Renewable Fuels - Not necessarily free.

[Chip Hindes]

Yo Tom.

You'd be interested to know they were touting and locally test farming jojoba as miracle stuff, just off the base at 29 Palms, when I was stationed there 25+/- years ago. You probably know as well, it's not good just as a motor fuel. I believe you can cook your french fries in it too. As I recall they were pushing it as precision instrument lubrication, you know, gyro bearings and the like, as a replacement for the best ever which was apparently sperm whale oil. I swear I'm not making this up. Of course whales were endangered even way back in those dark ages and sperm whale oil was pretty rare stuff. Also for medicinal purposes, slathering it on to remove wrinkles, heal sunburn (like aloe, maybe?) and like that. Probably would have worked great as an "intimate lubricant" as well.

Anyway, looks like it's still in the touting/ planning, test farming phase. Too bad, but not surprising. In those days, we griped when gasoline topped forty cents per gallon, and they were saying diesel would have to hit an unbelievable $2 per gallon before it became economically feasible to farm jojoba. Guess what? But of course, that was probably in 1979 dollars. In 2004 dollars, it's probably the equivalent of $10-12/gal, and it seems no closer to feabsibility now than it was then. In those days, I also did not know enough about it to wonder if, like ethanol, it takes two gallons of diesel, to plant, cultivate, water, harvest and process into fuel a gallon of jojobanol.

I believe as well, the entire base, 100,000 acres, would have to be given over to jojoba farming to provide 1.5% of the annual U.S. consumption of diesel, with none left over for french fries. This I am making up.

Keep on (diesel) trucking And Mac boating. I promise to eat some french fies in your honor. Or would that be freedom fires?

[Tom Root]

Keep on (diesel) trucking And Mac boating. I promise to eat some french fies in your honor. Or would that be freedom fires?

Chip, LMAO on that post, some cool info on the background of Jojoba too!
So, gotta ask...is your spelling of "Freedom Fries", a Freudian slip, as in "Freedom fires", or? Anyway, gotta love your posts for sure, they keep me in check anyway!

My spelling and grammar has much to be desired, uh, that's why it takes me sooo long to post, and then I reread and see my dumb mistakes, and sometimes I am still blind! (or is oblivious, possibly?) ...Hee, Hee!

I saw that, you changed it!

[Chip Hindes]

So, gotta ask...is your spelling of "Freedom Fries", a Freudian slip, as in "Freedom fires", or?

Dang! It was certainly a slip, can't say whether it was Freudian or not. I confess I had to reread it four before I figured out what you were talking about.

So now that we've successfully taken this thread far, far away from anything anyone else is even remotely interested in, it must be time to shut up and move elsewhere on the board. See you there!

[Mark Prouty]

Read next post.

[Mark Prouty]

Too bad, but not surprising. In those days, we griped when gasoline topped forty cents per gallon

Wait a minute. Not so fast. You guys are getting much too PC.

First, gas in 1979 hit $1.00/gallon!

In adddition I want to power my Mac with a diesel outboard.



using the Greasel method or possibley using biodiesel.

Jeepers, talking about an interesting thread. You guys just skipped a beat.

[Chip Hindes]

In adddition I want to power my Mac with a diesel outboard.

I hope you're kidding. A 36 HP diesel that weighs as much as a gasoline engine with three times the power?

Everything bad I said about diesel auto engines goes ditto for diesel outboards.

Nowhere is a price mentioned; but it's a Yanmar. Yanmar inboards are pretty good engines, but they're also damned expensive. My guess is one of these babies will go for 2-2.5X the cost of a 36HP gasoline engine. Note as well that both 4-strokes and the newer TLDI two strokes get pretty decent fuel mileage.

I didn't look everywhere, but it appears this engine may not even be available in the U.S.

[Mark Prouty]

I am kidding. I just bought that 115 Suzuki. I know this thread is off topic but it has provided intellegent discourse that I have found very interesting. If a topic is not strictly sailing, I hope people will not hesitate to post.

Can anyone figure what would be the market for a diesel outboard?

[Chip Hindes]

Can anyone figure what would be the market for a diesel outboard?

OK. We can keep this going as long as somebody's interested.

I was wondering the same thing.

Thinking maybe a displacement sailboat in the 35 foot range. Something like this could handle that kind of horsepower and a big, slow turning prop.

On the other hand, most of these come with that size inboard or sail drive already mounted, and I'm not sure how you'd mount this monster on a boat that wasn't specifically designed to handle it.

[Tom Root]

Well, here goes, I called the main office of Yanmar USA, in Georgia about the Diesels, I was told they are made there, and when she said that, I asked her again, she said indeed the Diesels were NOT Manufactured off shore, and was given a local regional sales office number, just up the pike from me, in Costa Mesa, yep, the same Costa Mesa that Roger has his factory.

He went on to explain that the Diesels are not, or will never be introduced to the USA market! Primarily because they feel there isn't a demand, but IS in almost any other continent on this Earth! The reason I was given also was that it would cost the manufacturer 50 grand per model, to allow them to be sold here....that's when it gets interesting,as this fee would be for all the different configurations and variations of 3 different horsepower options sold, for a total of 12 models available! (This of course is a one time fee for certification) So, $600,00 dollars, just to certify all available models in the US would not be profitable they concluded. So, now you see why we have NO outboard Diesels here.

He also said that he knows people bring them here from South America, and Central America, and Costa Rica is a popular purchase point! Personally I do not want one that bad to be convicted of smuggling, as the only bars I ever want to be behind, are the ones I can order an adult beverage from!

But, as you can see, our fine governmental red tape, and added costs, get passed on to us, if this were even a possiblility!

So, I asked if it was an environmental thing, and he said absolutley not as they were much cleaner, and quieter than any 2 stroke made! Also more fuel efficient, and so much torque, the lower horsepower ratings weren't even close to what a comparible gasoline engine provides,much more for the Diesel, which should equate to higher speeds? And look at those charts for prop availability on the link provided earlier in the post!

There ya have it, you guys and gals be the judge, there surely are pro's and con's to a diesel, a biggie to me is a much less volitile fuel aboard, and increased fuel mileage, but it appears I will never get that option. Diesel never goes stale, as gasoline, but it hates water, and won't operate if contaminated, so that can be a negative?

Maybe we will be lucky, and someone outside of the US on this board might get curious and repower, or just try one out on another brand/type of boat perhaps?

[Frank C]

. . . Thinking maybe a displacement sailboat in the 35 foot range. Something like this could handle that kind of horsepower and a big, slow turning prop.

Chip,
You must have missed the Yanmar link on page one of the thread, or you'd have seen the engine specs. The 36hp Yanmar outboard develops max hp at 4500 rpms, and it weighs about the same as a Merc Bigfoot 50hp. With it's extra torque, I'd guess it could push a lot more prop pitch than our gas outboards.

Except for the certification hurdle, it would be a good choice for thousands of boats in the USA, including smallers deckboats or houseboats, or the Mac 26 - I can just imagine the swarms of insects following Tom's French Fry exhaust, though. OTOH, if it's a wet exhaust, he may find a swarm of catfish at the transom!

[Chip Hindes]

I saw the specs; It's overweight. I believe the Merc Bigfoot is a little overweight itself, compared to the Yamaha and Suzuki. This thing is a pig.

Torque is not a substitute for horsepower. You can use high torque and a bigger prop to pull more weight, but for speed you need horsepower. Put one of these on a Mac and you'll be lucky to get 10 mph top speed.

Most of the deckboats I see are carrying 70-90 HP. Deckboat drivers like to go fast, too; 36 hp would be slow indeed.