T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Gas vs. Diesel

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Re: [Electric Boats] Gas vs. Diesel

The weight and size of a diesel genset are other considerations. While diesel fuel may be less volatile, if the diesel alternative is too large, heavy and expensive, then taking the extra precautions for using gasoline may be justified.

Along those lines, a diesel engine may not be that much safer than a gasoline engine anyway. Here's a link to an opposing perspective:

http://yachtsurvey.com/GasDiesel.htm

I personally know of hundreds of boaters that have operated their gasoline powered vessels for many thousands hours collectively and none of them have had an explosion or fire onboard. I think that the dangers of using gasoline in boats (and cars) can be overstated and other commonly accepted aspects of our transportation should be a greater concern than the choice of fuels.

Kind of ironic to have this debate on an electric boat forum...

Fair winds,
Eric

--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, James Sizemore <james@...> wrote:
>
> The talk point on these was the 1000 dollar price. The diesels are
> safer and last about twice as long but at 5 times the price. If you
> can even find a 48 volt DC at 5 times the price I would be surprised.
> I might be interested in a $5000 dollar diesel.
>
> On Oct 25, 2009, at 4:22 PM, Rob Johnson wrote:
>
> > Why not source a diesel powered generator , and eliminate the risk
> > of using a volatile liquid on a boat ?.
> > Safety should be paramount , and petrol and LPG are inherently
> > unsafe , on a boat.
> > There are plenty of purpose built diesel powered marine generators
> > on the market.
> > Regards Rob J.
> >

> >> > On Oct 22, 2009, at 10:12 PM, marselectric1 wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > I just got back from the Canton Fair in China where I found a
> >> > > supplier of Gasoline DC Telecom Generators. There is one that
> >> looks
> >> > > like a Honda Portable Inverter Generator. The unit is rated at
> >> 1.6
> >> > > kw, weighs 50 pounds, and it looks to be very quiet (variable
> >> speed
> >> > > type). The output is 52.5 VDC at 30.5 Amps....
> >> > >
> >> > > John Fiorenza
> >> > > Mars Electric LLC
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> >
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Get more done like never before with Yahoo!7 Mail. Learn more.
> >
> >
>