I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a 40
foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in Savannah. We
dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for $50?

Discussion.

-Greg

15 years, absolutely, no problem!
One of my university professors was deep in the development of both a
hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine and a hydrogen fuel cell. Both
nearly ready for production. OF course that was 40 years ago.
BF

"Dene" dene@(nospam) ipns.com wrote in message
...


I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a
40
foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in Savannah.
We
dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for $50?

Discussion.

-Greg

The technology will probably be there but will you be able to find a
hydrogen fuel dock in Georgetown, Exuma or points south?

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Dene" dene@(nospam) ipns.com wrote in message
...


I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a
40
foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in Savannah.
We
dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for $50?

Discussion.

-Greg

I'd be very surprised to see Hydrogen power common on the waterways.

I predict we'll see more electric power, especially if battery
technology improves. Also, diesel-electric may be more common.

The other trend I expect is more catamaran trawlers, or power cats.
Fuel economy is much better than traditional displacement hulls. The
PDQ MV34 user 4 gal/hour at 16 knots.


Dene wrote:
I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a 40
foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in Savannah. We
dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for $50?

Discussion.

-Greg

"Iceland already has a plan to convert from fossil fuels to hydrogen. In
2003, the government, working with a consortium of companies led by Shell
and DaimlerChrysler, took the first step by beginning to convert the capital
city of Reykjavik's fleet of 80 buses from internal combustion to fuel cell
engines. Shell built a hydrogen station to service the buses, using
inexpensive hydroelectricity to produce clean hydrogen. In the next stage,
Iceland's automobiles will be converted to fuel cell engines. And in the
final stage, the Icelandic fishing fleet - the centerpiece of its economy -
also will convert to fuel cells."

"Dene" dene@(nospam) ipns.com wrote in message
...


I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a
40
foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in Savannah.
We
dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for $50?

Discussion.

-Greg

From what I've seen most scientist think realistic fuel cell
technology...including the distribution factor in the equation, is at least
20-30 years out. Another big sticking point is the unknown -- if you believe
in the human induced global warming theory then we must be concerned with
fuel cell technology. The primary emission of a hydrogen powered engine is
water vapor; of the "greenhouse gases" water vapor is the most prominent
followed by CO2. So, what happens if we begin releasing millions/billions of
pounds of previously unreleased water vapor...will it exacerbate global
warming? Unintended consequences? As we all know, the road to hell is paved
with good intentions.

Dene wrote:
I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a 40
foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in Savannah. We
dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for $50?

Discussion.

-Greg



Only if he is willing to cruise at about 3 knots, on account of the
hull speed rise in drag. At really low speeds, boats can be very
efficient. At high speed, forget it, you would need a nuclear
reactor if regular fuel won't do.

At economical speed, you may as well calculate on sails, and patience.

Unless....

If you had a huge, low pressure fuel tank, say, sewn into the
inflated sails, that was able to carry the boat so it was mostley
out of the water, an airship with a sail and a low weight
dynamically erect or towed leeboard / centreboard, and solar cells
to make H2 at sea....

One advantage is that to make water, all you have to do is burn H2.
to power or heat the boat. This would save weight, too.

Hmmmmm.

Terry K

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 10:23:27 -0800, Dene wrote:

I'm looking into my crystal ball and envisioning being a liveaboard on a
40 foot powerboat, 8 months out of the year, likely stationed in
Savannah. We dream of touring the ICW, Gulf, Caribbean, and the Great
Lakes.

Then we calculate today's fuel costs into the picture and gasp! Will
H-boats being standard in 10-15 years? Will fuel costs drop as supply
demands drops? Will a powerboater will be able to cruise all day for
$50?

You can still do it today with a modest single screw diesel trawler.

It's unfortunate that the mainstream recreational power yacht these days
is a semi-displacement fuel hog. Just say no! There are alternatives.

Is the anchorage 100 miles away really any better than the one half that
far? Life's just as good at 8kt, vs. 15. Also, people will chug around
all day using 50-100% more fuel, not to mention put up with double the
maintenance, just because docking is easier with twin screws. This is
absurd. Learn to drive, and set yourself free...

Matt O.

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 17:49:59 -0500, bowgus wrote:

"Iceland already has a plan to convert from fossil fuels to hydrogen. In
2003, the government, working with a consortium of companies led by Shell
and DaimlerChrysler, took the first step by beginning to convert the capital
city of Reykjavik's fleet of 80 buses from internal combustion to fuel cell
engines. Shell built a hydrogen station to service the buses, using
inexpensive hydroelectricity to produce clean hydrogen. In the next stage,
Iceland's automobiles will be converted to fuel cell engines. And in the
final stage, the Icelandic fishing fleet - the centerpiece of its economy -
also will convert to fuel cells."

The sticky point with hydrogen is that it takes so much energy to
produce. Where are we going to get all this energy, which we're already
short of?

Iceland is blessed with practically unlimited geothermal energy. So they
can produce hydrogen for their own use as well as export.

Matt O.

My opinion ... for long term hydro (I'm in canada eh), wind, solar make
sense (usually lotsa wind, solar, and water around boats by the way). But
for the short/near term, it's looking like mainly natural gas ... e.g bld
has some units selling in japan, fcel units here and there. All I know is,
somebody better start building that hydrogen infrastructure (and finish it)
while we still have the fossil fuels to do the work.

The sticky point with hydrogen is that it takes so much energy to
produce. Where are we going to get all this energy, which we're already
short of?

Iceland is blessed with practically unlimited geothermal energy. So they
can produce hydrogen for their own use as well as export.

Matt O.