Make Gas Last

With summertime gas prices skyrocketing, here are BoatU.S.'s top ten tips for getting the most from a tank of gas.

1. Leave the extra ‘junk’ home: Don’t load the boat up with weight you don’t need. Do a little spring cleaning—unused equipment that has been collecting mildew in the bottom of lockers for years should be taken home.

2. Water weight: At 8.33 pounds per gallon, why keep the water in the tank topped off if you’re only going out for the afternoon?

3. Tune her up: An engine tune-up is an excellent investment and should easily pay for itself over the summer.

4. Tune your prop: If your boat goes 30 mph with a like-new prop and only 27 mph with a prop that’s dinged and out of pitch, that’s a 10% loss in fuel economy, or, you’re wasting one out of every ten gallons you put in your tank.

5. Paint the boat’s bottom: When boating in salt or brackish waters a fouled bottom is like a dull knife. It takes a lot more fuel to push your boat through the water.

6. Keep the boat in trim: Using trim tabs or distributing weight evenly will help move your boat through the water with less effort – and less fuel.

7. Go with the flow: Consult tide tables and try to travel with the tide whenever possible.

8. Install a fuel flow meter: A fuel flow meter is like a heart monitor; when consumption starts to rise, it’s an early warning that something is amiss. A fuel flow meter also allows you to select a comfortable cruising speed that optimizes the amount of fuel being consumed. If you don’t want to spring for a fuel flow meter (about $300), you can calculate your fuel mileage by dividing distance traveled by gallons at fill-up. Using your logbook, you can then approximate fuel flow using average speeds and time underway.

9. For sailboats only: While their engines are miserly, a sailboat with a fouled bottom, prop, or poorly maintained engine can have marked effect on its fuel economy.

10. Get a discount: Many of the 870 BoatU.S. Cooperating Marinas around the country offer up to 10 cents off a gallon of gas. To get the discount all you have to do is to show your BoatU.S. membership card.

Photo credit: www.wjye.com

Lyman-Morse's Green Facility

On Memorial Day weekend, venerable Maine boatbuilder Lyman-Morse celebrated the grand opening of a new facility that incorporates some of the latest design, construction, and operation concepts as outlined in the construction-industry wide, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The 22,400-square-foot Varco/Pruden (the VP) building—pictured above with Electra, a 94-foot Hunt yacht built by Lyman-Morse—is constructed of high-energy efficient foam core (SIPS): It’s a material that’s similar to a core-infused hull, with a polystyrene rigid-foam sandwiched between something called oriented strand board, which forms the interior and exterior sheathing. This results in much less construction debris and better insulation than wood frame construction.

Inside, several green systems work in concert to ensure that the VP building will be among the most environmentally responsible facilities of its type. A passive-solar panel system on its roof is designed to handle approximately 40 percent of the 22,400-square-foot building’s heating needs via an in-floor radiant heat system; four gas-fired boilers (rated at 92-perecent efficiency) will kick in as needed. Low E-rated, thermal windows provide ample light but do not allow for heat to escape in cooler weather. And all lighting is energy-efficient.

The facility was designed as a joint venture between Lyman-Morse and Reluminati, a Washington, D.C.-based company comprised of alternative-energy gurus and the workplace of Cabot and Heidi Lyman’s son Zach. Lyman-Morse is implementing an environmental bent across the board: The builder is working with Maine's Harvest Fuels to provide them with 20-percent biodiesel fuel—B20—to run its new 110-ton TravelLift and its other diesel equipment.

Green Ferries For Blue Highways

Fresh on the heels of solar-powered sun21's arrival in the Big Apple, New York-based ferry service Circle Line recently announced plans to update its Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island ferry with a solar-powered, hybrid trimaran vessel.

According to published reports, a focal point of Circle Line’s bid for the renewal of its contract with the National Park Service (who manage the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island) is the Miss Statue of Liberty. The 115-foot vessel would hold 600 passengers (she’s got a 42-foot beam) and is based on an existing ferry built by Australia’s Solar Sailor; Sydney’s harbor boasts an 80-passenger sightseeing vessel (built by Solar Sailor) that utilizes solar technology that’s been in service since 2000.

Some of the Miss Statue of Liberty’s features include: a 23- by 50-foot solar “wing” that captures sun and wind and is computer-controlled for optimum sun-wind capture; two bow thrusters and a total of seven bow, midship, and stern thrusters for close-quarters maneuvering and on- and offloading passengers; and twin diesel engines capable of burning low-sulfur fuel. In addition, the solar wing can mechanically fold down in high winds—in this guise, its photovoltaic panels are still active and it also serves as a hardtop to shade seating on her top deck. Top speed is said to be between 10 and 12 knots (up to 6 knots on solar-wind power alone), with construction costs estimated at $8 million dollars.

San Francisco’s Alcatraz Cruises is also planning to introduce a solar-powered Solar Sailor-built vessel on its route.

The Gathering Storm

Is public opinion about to turn against boating? Capt. Richard Thiel, editor-in-chief of Power & Motoryacht magazine, weighs in on a "potential maelstrom" for boating: public acceptance of global warming and a renewed drive for energy independence. He asks: "Shouldn’t boaters and boatbuilders prepare for that possibility? Whether it’s hiring lobbyists or building more fuel-efficient boats, shouldn’t we do something now, before the storm hits?" (You can read the rest of his editorial here.)

He's definitely hit a nerve: We've gotten e-mails from readers ranging from regular Joes to Florida Council of Yacht Clubs members who plan to bring up the subject in upcoming meetings. How about you—what's your view?