I read a lot of marine publications. Whether looking for the next new styling idea, browsing the “boats for sale” ads to see how many of our boats are on the market or looking for technical tips, I try to drink in as much market knowledge as I can. Magazines are a great place to find it.

One topic I am pleased to see in the forefront lately is fossil fuels and boating. A lot has happened over the last few decades to clean up all marine propulsion engines from gasoline outboards, to gas and diesel inboards. Evidently we as a group (boaters) are more aware of the need to clean up our environment and use less fuel than is the general population. Little wonder I suppose. We enjoy the most beautiful of places on our planet and want to keep them that way.

As a company I am proud of what we have done with fuel consumption. Our boats may not go 40 knots, they go about 25 on average, but while they are doing that they are burning about 1/3 less fuel than a gasoline powered vessel of the same size and weight would burn. At current fuel prices we save about $1,500 per year and 600 gallons of fuel (assuming about 100 hours of use per year).

While EFI ignition systems and four stroke outboards have gotten a lot of oil out of the water, the diesel engine builders have introduced new cleaner electronic diesels which do not smoke at start up and provide quieter, more fuel efficient operation. Today’s diesel engines meet IMO (International marine organization) Tier 2 standards and there is still more improvements to come.

So to you my fellow boater I say, “be a good steward of the environment that you enjoy so much. We all need to make sure that we leave it in better shape than we found it.