Three pairs of engines were tested on virtual- ly identical Twin Vee Xtreme 26s.

A feasible scenario: Cleaner-burning, more fuel-efficient gasoline outboards (four-strokes and DFIs) will force the extinction of smelly, gas-guzzling carbureted two-strokes. What about this one? US fuel prices will increase so much that diesel propulsion, with its higher fuel economy, will supplant gas engines on outboard boats.

OK, maybe not (yet). But at least one US boatbuilder is taking advantage of diesel power’s popularity in Europe, where fuel prices have skyrocketed so high that boat buyers won’t settle for anything but diesel. Twin Vee Catamarans of Port St. Lucie, FL, has orders for a half-dozen of its diesel-powered Xtreme 26 center consoles, says owner Roger Dunshee. Europeans are willing to pay the…