The Future of Powerboating ?
06-25-2010 | 03:41 PM
#21
OSO OG
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Blue Martini Hall of Fame
hey master.. FU 
. I'm not that old. I just live in dog years.
Freshwater. I'll put a 20 on my post. I've been consumed by performance boating since I could walk and have been in the industry almost 20 years. We are back to a snails pace
. I'm not that old. I just live in dog years.Freshwater. I'll put a 20 on my post. I've been consumed by performance boating since I could walk and have been in the industry almost 20 years. We are back to a snails pace
06-25-2010 | 05:56 PM
#22
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From: Bucyrus, Ohio
In 20 years........
1-2 of the companies listed in the top of this thread will be history. The boats will be status symbols like they are in Europe with only the extremely weathly owning them. You will definitely see the invasion of foreign made performance boats (China makes cars, yachts, go fast boats are next!). The higher efficiency small blocks will be more common and you will see more single motor applications as well as more outboard powerboats. You will see 40-45 year old Apaches still being sold for 200K (or more) with older straight bottom Cigs right behind them as an alternative "old school wavecrusher"
The cheap turbines and all stainless motors are fantasies, if that stuff is expensive now it always will be! Dusenbergs were never cheap!
1-2 of the companies listed in the top of this thread will be history. The boats will be status symbols like they are in Europe with only the extremely weathly owning them. You will definitely see the invasion of foreign made performance boats (China makes cars, yachts, go fast boats are next!). The higher efficiency small blocks will be more common and you will see more single motor applications as well as more outboard powerboats. You will see 40-45 year old Apaches still being sold for 200K (or more) with older straight bottom Cigs right behind them as an alternative "old school wavecrusher"
The cheap turbines and all stainless motors are fantasies, if that stuff is expensive now it always will be! Dusenbergs were never cheap!
Do you suppose in 20 yrs we'll be referring to boats like the Mercedes MTI, Flight Club and Golddigger as "old school"?
06-25-2010 | 06:05 PM
#23
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From: central IL
Hopefully someone (Copeland, etc.) will break the water speed record (and not die in the process) but I'm not holding my breath considering the record was set in 1978. Thirty years is a long time for a record to hold.
06-25-2010 | 06:06 PM
#24
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Hello Freshwater,
Joystick docking for performance boats could be a reality tomorrow. Several years ago Mercury Marine introduced a joystick style system called Control Max, and it was installed on Maxrum runabouts, which were for all intents and purposes upscale Bayliners. If memory serves (and it probably doesn't) the system was an option for the Maxum 2400 or 2300.
Now you might ask, and it would be a reasonable question: Why would anybody need a joystick to dock a 23-foot-long runabout? The Mercury answer was that based on consumer feedback docking was the No. 1 headache faced by first-time boat owners.
Which leads us to joystick docking for go-fast boats. I am reasonably sure, make that dead certain, that if you were willing to pay for it that Cigarette, Outerlimits, MTI, Skater and so on would install such a system for you.
But let's be completely honest: There's a certain big, swinging whatever factor for a driver who comes into the harbor and docks a 40-foot custom performance-boat with a $60,000 paint job and no rub rail between two garbage scows in 30-knot crosswinds and a ripping, outgoing tide.
Pull that off facing the stern with your hands on nothing other than the shifters, while you still manage to toss a dock line to a member of the awestruck crowd, and you're a god.
A joystick-controlled dock just doesn't have the same impact. Not now. Not in the future.
06-25-2010 | 06:09 PM
#25
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From: LI, New York
Dolla you always have good comebacks...
06-26-2010 | 12:19 PM
#29
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From: Arlington Tx
This I totally disagree with. One thing I would never do is bet against American innovation. We'll have several more bull markets in our lifetime.
As for boats, we'll see high performance diesel engines, I hope we'll see single engine surface drives (similar to the old Blackhawk but more robust) and we'll see a greater push for alternative fuels and more efficient hulls.
At a rate of approximately 8% improvement per year, I figured out it would take battery technology about 30-35 years to reach a point where a 35 foot plus performance boat powered by electric motors would be feasible with a decent range.
As for materials, I think we need to figure out how to make fiber glass without using petroleum products. The more oil goes up the more expensive the raw materials for building boats becomes.
Finally, don't be surprised to see coating that reduce friction between the hull and the water come out over the next 20 years to increase boat efficiency.
Oh yeah, and joystick docking will come to performance boats at some point in the next couple of decades.
As for boats, we'll see high performance diesel engines, I hope we'll see single engine surface drives (similar to the old Blackhawk but more robust) and we'll see a greater push for alternative fuels and more efficient hulls.
At a rate of approximately 8% improvement per year, I figured out it would take battery technology about 30-35 years to reach a point where a 35 foot plus performance boat powered by electric motors would be feasible with a decent range.
As for materials, I think we need to figure out how to make fiber glass without using petroleum products. The more oil goes up the more expensive the raw materials for building boats becomes.
Finally, don't be surprised to see coating that reduce friction between the hull and the water come out over the next 20 years to increase boat efficiency.
Oh yeah, and joystick docking will come to performance boats at some point in the next couple of decades.
The high performance diesels are just around the corner, courtesy of Banks Engineering; 800hp/900tq twin-turbo supercharged Duramax. Two of them are in a US Customs boat now.
The single engine surface drive is also a reality thanks to Weismann Marine.
