Boating Industry Reader Survey Reports Ethanol Repairs
Increasing
BOAT-US Release
18 July 2017
ALEXANDRIA, Va. July 18, 2017 – A new survey by Boating Industry
magazine says those in the boating industry that manufacture,
sell, repair and store recreational vessels are seeing a growing
number of problems caused by ethanol-related fuels. Said one
Minnesota boat dealer in the survey, “Ethanol fuels are great for
our service department but bad for our customers!”
The reader survey results, which appear in the magazine’s July
2017 issue, report that 92 percent of survey respondents said
“they have seen damage…caused by ethanol…and more business for the
service department.” The most recent results are up from 87
percent from a similar survey last year.
The July feature “Ethanol Still a Significant Challenge, Survey
Says,” also reported that “more than 15 percent of readers said
that based on what they are seeing in their business, more than
half of the necessary repairs are being caused by ethanol-related
issues.” Eighty-five percent of survey takers were “very
concerned” about the use of E15 (fuel containing up to 15 percent
ethanol).
Signed into law in 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)
requires an increasing amount of biofuels, such as corn ethanol,
to be blended into the gasoline supply. When it was written, the
RFS assumed that America’s use of gasoline would continue to grow.
Since 2005, however, gasoline usage has actually declined, which
today forces more ethanol into each gallon of gas.
To keep up with the RFS mandate, in 2010 the EPA granted a waiver
to allow E15 into the marketplace.
However, only fuels containing up to 10 percent ethanol (E10) are
permitted for use in recreational boats.
For the nation’s largest advocacy, services and safety group, Boat
Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the survey’s
results add to urgency to fix the RFS. Said Manager of Government
Affairs David Kennedy, “For the people who know boats best, the
readers of Boating Industry magazine who work on boats and keep
them running so we can all enjoy a great day on the water, ethanol
continues be concern. It will remain this way until we fix
America’s broken ethanol policy.”
Go to www.BoatUS.com/gov/rfs.asp
for more information on the Renewable Fuel Standard. BoatUS is a
member of the Smarter Fuel Future coalition.