High Performance Boating - the Green Way!

Just how far fetched is all this hydrogen fuel cell stuff? Well, let us use a little currently available technology and see. I like fairly fast boats. So let's design one that will run about 60 MPH. Fast but not scary fast.

For the power plant a Ballard 902 rated for 400KW continuous is a nice choice (this is a larger version of the 300 KW). That is about 300 Horse Power (HP). Twin engines make the boat look hot and make it easy to handle so we will go with twin outboards. We could go with inboard engines but skinny water fishing is fun. So twin outboards and a shallow draft hull are the design.

The shallow draft hull should be a 26 foot Andros Panga. Andros is a little pricier but it is custom built. That would make it a little cheaper in the long run, and the boat will look sharp! Sharp looking is cool. You should never underestimate babe appeal when boating.

Since I have a pretty good fantasy budget to work with, Ultra-capacitors for quick hole shots and let us say 30 Kilograms of fuel. That would be the equivalent of about 30 gallons of gas normally. Since the fuel cell is much more efficient performance will be more like 50 gallons of gasoline. With this hull we will have about a 200 mile range if you run at full cruising speed.

My fantasy budget is good but it is not unlimited so the fuel will be contained in three 700 bar composite tanks by Quantum Industries. These tanks are light weight and have a burst strength over 1400 bar (700 bar is about 10,000 PSI by the way). The total space of the tanks is about the same as the 80 gallon tank that is standard on the Panga.

We have to keep the weight balanced so the fuel cell is forward, fuel tank amidships and the engines of course transom mounted. So how tough is this going to be fit in the hull.

The fuel cell dimensions are 32 x 70 x 10 inches. Fitting the fuel cell under the front deck is no problem. We will lose the forward fish box but two forward side boxes will be plenty of room. The ultra-capacitor will fit nicely under the center console. So that part of the project is no big deal.

Fuel tanks will be located under the leaning post. This is the normal location of the fuel tank. Fitting the fuel tanks and the fuel lines is a bit tricky. The tanks are cylindrical not rectangular so there will be a little wasted space. Mounting two tanks in the forward part of the fuel area for the main tank and the third behind for a reserve tank is the ticket. Each tank will have it's own deck mounted fill connections. .

For the motors we are going to get a little tricky. We are going to gang two motors per engine. The electric motors are 15 inches in diameter by just over 4.5 inches high. At fifteen inches round and less that ten inches high they will fit perfectly in the normal 150 HP outboard motor cowling. The electric motors selected are water cooled and the fuel cell is water cooled as well. The Premag HV1004 motors are over 93% efficient and the ganged or stacked motors will weigh 215 pounds. About the same as a normal gas outboard power head. The electric outboards are rated for 200 KW continuous output. The motor RPM is a little off the standard outboard RPM so a custom gear set for the lower units will be needed.

Geared right the FCV Panga will cruise at just over fifty miles per hour and should do 60 plus in the corner. Backing the Panga down to 30 MPH cruise, the range should increase to 300 miles. That would be almost 10 miles to the gallon for a boat. Not too shabby at all!

So how is the budget doing? $2250 for the fuel tanks, $26,000 for the fuel cell, $10,000 each for the modified outboards, $30,000 for the hull and about $15,000 for the capacitor, rigging, computer controls for the system. That's under 94 grand. By the time we add electronics and a few options it will be 100 grand. That is a lot of money right? Yep, about $42,000 more than the gas powered version. But then boating never has been cheap. Having the first hydrogen powered charter boat in the Florida Keys? Well that's priceless. Who knows, even the Oscar winning, Internet inventing Al Gore might approve?