between 90 and 100% of its continuous output. This is why the Wally has two small diesels in addition. Then, the rotating mass of parts is so small that they rev like crazy. Suppose a boat jumps a wave and there is no water resistance on propellers, impellers or whatever you have. Well, the RPMs shoot upwards and the turbine shuts down. This is how it was on old Textron TF40 turbines. They are better now due to electronic management systems but it still is a problem. Then, you have the problem of exhaust gases which are hot enough to incinerate the dock (over 1000°F) unless you have a serious exhaust cooling system which is bulky and heavy. So there goes part of the weight advantage over piston engines. If you don't do it right however, the risk of losing your boat in a fire is pretty high. I saw a photo of a Fountain 42 with turbines not long ago, with shooting flames coming out of exhausts just behind the engine hatch/sunpad. Everybody thought it was cool but think about it: would you want your kids playing around in the cockpit while this is going on 5' away from them? The biggest problem though is servicing though. You need highly qualified technicians, essentially helicopter engineers to service those things. It is still the future of boating, probably on larger boats.