Right now I have come up for the Maine Boatbuilders show which is one of my favorite shows of the year. I always bump into old friends and seem to make new ones. Looking at the boats is cool but in many ways I find some of the products more interesting. One of the things that I am noticing more and more at shows is the gradual introduction of main electric propulsion motors and this display shows just how simple and neat they can be, there is even a lobster boat here this year with an electric motor. By no means common I think that with the price of gas and diesel creeping up towards $5 per gallon electic motors are going to become more and more common. I also think that we are some way off from electric propulsion in large boats but for smaller day sailers and picnic boats that spend each night at the dock where they can be plugged it they make a ton of sense. I especially like the idea on sailing boats where there can be significant regenerative effects with the boat sailing and the prop turning much like the technology used in the Toyota Prius and other hybrid cars that feed electricity back to the batteries under braking or when the car decends a hill. At the moment electric motors are still expensive espcially when you factor in the significant costs of batteries but I am sure that things will even themselves out and we will eventually end up with electic boats run from fuel cells or very small DC generators.
Propulsion of a different sort was in the room next door on the Shaw and Tenney booth. They have been making oars and paddles for years and was delighted to see that they actually had a sign that said please touch. Available in a variety of different styles and woods my favorite paddles for lake use are the Algonguin style paddles made from spruce. Light as feather you can paddle all day with them and not be worn out from hefting a heavier paddle in and out of the water several thousand times.
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