Al Gore's Houseboat - Center Hill

[RedDog]

100 feet long green fantasy

2 gallons per hour cruise

bio-diesel power yet no where to buy it on Center Hill - won't need to refill for 2 or 3 years

Solar panel to be installed that "could power itself and “most of the dock” "

Yep - it sounds like a fantasy

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gore-hits-the-waves-with-a-massive-new-houseboat/

[BUIZILLA]

i'm going to make it a point to check this monster out next week, 100' should put it at the largest houseboat on that lake, I think..

BTW, my nephew and BIL did a bunch of electrical/lighting work on Gore's house and the consumption numbers before the work was done equaled the electric usage on my BIL's ENTIRE street of homes he lived on, which is 7 tri-level homes...

[RedDog]

i'm going to make it a point to check this monster out next week, 100' should put it at the largest houseboat on that lake, I think..
BTW, my nephew and BIL did a bunch of electrical/lighting work on Gore's house and the consumption numbers before the work was done equaled the electric usage on my BIL's ENTIRE street of homes he lived on, which is 7 tri-level homes...

There are new reports out that now that the energy conservation measures on the house have been completed, it is actually consuming more power than before the mods. Here is a staggering report on the energy usage from before the mods - http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=367

[cutwater]

Bio-diesel or not... 2 GPH???? Hard to believe. The PWC hanging off the back burns more than that.

[BlownCrewCab]

It probably only uses 2 GPH at Idle, It's to big to plane off, pushing the throttles forward probably gains Nothing, so he may as well idle where ever he goes. I bet his toilet dumps into the lake where him and his family are swimming, what is that, corn floating over there.

[zelatore]

Well, I'm not going to defend him, but I don't like to see articles as over the top one-sided as that against anybody. That story, and especially the comments after it, was awful. You'd think it was written by Carl Rove!

2gph? Possible, but not probable. Biodiesel does not increase economy. It may be a more 'green' fuel but if anything I suspect it may actually contain less energy per unit than standard diesel, which would actually mean more fuel used per hp. Sort of like ethanol blended gas.

The boat obviously isn't a planning hull. I don't recall from the pics (and don't feel like going back to look) but it's probably a giant pontoon hull like most of these huge houseboats. Useless for anything but mirror-calm water, but actually a pretty efficient design for something like this. I'd guess he only has about 75-100 hp per motor. With no possibility of ever going more than displacement speed, he couldn't use more power if he had it. If we knew what the power plants were, we could find a fuel curve for them and see.

There are a few people building solar/diesel hybrid boats, and I believe he could have enough flat area on a pig like this to handle a huge solar array. Perhaps he should have put a call into ossa/powerlite and done a diesel/solar-electric hybrid. That would seem to be the best solution for what he's claiming. With a large solar array he could charge a huge battery bank to stockpile power, then run the boat's AC loads off inverters and use electric propulsion motors. An auxiliary genset running on biodiesel could provide power to re-charge the battery bank should the solar array fall short as a genset is inherently more efficient than a propulsion motor since you tune it to only run at it's most efficient rpm.

Regardless, I never could get into the giant floating trailer park look of houseboats. But I think that’s probably the case with most people in the yacht business…we just want to look down our noses at houseboats as being trailer-trash while we have our wine and cheese.
(I can't find the appropriate smilie to insert here...just use your imagination)

[cutwater]

2gph? Possible, but not probable.... The boat obviously isn't a planning hull.

I was just basing my assessment on my friend's 34 ft trawler with a displacement hull. I think it is a single 140 hp Perkins, cruises at 7 knots, and gets 3-4 gph. I wouldn't think a 100 ft houseboat is more efficient, but I could definitely be wrong. 2 GPH just seemed really optimistic to me.

Truth is, I don't have any problem with Al having a 100 ft houseboat, in fact I applaud him for wanting to be out on the water. Except that he's out there telling me to do without luxuries 'cause I'm dooming my children...

Don - you're right, the article was way one-sided, just like "An Inconvenient Truth"... :propeller: Haha, had to throw that one in there :wink:. Just kiddin with ya. 'Green' or not... it would be more 'green' to never have built the thing at all. Do you know how much petroleum was used to make the plastic parts on that thing? Boils down to the fact that if he really believed we are so close to a doomsday scenario, he could do without unnecessary luxuries that harm the environment, just like he's telling us to do...

[BUIZILLA]

2 gph?????????????

does he REALLY think we're that stupid to believe that???

apparently so...

[CJmike]

Hedgehog should have sold him a "Green" Donzi to go with his "Green" houseboat. Heck it was even at the same marina.:nilly:

[zelatore]

The quotes they had from the guy who built the boat made him sound like something of a bumkin who didn't really know what the heck he was talking about as regards the efficiency and technology of the boat. So the '2 gph' and the comment about the solar array 'powering half the dock' came off as mindless blather with no data to back it up. I assumed a certain amount of that was intentional from the tone of the article.

BTW - never saw 'an inconvenient truth'. Don't really want to, either. Whether I agree with the sentiment or not, I don't like super-biased propaganda.

I think the houseboat hull would be more efficient than a displacement trawler despite being much larger. Being a pontoon, it's draft (hull only, not running gear) can't be more than a foot or so. And a long, thin, shallow hull is the most efficient form. I'm sure it's really a very efficient design, and it's a good idea for something like a houseboat that will never see any water bigger than the occasional wake.

Again, I doubt he can achieve the 2 gph they've commented on. And why make such a claim anyway? Let's say he really uses 5 gph - that's a more realistic number. Would 5 gph sound so much worse to the greenies? And then he wouldn't get raked over the coals for over-promising and under-delivering. That's always a big no-no....:hangum:

[cutwater]

made him sound like something of a bumkin

Hey, I didn't know there was any other kind here in Tennessee! :propeller:

[The Hedgehog]

Hedgehog should have sold him a "Green" Donzi to go with his "Green" houseboat. Heck it was even at the same marina.:nilly:

That boat frightened him:wink:

I am at a different marina now. Down where it is nice, laid back and big loud boats don't scare people. Well maybe not all people.

[BUIZILLA]

what engines??

[zelatore]

Hey, I didn't know there was any other kind here in Tennessee! :propeller:

I have family living in Tennessee.
I like Tennessee.
I'd even consider living in Tennessee.

But yeah, they do have their fair share of brain power down there...

[zelatore]

what engines??

That is the question. We need one of our resident board members to take it upon themselves to sneek aboard and get us the make and model on the engines. Don't worry about getting caught - it's for the greater good. We'll take up a donation for your bail.

[cutwater]

I have family living in Tennessee.
I like Tennessee.
I'd even consider living in Tennessee.

But yeah, they do have their fair share of brain power down there...

I'll agree with that. Tennessee is great. I've lived here (in Knoxville) for a long time, also lived in FL briefly, as well as in Sweden for a while. Tennessee is by far my favorite. Plus some good boating...

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/jul/20/areas-top-10-ranking-no-surprise-to-boating/

[gcarter]

I have to agree w/Don about hull efficiency.....w/a 100' W/L length and a beam/length ratio of 8 or 9:1, it would have a hull speed of over 15 Kt. So, even if it had 15 oarsmen on each side, it wouldn't take much to push it at 5 Kt. I think it can be done.

[zelatore]

So, even if it had 15 oarsmen on each side, it wouldn't take much to push it at 5 Kn.

LOL - I can picture it now, legions of Algore's followers lining up to serve as galley slaves and row his royal barge around the lake...
:tongue:

[zelatore]

Well, a little googling for 'fantasy yachts' (excuse me, but yacht is a bit of a stretch here, don't you think?) shows similar boats powered by 3.0 (65 foot) to 5.0 (95 foot) Mercs. A 5.0 merc is listed at 260 hp. The smallest Cummins/Merc diesel sterndrive is a 2.0 liter 130 hp unit, probably enough to push the barge around. Looking at the fuel burn curve, 2 gph comes up at about 2400 rpm where you're making about 220 lb/ft of torque and 100 hp.

Ah, but I assume the royal barge has twin screws. So we need 1 gph per motor. That moves us down to 1800 rpm, still making 200 lb/ft of torque but only 68 hp. I suppose that would move it around still, assuming there's not a stiff breeze blowing or anything.

And if he fires up a generator....look out baby!
(but I'm sure the 'massive' solar array will take care of that...eventually)

Here's a link to the Cummins spec sheet. Again, I'm only speculating about what power he has under the hatch.

http://marine.cummins.com/attachments/public/marine/Products/Recreational%20Sterndrive/QSD/2.0/BC9139.pdf

[Donziweasel]

Gore bugs me. A few years ago, someone did a study of his environmental impact of his house, planes, cars and everything. He uses more power than 100's of people combines. CNN did a story about how a lot of what he says is simply not true. They had a panel of experts discredit a lot of his studies and proved that a lot of it was just plain lies. I think he is a headline groupie who will say whatever it takes to get publicity. Not to mention he profits off of what he considers the most dire situation the world has ever faced. I am sure some of you will disagree. Glad we got rid of the rep points, sure I would have gotten a ding on that one by someone.

[gcarter]

Gore bugs me. A few years ago, someone did a study of his environmental impact of his house, planes, cars and everything. He uses more power than 100's of people combines. CNN did a story about how a lot of what he says is simply not true. They had a panel of experts discredit a lot of his studies and proved that a lot of it was just plain lies. I think he is a headline groupie who will say whatever it takes to get publicity. Not to mention he profits off of what he considers the most dire situation the world has ever faced. I am sure some of you will disagree. Glad we got rid of the rep points, sure I would have gotten a ding on that one by someone.
About Mr. Gore and his crusade...read the quote in my sig line. Mr. Gore is no longer in politics, so he should be fair game.
But think carefully about the quote.

[zelatore]

Gore bugs me.

Then you should try reading the original article. They let him have it with both barrels.

[RedDog]

Then you should try reading the original article. They let him have it with both barrels.

It was authored by Steve Gill - a very conservative Nashville talk radio host and occasional opinion journalist / blogger.

I like him a lot! Thanks in large part to his efforts, Tennesseans were able to hold back concerted efforts by state politicians to enact a state income tax. He urged on what was almost a complete revolt by the people at the capital building.

[The Hedgehog]

That is the question. We need one of our resident board members to take it upon themselves to sneek aboard and get us the make and model on the engines. Don't worry about getting caught - it's for the greater good. We'll take up a donation for your bail.

I will go find out. I need some sort of mission

[zelatore]

LOL

I was just trying to picture Ron 'The Hedgehog' Jeremy and Tipper on a boat together....

[The Hedgehog]

LOL
I was just trying to picture Ron 'The Hedgehog' Jeremy and Tipper on a boat together....

That would make a great reality show! Better than The Surreal Life. I would start off by being real subtle and then end up totally offending everyone on board.:band: