Powerboats for Sale – New and Used Powerboats

What is a powerboat?

Powerboats: Boat24 goes into detail and gives you a precise overview – from "What is it?" and "outboard and inboard engines" through to "the right hull shape".

What is a powerboat?

Powerboats are watercraft that are usually driven by combustion engines or electric motors. For military and scientific applications, powerboats or motor vessels are sometimes also powered by nuclear energy or fuel cells (hydrogen). The following section deals exclusively with powerboats for recreational use.

Yacht or boat?

As with sailboats, a distinction is also made between motor yachts and powerboats among engine-driven watercraft. The dividing line in everyday language is fluid. Within the scene, open recreational boats up to a length of 12 meters that have no cabin section and at most a small sleeping cuddy are called powerboats. Longer engine-driven watercraft that are largely habitable (with cabins, berths, galley, heads, toilets, sun decks, etc.) are referred to as motor yachts.

Some only with a license

Powerboats and motor yachts are used on inland lakes and coastal waters. Motor yachts suitable and approved for the open sea – for example for crossing seas and oceans – are, with few exceptions, only found in the super and mega yacht sector (yachts with a length of more than 30 meters).
Above a certain engine power or output at the propeller shaft, powerboats require a license. The respective legal requirements vary from country to country.
Further restrictions: On some European inland lakes, only powerboats with electric propulsion are permitted, either seasonally or all year round.

The first powerboats were used in France and Germany (1865 Etienne Lenoir, 1886 Gottlieb Daimler). In 1908, powerboat racing was even an Olympic discipline.

Outboards and inboards

Powerboats are generally driven by outboard or inboard engines. With motor yachts, only inboards are used – with very few exceptions. The various powerboat types are not standardized internationally. A general distinction is made between the following boat types: sport boat, runabout, daycruiser, cabin cruiser (center cabin, forward cabin, half cabin), race boat, car boat, houseboat, pottering boat.

Displacement and planing hulls

Two design principles have become established for powerboats and motor yachts: displacement hulls and planing hulls. Displacement hulls push the water aside. Their top speed is limited to their hull speed (square root of the waterline length x 4.5). Powerboats and motor yachts designed as displacement craft are considered comfortable to handle. They settle into the waves more softly and respond more gently.
The planing powerboats can reach several times their hull speed and glide largely on the surface of the water. In doing so, they often slam hard into the waves and can only be run at full throttle in light seas or on smooth water.
The semi-displacement hull is a mix of both design principles: it lifts roughly halfway out of the water and therefore represents a compromise between a planing and a displacement hull.
An exotic choice among the motor types is the catamaran. Thanks to its relatively narrow hulls, it can also reach high speeds.

Today, most powerboats and motor yachts are built from GRP, wood, carbon, aluminum and steel (larger yachts).

From V-shaped to round

The market offers a relatively large number of different hull shapes. The most common are

• Deep V-hull: Cuts through the waves
• Flat hull/flat-bottom hull: Particularly suitable for lakes and rivers
• Semi-V-hull: deep V-shape forward, flat aft
• Pontoon hull: catamaran principle
• Round-bilge hull: suitable for long-distance boats and yachts
• You can find a detailed description here: Powerboat types

Current engine types (selection)

• Outboard (gasoline combustion engine and electric): Various shaft lengths, different propellers, from 1.5 to 350 hp
• Inboard engines (gasoline/diesel combustion engine and electric): The propeller (outboard) is driven via a rigid steel shaft.
• Sterndrive: a mix of outboard and inboard
• Jet drive: the propeller is enclosed in a sleeve-shaped housing (impeller principle)
• Pod drive: engine located inside, drive unit attached outside and mounted beneath the hull.
• Forward drive: a sterndrive in which the propeller faces forward.
• You can find a detailed description here: Types of propulsion for watercraft!