Miami Boat Show Preperation..Input Wanted. Ed Sherman

As someone who lives in the northern latitudes, I always look forward to getting to Miami in February to make my rounds at the Boat Show and connect with friends in the industry. Since I'm currently in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and as I left my hotel this morning it was something like 5 degrees F outside with a brisk breeze making a wind chill that brought things down to around -10 F, warm is going to feel especially good this year.

This year I'll be on a mission in Miami and I thought I'd share just a little bit of that with you, and also ask for your input at the same time. One of my primary goals at the Miami show is to gather photos that I use in my books, articles and this year for this blog site. I'm currently in the process of developing a totally revised gasoline engine certification for the ABYC. I'll be shooting all manner of photos of engines (both inboard and outboard) and drive systems this year. Cut-aways of engines, close-up shots of specific parts of engines and sub-systems on or near engines are all fair game. Talking about this and that is great, but we all know that a good picture is worth a thousand words. I'm currently assembling my shot list and thought it might be a great idea to get some reader input as to specific shots you'd like to see. If you register to my site either directly or through the Boater Mouth Site (www. BoaterMouth.com) or send me an email directly at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  with a specific request, I'll try to get the shot. When I get back form Miami, I'll post your requests with a little background about the shot and explanation of what exactly the shot means to you as a boater. So, we've got a week to get this done. Get those emails sent my way and I'll follow-up after the show. 

I love boats. I love power boats, I love sailboats. I love all boats and almost everything about boating. Everything except the current iteration of the America's Cup. I just received a news flash about the latest bickering over where the sails are being made, bickering mind you at the New York Supreme Court! It seems to me the New York Supreme Court might have better things to do than listen to a bunch of whining billionaires.

I also love technology and have certainly devoted the vast majority of my career to technology related issues as they apply to boats. But this is all just too much for me. We are trying to grow the public interest in boating as an industry, and we continue to fail miserably at that. The boating industry needs to look at Americans and the buying public and realize that this kind of publicity is a massive turn-off to most poeple.

I can remember a cup series years ago when I was quite involved with high-end sail boat racing. I was sitting in a bar having dinner and the cup races were on the television. The bar was a typical working man's bar near where I worked at the time and the patrons were all sports fanatics. They did not embrace sailboat racing as I did at the time. The bartender asked if anyone wanted to switch the channel on the TV. Oh yea, it was off to a golf match for that crew. I find golf pretty boring. But golf wins hands down in the minds of so many people because the perception of it is that it is at least affordable, something they can all participate in at some level. Not sailing.

 Every few years we revisit the America's Cup and dig a deeper hole for our industry as an elitist sport for the likes of Larry Ellison and company. Not mainstream, not real, not fun any more. I've had it with the America's Cup. Give me a one design race where all the boats are built to a strict class rule and it is truly one crew against another and you have half a chance of getting some new folks interested. The industry I work in needs to do everything it can to attract new people to the pleasures of boating. The America's Cup series no longer has any part in that endeavor.

Are you Evaporating?....Ed Sherman

Last week I discussed some of the goings on at ABYC Standards week in Orlando. Well I'm back, but I woke up this morning with a few questions for myself....With all that's going on with the EPA's mandates to control evaporative emissions for all manner of things with engines, including boats, when exactly are boat builders supposed to do what to stay on the right side of the law? Its a little confusing.

So, I went to the law that covers Control of Evaporative Emission for "off road" equipment, CFR title 40, part 1060 and looked over the table contained therein that explains this. Let me share it with you:

Several things need some explaining related to the above table. First, the term "SI" simply refers to spark ignition, read, your gasoline fueled engine. Permeation is a term that describes the ability of the fuel vapors to migrate through a material such as fuel hose, or a plastic fuel hose. Fluid doesn't leak, but some vapors do, and yes they evaporate into the atmosphere. The bottom line here is that what has for years been described as a permeation rate of 100 grams/meter squared over a 24 hour period has been reduced to 15 grams /meter squared over a 24 hour period, a significant up specification. The fuel line is currently available, plastic fuel tanks that meet this specification are not yet available, but the vendors basically have until January 1, 2011 to come up with some product.

For those not understanding the term "diurnal", the ABYC describes it this way: "evaporative emissions that occur as a result of venting fuel tank vapors during daily temperature changes while the engine is not operating." This will all be controlled by the charcoal filtration system I mentioned last week.

So, are you evaporating? Right now you are, but as you can see, over the next several years the EPA is going to slow that process down dramatically.

Fuel System Fun.....Ed Sherman

I'm still  at ABYC Standards week. Today I sat in on a session related to fuel systems and the new CARB / EPA requirements which will control evaporative emissions from boats. All I can say is whoaaaaaaa. The room was filled with about 40 engineers that make both boats and fuel system components used on boats. ABYC is developing standards to deal with the new emission requirements coming our way, and provide guidance for boat builders to comply. 

I thought electrical issues were daunting. Now I'm not sure, seems easy as I listen to this group of engineers.

 First of all, this only applies to gasoline fueled boats at the moment, so if you're running a diesel, forget about all of this for now. Secondly, small boats storing less than 12 gallons of fuel appear to be exempt. So, your dinghy or small skiff will probably not be affected, except for the tank, fuel hose and primer bulb. I say probably because much of this is not cut in stone just yet. What is cut in stone is that your permanently installed integral tank fuel system is going to end up having a charcoal filter installed to control evaporative emissions. This would become an integral part of your fuel tank's vent system. You know, the vent you wait to see fuel dripping out of into the water to tell you you've filled your tank to it's fullest capacity...........Forget about that method as we move into the future. It was never an acceptable method, and now the new systems are going to eliminate it as a possibility. To achieve that is no easy task from a design perspective, and it is probably going to add some considerable cost to the boat.

What about outboards with non-integral tanks? Well, the plastic ones may be too permeable, meaning that you can smell fuel around them even though they're not actually leaking raw fuel. So this will mean new formulations for the plastic used to reduce this permeability. How about when you plug the fuel hose onto your engine and a little fuel squirts out just before you get the plug latched to the engine? Not going to be allowed any more. I'm told that at least one engine maker has designed a solution for this.

When all is said and done, we are entering into a new phase for boats that reminds me of the early 1970's (I'm giving away my approximate age here) when emission controls for cars were in their early stages of evolution. It wasn't pretty. All sorts of what we called "driveability" problems were common. The good news is that automotive engineers worked their way through all of this and we are learning and using some of that history and hard earned knowledge as we try to sort our way through this phase for boats. We'll just have to see where we end up. I'm hoping the road ahead won't be too rocky.

ABYC Standards Week............Ed Sherman

For those of you not familiar with the ABYC, (American Boat & Yacht Council) we're the group that develops and writes Standards that apply to the building, service and repair of your boat. This is a very dynamic area that with new technology being developed is changing all of the time. This week I'm here in Orlando, Florida attending a series of meetings of what we call Project Technical Committees, or PTC's for short. This week we are reviewing some important Standards that address electrical systems, fuel systems and hull performance on your boat. Although I can't share with you every minute detail we are discussing because much of what we are discussing is in draft format or still requiring more research before its ready for prime time, I can share with you some of the topic areas to give you a feel for the range of coverage we deal with. I'll begin with the last three days as we just closed out our day three meeting.

Monday we bagan our review of what I often refer to as our "foundation" electrical Standard, ABYC E-11, which covers the basic wiring and general electrical equipment installation on your boat. This Standard covers both battery powered systems up to 50 volts DC and Shore power AC systems. At over 70 pages, its a bit of a rough read for the uniniated, covering everything from what type of wire to use, how to determine what size wire is needed, over-current protection for the electrical circuits on your boat to how you might determine if one of your electrical terminations is done correctly. Let me give you a sampling of the issues we are currently grappling with here.

• Boat owners' increasingly adding more and more batteries to their boats to supply such things as inverters and general house loads. The issue here is the fact that as battery capacity gets increased, over-current protection requirements must be increased and the debate is first, what types of devices might do the job and secondly where these devices need to be installed to actually function as they should. We're at the point today where many boats have enough battery capacity to generate enough power to arc weld if a short circuit were to occur. Scary stuff.
• Besides the general upsizing of battery capacity, we're now beginning to see more boats utilizing Lithium based batteries to supply power. Remember the stories about people burning their kneecaps with their Lithium laptop batteries? Well the units we're seeing being installed on boats have enough short circuit potential to light up a small town right now. Currently there are no industry standards in place that address where or how to install these batteries to minimize any potential risk associated with a fault in one of these systems. We're working on it.
• Battery chargers and inverters have advanced technologically in recent years to accomodate the needs of AGM, Gel cell and other more commonly used battery chemistry. We need to update our Standards relative to these types of devices to coincide with the newest developments.
• Network systems are becoming more and more popular on new boats. We need Standards to ensure that these systems continue to function, especially when integrated with more traditional wiring schemes on boats. The convergance of electrical and electronic systems is creating a whole new array of potential problems that need sorting out, with recommendations made to minimize or totally eliminate the potential for problems with this convergence.
• Power co-generation and power conversion. Common on super yachts, and widely used in Europe for some time, this is new technology as far as the US is concerned with many potentially dangerous scenarios playing out if these systems are not installed correctly. We should have a standard ready to go for these systems by the end of this year.
• High voltage DC propulsion systems, common to hybrid systems beginning to become quite popular have some major safety concerns to address. We have a technical infomation report in place now (TE-30) to provide guidance in this area. It is included in the latest version (2009-2010) of the ABYC book Standards and Recommended Practices.

Tomorrow, I begin two days of meetings to learn what's up with our friends at CARB and how fuel systems are about to change dramatically. Yup, you guessed it, emission controls for your boat. Friday I'll let you know what I learn.