E85
 

Anyone running e85 in there boats

No one out there with any advice about running E85

Don't know of any engine manufacture which says E85 is OK to use. Most boats are still having enough trouble with E10

In a high performance application. Yes I think a few shootout boats do. If the boat was setup for it it would be awesome aside from not being available everywhere and definitely not on the water

I do with my twin turbo 460 jet boat (18' Nordic, removable 15 gallon tanks, homebrew turbo setup and microsquirt) and some of my automotive toys. I really wouldnt consider it for a large boat simply due to possible tank damage, decrease in range and lack of availability on the water.

Its a wonderfully forgiving fuel that works great with boost or lots of compression. Also a great bang for the buck.

Ethanol is great for power, fuel mileage isn't the best. Any motor can run it if the proper fuel delivery adjustments are made to the ECU (or carb). Just make sure your fuel system is setup for it, and make sure the ethanol you run has a little bit oil or some sort of ethanol stabilizer like Lucas.

In summary, gasoline with a significant ethanol component (as E85 is) can actually improve performance. The big "if" in there is whether or not your particular engine was built to utilize E85. Most newer OEM engines and all older OEM engines are not built for it. In fact most marine engine manufacturers lobbied against E85 when it was first proposed. The guys who are getting great power and performance out of E85 generally have engines built specifically for that fuel. For engines (and fuel systems not built for E85, it's generally the kiss of death.

On a related note, I found it somewhat comical that the government hearings on E85 featured several high performance engine builders testifying that E85 actually made more power. Funny thing, they didn't mention that it didn't work for crap in older / existing engines. Yea, the Obama EPA must have just overlooked that fact.

What physical attribute of an engine, old or new doesn’t work with e85? You should be able to make more power on nearly any engine NA or forced induction....run more compression, more knock resistance, more boost. It’s just a pain in the neck because it’s not at the dock.

if you have enough fuel system and a way to tune the engine it’s a piece of cake. You just have to watch it in boats because of water in the fuel but if you have a maintained Performance application then you are good. Just makes your fuel tank feel small. You can even mix up some e30 and get a fair amount of the benefit and only need about 10% more fuel system capability.

^^^^^^^^^Did you not just answer your own question? To reap the benefits of alcohol you need more compression, more boost, higher capacity fuel system/feed..............

20% more power on motor with 50% more compression.

Even more than that on boost due to cooling.

The biggest problem I see is that you will have to carry all of it or have your own dock refueling set up somehow, or pull the boat out every time. And your fuel economy is 40% worse, so you are really killing your range. Unless you have an 80s midnight express or don’t run much that won’t really work.

My boat holds 250g because it was designed to go to the Bahamas and back on 2 strokes. But most IO performance boats don’t hold much more than 200 gallons unless you get an old race boat with saddle tanks.

due to the range issue, av gas may be preferable if you want more than pump gas. It is garunteed 100+, so likely 105ish octane. And if you add mtbe octane booster you get another 5 points at least. The resulting 110+ would give you close to E85 performance, and a lot more range. It’s supposedly reasonable from your local regional airport relative to race gas.

My 2013 Tahoe make 8hp more on e85 over pump gas - right in the manual.

I have been running e85 in my turboed street car for 8-9 years. It is amazing how much smooter the engine runs with e85 over pump gas. Just the idle alone sounds so much happier. I run a flex fuel sensor and can run from pump to e100 and anything in between. Engine likes the more ethanol over pure gas without a doubt.

The physical attributes of older engines / fuel systems that don't play well with any amount of Ethanol are gaskets, seals, fuel lines, fuel tanks (ask an owner of an older Skater), etc. The negative effects of Ethanol on these components and more are very well documented. Boat / US published some pretty extensive studies showing the negative effects.

When i think of running an engine on an alternative fuel I would think addressing the fuel system requirements would be assumed as a given. You said that most new Engines and all old Engines aren’t built to run on it. I’ve never come across an engine that couldn’t run it and make more power....carb’d, fuel injected, direct injected or otherwise. If the intent was to say that you can’t just drive up and pour it in Your gas boat, then i misunderstood. Carry on :)