Well whether you took the title seriously or not your going to take the cause seriously very fast. I’m not talking about environmental issues here I’m talking about the introductions of E15 ethanol fuel into the market place. I’m talking about the danger this product carries with it to your engine and your shining exhaust headers or manifolds, fuel pumps, engine valves, etc. and you may not even realize whats happening. Don’t feel bad because much of America didn’t even realize what was happening right under our nose. You see in an effort to increase profitability for fuel makers you’ve been put at extreme risk of this product causing thousands of dollars of damage to your power boat.

At Powerboat Nation we are actually boaters and have deep roots and relationships with the marine industry’s part and engine manufactures. This history and these relationships provide you numerous behind the scenes views of whats happening in the here and now. From our investigating into this subject we are hearing horror stories of product and part failures that are destroying these components in a unheard of matter of time. The cause? It is E15 and it is being substituted for traditional gasoline blends all over the country. This new ethanol blend is causing engine corrosion both on the intake and exhaust sides of the engine as well as the fuel system. It is the #1 cause current cause of failure to the marine and automotive manufactures and they are now rewriting their warranty claims.

While the Automotive industry has its own issues with the product the marine industry faces an even worse problem. You see as you introduce salt water into the equation with ethanol They create an extreme “SUPER-CAUSTIC” mixture that will literally corrode and eat at the properties of stainless steel and cast aluminum.These two materials are both commonly found in marine exhaust systems. Exhaust manufactures have presented samples that show the E15 based fuel in conjunction with the salt water present are pitting and eating away at the exhaust systems from the inside out. Previous concerns were just that salt water and its corrosive properties were destroying the header from the water side. Now manufactures are stating they are seeing erosion failures from the exhaust flow side. The new E15 blend is acting as a “Cancer” type result that is eating engine components.

While we cannot control the the ethanol content in the fuel at this time a focus should be on reducing any or the amount of salt water an engine ingests. Leaking tail pipes and or reversion are the primary causes. Saltwater droplets that dry inside the header will literally attack the materials.

Below I am going to just show some excerpts of the battles going on among manufactures and the government and fuel suppliers. for example:

Warnings Not to Use “E15” Gas in Your Car or Boat

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2000862202001/

Petition Denied For EPA Case Regarding Use of E15 Ethanol Blended Fuel

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Arti…nded_fuel.aspx

According to AFPM, several studies have shown that E15 causes engine damage to passenger vehicles, boats and outdoor power equipment, including chainsaws and lawnmowers, and has led the association and other industry groups to raise concerns about a fuel not approved for use by the manufacturers of more than 228 million vehicles on the road today.

A recent survey by the American Automobile Association (AAA) reported that 95 percent of consumers surveyed had not heard of E15 gasoline, which AFPM says lends credence to the potential for misuse and engine harm as well as creating safety, liability and warranty issues.

“We are analyzing the decision and will determine whether to seek review by the Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh issued a strong dissent based on EPA’s acknowledgment that E15 damages cars and specifically referenced a recent AAA warning calling upon EPA to block the sale of E15,” Moskowitz concluded.

AAA warns E15 gasoline causes damage

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/30/aaa-e15-gas-harm-cars/1735793/

Gasoline blended with 10% ethanol has become standard at most of the nation’s 160,000 gas stations, spurred by federal laws and standards designed to use more renewable energy sources and lessen the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Pushed by ethanol producers, the EPA approved the use of E15 — a 15% ethanol-gasoline blend — in June over objections from automakers and the oil industry. It’s been available at a handful of outlets in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska since July

You know you love your boat, right? But just how much do you love your boat? Or for that matter just how much are you in love with your significant other? I mean at some point common sense comes in right? Or maybe not. In this case we were left to ponder just what love has got to do with it. Now we here at Powerboat Nation have years and years of boating history and we’ve seen some crazy tow rig combinations. Traditionally we’ve seen them in the lovely warm spring and summer months. But this combo set an all new high on you have to be kidding bar for us.

It seems this gentleman that owns both this corvette and the blown gas Sanger jet hydro were on the mission of his life. After a brief interview with the owner we were told that he had found love on the internet and that he was on a mission to be with her. The problem being she was on the east coat and he on the west coast in California. Refusing to leave behind his true love, the boat he set off to have a hitch installed and haul the boat east bound to Florida in the dead of winter during the holidays. We kept tabs just to make sure he made it and he did. 3200 miles in four days. Crazy, Insane, or just in love either way could you imagine crossing mountain pathways with a corvette and hydro behind you in the snow? I bet it makes the weird twitches that boat sends out during acceleration seem like a gentle fall breeze in comparison. Well in a last note it seems the woman was not all she was cracked up to be or maybe just a crack pot we are told. The owner now resides in Florida and says at least I’ve got my boat.

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Lately, there has been a lot of questions to the reality of making “BIG” horsepower or as it’s become known lately on the PBN forums: “Unicorns”. We did a little in depth look at just how many different guys are now making some big power.

In today’s world of horsepower, the limits once placed on engines have been tossed out. Whether, were growing engine sizes 15-20% or 800-100 cubic inches; with advances in technology, the power range of an engine is forever changing. Turbos make the possibility of power endless in a 600-plus cubic inch engine. One of the most recent Monsters to come out, guns blazing, comes from a racing engine builder in Muskegon, Michigan. A 600 cubic inch big block charting at 3,100 horsepower @ 7,000 rpm.

Out of some of the highly guarded secrets, what we do know is, the engine uses a set of Big Chief 14- degree cylinder heads and two 91mm turbochargers. Running at 7,000 rpm, with mid 20 plus psi of boost during the dyno testing, this big block puts out 3,132.7 horsepower. This is incredible, considering, this engine could have easily gone beyond this point. Someday, in the not-too-far off future, we’ll see these 600 ci big blocks hit 4,000 hp and so on. Just watch and see!

Three crooks were captured on camera while stealing the high performance boat right from Nor-Techs yard late Last Sunday Night. Not only did these criminals haul off the boat, they did it with one of Nor-Techs own trucks! The Crime was all caught on camera at the Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats Company in North Fort Myers. The three crooks got away with a $400,000 boat and as of a week later, nothing has been recovered.

The Stolen Boat

“They broke into our truck which was hooked up to one of our customer’s boats and about a half hour later they took off with our truck, customer’s boat and trailer,” said Terry Sobo, with Nor-Tech. “It kind of makes you sick, you know? You feel pretty violated.”

Boats like these are stolen often by Drug Smugglers and Human Traffickers. Nor-Tech officials say they believe the crooks took the boat for these specific reasons.

“They’ll get the boat down to Cuba then do some human smuggling into Mexico with them and the boats are typically abandoned once they get there,” Sobo said.

Thieves like this usually have this operation down to a science. The boat will hit the water within hours of being stolen, and will usually meetup with another boat offshore for a fill-up on fuel if need be. Most end up in Cuba, then are routed to Mexico with Humans or Drugs as their cargo. After the boats arrive in Mexico, they are usually abandoned and then recovered by the Mexican Government and simply put in floating storage at a government dock in places like Isla Mujeres, which is near Mexico’s closest point to Cuba.

Boats at a Government Dock in Mexico

The two Cameras on a neighboring business caught the act and Sobo says he hopes this surveillance footage will help lead to arrests and possibly the return of his customer’s boat.

“Again, it’s just amazing that they would pick something so ostentatious and flamboyant to get away with,” he said.

Link to Local News Video

During last year’s Miami Boat show, long time MTI dealer Larry Goldman of Extreme Powerboats sold the first production MTI Center Console from the model on display. The buyer who is a multi boat owner with boats and homes in Miami and Europe and is giving up his current ride, a big power 42 Outerlimits for this new center console and is looking forward to a different boating experience.

The idea of being able to entertain many guests aboard and show them the wonderful Miami boating lifestyle in this stylized new model is very appealing to this active family.

Giving up big block power does not come easy for performance purists and to suggest a center console is a simple substitute for performance and the ride at speed, could be described as a stretch, BUT, the cost of ownership, ease of care, and utility of these boats makes them hard to beat for a pragmatic performance power boater.

The MTI offering to the center console rush could be the closest boat to the performance side of our world. This 42SV MTI center console has been carefully and thoughtfully designed to meet the utility design and keep the heart of the boat in high performance.

Larry Goldman based in Miami has sold way too many MTI Cat’s to list and has tons of time in other center consoles. He described this new SV 42 as “Incredible”. Larry said “The ride is outstanding; the boat accelerated, turned, and handled big water unbelievably well” We look forward to our first South Beach test ride in this new Sport Vessel from MTI.

This Sunday January 13th Powerboat Nation took part in a powerboat display in Palm Beach at the final day of Super Car Week in Palm Beach, Fl organized by SuperCarWeek.com

Joining us were Offshore Races Teams, GEICO, AQUAMANIA, P1 and a display of boats from Extreme Powerboats. The day was a huge success for Palm Beach with a reported 60,000 attendees strolling through the boat, auto, bike displays and exhibits. Hundreds of over the top exotics, hot rods, choppers, and all other variants’ were on hand.

Just to demonstrate the difference between the car sound and boat sound. Powerboat Nation and Larry Goldman of Extreme Powerboats placed a hush over the whine and snap of the Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, and muscle cars by firing off a 1550 Sterling Race Engine on the main road to give the car guys an idea of what a offshore race engine sounds like. To say the least this was very well received by the huge crowd on hand and yes I may have scared some old women and babies. Sorry for that!

The cross over from the Palm Beach car crowd into the world of performance Powerboating was really well received and we met up with many familiar faces as well as making new friends.

The producers of this event are friends of mine and were glad to support them this weekend and we are also excited to know they have secured a deal for a replacement to the PRI show previously held in Orlando each December and we will be at Disney this December to participated in a great performance industry event in Orlando at a Disney Park!

Powerboat Nation has just confirmed that publishing company Source Interlink Media has cancelled sport boat magazine. Even though the magazine was making money and was very well produced, evidently the returns were not substantial enough .

This now leaves Performanceboats Magazine as the only print periodical in the performance boat segment.

For me personslly I had the pleasure to work with a wonderful team of professionals that supported my efforts with my safety column. I wish them all the best and I am confident we will continue to work together in the future in some form or fashion.

2013 Began in a familiar way. A wonderful group of like minded powerboaters gathered at the 10th street boat ramp in Sarasota to participate in a Powerboating fun run that began over 10 years ago. Coordinated and supported by Ryan Beckley, owner of Kinetic Animation and a long time Offshore Powerboat racer, this event is now something we never want to miss and if you are a powerboating enthusiast who lives within striking distance you shouldn’t miss it.

Since 2012 this Sarasota Fun Run is now known at the Joey Gratton Memorial New Years Day Fun Run, to not only remember “The Man” but to raise money for the Joey Gratton Foundation.

www.JoeyGratton.com

The mission of the foundation is to help provide the opportunity and the means by which children can actively participate in an organized sport that values personal integrity, team and leadership skills, in a fun and healthy learning environment. This is accomplished through donations of equipment and scholarships.

With just over 60 boats and one float plane in attendance, people came from all over the world to participate this year. Boaters from as far away as United Arab Emirates, and Seattle, Washington came to Sarasota to celebrate the life of Joey and raise awareness and money for his foundation.
The event was truly for enthusiasts, powerboats of just about every type lined up for the departure. Flats boats, small to large center consoles, party barges, real race boats, and a large selection of performance powerboats.

The crew on hand to support Powerboat Nation was lucky enough to be invited to Offshore Racer Billy Glueck’s shop for an outrageous New Years Eve Toga Party, complete with roasted pig, party beverages and interesting video show brought by David Branch and his entourage.

I am now committed to spending all of my foreseeable New Years Days in Sarasota. A grass roots fun run that brings a really cool group of people together to bring in each New Year and now to remember and celebrate the life of our lost Friend and Offshore Racer Joey “The Man” Gratton. Special thanks to the Powerboat Nation Crew, who made it all possible to attend this year. Jason Ventura, Celeste Segredo, Greg Harris, Yvonne Aleman, and Travis Loftland. Brand X Hi-Performance Marine and Native Engines!

Powerboat Nation has just confirmed the “oh so quiet” under wraps version of the legendary Outerlimits 43′ V-bottom will debut in Miami at the international boat show this February. We were able to pry a few specs and some preliminary photos of the new boat during its construction. It seems as if there is a ton of new technology in this boat and many of its concepts were a collaboration of both Dustin Whipple (future owner) and Mike Fiore, President of Outerlimits Powerboats. Fiore is no stranger to building some of the worlds fastest and most prominent V-Bottom boats and this will be no exception.

Outerlimits is using a proprietary Carbon/Epoxy construction for the hull and deck lay up. Beyond the construction materials Outerlimits has developed a new, advanced 5 step modified pad bottom. Whipple being a purist of performance at heart convinced Fiore to cut down the hull’s height by 4″. Not only will these modifications allow the new SV43 Outerlimits to lower the boats center of gravity for increased performance, but it will give the opportuniity to showcase the new sit down front suspension seat that Whipple and Fiore have been developing. We will be bringing you even more great details on this boat so stay close for the latest in what’s coming from Powerboat Nation.

An Orlando boat dealer was convicted of being the pilot of the boat that killed a 20-year-old and injured several others, while he was drunk.The crash occurred about 4:30 a.m. July 30, 2006. Mark David Watts,owner of Liquid Sports Marine, was charged with killing Shelby Harper, a former Amateur Athletic Union basketball star, during the accident on Lake Irma in east Orange County. Watts was sentenced to six years in prison Tuesday. Orange County court records show that Watts, 51, pleaded no-contest to charges of operating a boat under the influence of alcohol, and three counts of boating under the influence. State prosecutors dropped the more serious charges of vessel homicide, boating under the influence causing damage, and reckless operation of a vessel. In addition to prison, Watts will have to serve three years’ probation. A judge also ordered a special condition that Watts will have to speak publicly about the dangers of drinking alcohol.

Harper and her friends met Watts and his wife at the Roxy nightclub shortly before the accident, initial reports said. When the club closed early that morning, the Wattses invited Harper and her friends to their canal-side home on Lake Irma near University Boulevard, reports said.Witnesses told deputies Watts drank at least eight cocktails before taking the boat out. Two guests skipped the boating after they saw Watts fall into the water when he first tried to board his speedboat.Reports taken at the time showed that witnesses told authorities that when Watts finally got in the boat, he sped away from the dock at full throttle. Watts, who was boating without running lights, rammed a dock. Those on board the boat suffered broken arms, a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver and facial fractures. Harper suffered a broken neck and died at the hospital.

2012 is gone and of course it went by fast. Our new PowerBoat Nation came on fast and we are now rigging for what is expected to be a incredible 2013. I am convinced you will like what you see and will hopefully be surprised by what we have coming for you.

Looking back at 2012 I am not sure we as a sport/industry had any highs and lows as it all seemed a little flat. The lows were really the beginning of the year; coming out of a horrible Key West we started 2012 remembering those lost just months before. The Miami Boat Show came and went as well as all of the Poker Runs and fun runs.

Individually my personal Powerboating life certainly had some highs and lows. I put the engines back in my boat got ready to leave on trailer boating trip. Tres and I had a busy early 2012 and our U S Navy Special Warfare training remains strong, the balance of the year trailed off to being very slow.

I did spend the month of July trailer boating across the country. I know some of you thought I was crazy to tow a 38 Top Gun all the way from Florida to the Pacific Northwest, down to California and then back on the southern route across Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. Butttttt, it was one hell of a trip and at least in my mind got to the true essence of what Powerboating in PowerBoat Nation is all about. There are so many side stories and takeaways from that trip it will take me years to get the book done. What I can tell you is I needed another 23 months to do all I wanted too. But the theme of the trip remained, I got to go boating in new places with my boat and hang out having fun with friends and family in the way I remembered what boating was all about.

The re-launch of our website and brand giving us the opportunity to bring the essence of the PowerBoating lifestyle back to the WWW is certainly a high and just the beginning.

The low of my personal experience was tearing up a newly rebuilt engine because if leaned out for some unknown reason. But thanks to all of boating friends we seemed to get it back and running in time and have not missed a planned event. As much as having to buy new pistons and rebuild the rebuilt engine sucked and really hurt financially, the whole experience reinforced my true feeling and belief that the trust, friendships, and true spirit of lifestyle is what makes all this what it is and life worth “L I V I N I N”.

I hope you are all ready because as bleak at our government leadership seems to be. My blind optimism and cup half full running over all the time is propelling me to believe that at least what is coming from Powerboat Nation may very well be what the industry high becomes for 2013!

PowerBoat On!!

– Brad