New hybrid yacht opens boat show
When Ralph Silverman left the dock in an Austrian made new hybrid yacht, the crowd fell silent, intent on hearing any telltale sign of the diesel engine.
It was the first hybrid to enter Lake Tahoe's blue waters, with the boat making only its second launch after it took to the water in San Francisco a week ago.
The boat also launched the second annual Opening Day at the Lake show at Homewood featuring Chris-Craft boats in an event sponsored by the West Shore Association of Lake Tahoe. Today's big event is a seaplane splash-in at 10 a.m.
The glistening fiberglass yacht backed out of Obexer's Marina, on battery power without making a sound or fouling the water or air.
"Isn't that amazing," said Marianne Lehr of Sacramento, a long-time Reno air balloonist. "You don't even hear it."
The hybrid, fueled by four regular 12v car batteries and a 256-hp diesel engine, left a small cloud of diesel smoke far from the marina after Silverman sped off, demonstrating the boat can push speeds up to 40 mph.
"Look how smooth that is. It's beautiful," said Joe Giambalovo of Arroyo Grande, Calif.
His brother Pete, a retired engineer, also of Arroy Grande and a Reno balloonist, marveled at how the world's first hybrid recreational boat married technology to a sleek design.
For more than an hour, the boat can troll at 6 knots, or about 10 mph, before the engine has to be started to recharge the batteries, Silverman said.
That's a lot of fishing or cocktails.
"That's really cool," Pete Giambalvo said. "Between my engineering and ecological philosophy, we have to have (a) design for the environment --not just give people what they want."
Giambalvo said he hopes that hybrid boats someday will become the standard. In 1999, Tahoe authorities banned carbureted, two-stroke engines used at the time by Jet Skis, other personal watercraft and by many outboard motorboats to reduce air and water pollution.
Silverman is owner of six Chris-Craft dealerships in California, including the one in Homewood, and holds the U.S. franchise for the hybrid.
Over the past year, he said he worked closely with Frauscher, a renowned Austrian yacht manufacturer, and Steyr Motors, to produce the hybrid for the American market.
He said Austria banned motor boats from its lakes in the summertime during the 1970s because of pollution.
While featuring a leather, teak and mahogany interior, Silverman said the elegance of the fiberglass craft is its silent passage in and out of ports.
As for gas mileage, he said the batteries save one gallon out of seven or about 10 percent.
Sold at a price range of $115,000 to more than $200,000 for the 20 to 25 feet long versions, the Frauscher is not the everyman's boat. But then, yachts never were.
News source : http://www.rgj.com