Any questions about big waves, here ya go

25 races and shootouts and still going strong

Hey Scott when you guys are running ruff water do you have to throttle in a similar way to regular piston offshore boats? or does the lag time keep the turbines pretty much spooled up? just curious really, seems most of the components can handle high rpm in that type of setup.

Great pics to by the way. I know we took some pretty good flights down in Destin. thought our 2.5's were gonna come all the way back to idle a few time in the air :D

You don't let off as much, just enough to relieve the drivetrain of some torch during re entry

How about the insurance issue?

Great thread!! Very interesting!

I talked with John cosker of about throttling them in the air, he said it was easier driving a turbine than a piston powered boat. A turbine will limit (over rev) itself with the fuel control faster than you can with the throttles, throttling back in the air is to protect the drive train.:D If you could get the noise down while around the docks they would be an unbeatable combo, aside from the cost.

We have found it tough going I think just because it is hard to get the insurance companies to listen to you about aviation level reliability and safety... all they want to hear is "What... a jet engine in a boat!!! no way..." and that may be partly from guys who kinda might not have known exactly what they were doing and burned their boats as a result. Certainly the turbine engine is just an engine like a piston motor is an engine... produces perhaps a bit more horsepower for it's weight... but you can go just as fast in a well rigged piston boat as you can in a turbine boat, well.... almost as fast, how bout... hehehe...
A turbine flows a lot more air than a piston engine... but the temperatures are relatively comparable and certainly proper installation makes it a moot point anyways. So... yeah we have found problems with getting insurance... and still not sure why when you look at the computer technology available on our turbines. GPS tracking and data logging of all inputs including throttle position etc etc. The Insurance guys would actually be able to get a download from any "Incident" from the boats computer system and decide if the owner was operating outside the realms of common sense. So... I don't know why they arn't actually lining up to sign people with turbines... seems to me to be of benifit to them... but you know how it is hard to get new technology accepted by institutions??

We have a sound scilencing air intake design. We actually implemented the original design on a project for the military and had a T-53-11 down to 65db. at 100 feet distance. It would take a bit more engineering to get it into a recreational boat... but it can be done... oh... and cost should be almost comparable to installing Sterlings especially if you take into account cost of ownership over 3-5 years. Maintenance wise with the new drivetrains we have and the fact that you are running on Diesel (Although the price of that isn't what it used to be.)

I work on turbines almost every day, maintenance & reliability are totally different from piston power. For the average boater turbines are a tough concept to work on, but if you do some research on the required maint. of a hp turbine versus the required maint. on a hp piston the difference is huge. The turbine only "spins" in one direction, where a piston has to travel up, stop, go down, stop, go back up,etc.... then throw in some valves, springs, pushrods, lifters etc... Each engine has there distinct advantages and disadvantages, it comes down to which one can you afford and operate. I love turbines, but I have pistons in my boat!!!:D

Man I'm glad I asked the question! The only way I would turbine power a boat would be from someone who is reliable and knows how to make them work for a boat. The reason I asked about reliabilty is the guys over at the Aqua Toy Store said you always had to mess with them.The boat they have was one of Turbine Marines first installs.