The Future of Powerboating ?
 

With companys like Nortech, MTI, Skater, Statement, Cigarette and Outerlimits constantly raising the bar on speed, size, handling, and style, what is left to accomplish? In my eyes, some of the biggest & baddest boats ever are being built presently. Look how much has changed in the last 20 years or so, then just try to imagine where we'll be 20 years from now. I have a million "what ifs" in my head and was wondering if anyone else thinks of this often?

I think the next step will be new hull designs. Hydrofoils, with their higher speeds and fuel mileage, will also come into vogue.

hell... by then ima be scootin around on my hoverboard! forget boating!!!

20 YEARS FROM NOW I will be dirt, well in the 70s I figured by the 90s we would be in flying cars:bigbird: and it 20years since late 1980s early 1990s and there making chevy throw back cars ford started it with the pony car mopar is doing it where the phuck is my flying car or boat WELL Gerrys skater kind da flies and has hellocopter turbines in it thats close. but really yes cat hulls went from 130 4 engine heavy 50ft boats to 208 mph rocketships which are 10 times safer than the late 1980s and deep vees went from 90 to 110 to 130 to 180. average boat then went 65 to 75 now they start at 80 and run 100 with stock merc 525s. 20 yrs from now I would be 71 but no way I all broken already 11 surgeries by 50 and need at least 2 this fall:eek: haha. well it looks like I will be on the water next month doing a buck ten I hope:evilb: enough of my babled going to Gellners tomorrow:coolcowboy:

Yup, they're raising everything, especially prices

The easier it becomes to go out and buy a 100-150mph speedboat
(for those with the money of course) and terrorize the local waters the higher insurance rates will go and the more pressure will be brought to bear to establish speed limits and regulation.

I think a lot of the future will be other advancements then just more speed......for one, engine longevity.....look at the rebuild interval of a merc 1075.......then look at the new 1300 they releasesd this year......I don't know the exact numbers but I think you get twice or even four times the amount of hours before rebuild time......that open's the playing field to a lot more buyers.....jut think of them building a 700hp engine with the ability to run 2000 hard hrs before a rebuild.....count me in...... How about emissions and keeping up with that crap........so much more room for advancement in so many different ares.......as far as hull design....I am no expert but to me it is like trying to re-invent the wheel......yea you could add a step, take away a hook etc, etc, but you always take away something in the process......unless there is some sort of amazing breakthrough in materials or foils or wings I don't see a huge gain anytime soon in hulls.......but what do I know?

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I hope the future brings more turbine applications in boats that aren't million dollar holy **** cats....

Would also hope the future includes the manufacturers beginning to use materials that don't corrode/rust in the salt water. I know this would cut into their repair/replace business but jesus, why are oil/PS coolers made out of ****ing steel in 2010??

Conventional hulls and conservative paint designs.

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! :D

My vision of the future is the cost of fuel skyrocketing 10 times the average inflation rate so much so that fuel cost becomes triple or more the cost of ownership. So many of us say cost of gas is one of the least expenses we face, what would you say if it becomes many times all the other expenses combined?

I predict it will end up back to basics based upon consumer demand just like automobiles. Very few buy or own the aforementioned boats above. If you look around you'll see an increasing number of smaller more practical sport boats hittin' the water. The behemoths will be looked upon (the consumer market that is) as they do the Hummers and Excursions.

LMAO!!!!!

Interesting. Certainly looks like we are headed this way.

Forcefields and hover boats running for 5000 hrs on 100 bucks worth of unobtanium :)

I think the big leaps forward are done. The huge funny money is what made the advances happen between the late 90's and 2008ish. Thats gone. We would have to have another equally "rich" economic upturn to fuel innovation. Thats not going to happen in our lifetimes.

Diesels, efficient hulls, alternative energy - basically the same as what we see in the auto industry.

Oh and a ton more laws especially around safety and emissions.

Speak for yourself grandpa:lolhit::grinser010:

some of us are still youngsters :evilb::drink:

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.

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

Great post!

Do you suppose in 20 yrs we'll be referring to boats like the Mercedes MTI, Flight Club and Golddigger as "old school"?

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.

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.

The fact that you referred yourself as a dog and called me master seems ironic....just kiddin'!

Dolla you always have good comebacks...

Don't the turbines already have long service intervals like a few thousand hours?

Yes but they use a lot of fuel.

Don't they use almost as much fuel at idle as they do at top speed, I thought I red that somewhere.

Best post in this thread so far. :)

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.

LOL

Just to bring this discussion to current day.......

How many OSOr's bought a boat in 2010 (or will)?
How many friends/family bought a boat this year?
How many do you know personally or from OSO that no longer own a performance boat but had in the past?
How many boats both new and used are languishing in the classifieds?


The numbers don't look good for a prosperous future!


I can't remember the last post on someone's newly launched boat. Magazine's do articles on new boats and then they show up on here or at poker runs. Some guys like Pyburn were building boats annually, bigger faster new models whatever. Albert H. is the exception due to his high income level career.

There are a few on Ebay that I swear have been listed close to 2 years now.