New boat designs may thwart invasive species 
7/22/18 
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Anglers and boaters can go a long way to slow the spread of aquatic invasive species by following a few easy rules — cleaning weeds off boat trailer and propellers at boat landings, draining livewells and bait buckets and drying the boat before going to a new lake.
But what if our boats and motors were designed differently to make it easier to keep invasives from hitching a ride in the first place?
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That was the idea of a Twin Cities marina operator who pushed the concept through to reality. On Monday, the American Boat and Yacht Council is scheduled to announce new best standard for boat designs that will make fairly simple changes for manufacturers that could help stop the spread of invasives.
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The design standards, while voluntary, are expected to be adopted by most major North American boatmakers in time for the 2020 model year.
Gabriel Jabbour, owner of Tonka Bay Marina on Lake Minnetonka, has been pushing the concept for years so boats either drain on their own through gravity, or are easy to access to remove invasive species.
These design updates include changes for inboard boats, motors and pontoon boats that will allow the watercrafts to self-drain or to seal areas so no water can collect in the first place.
Bilges, livewells and engine cooling systems are key areas.
"For all boats and motors, the key is to design them so all the water is draining out and not pooling up in any of those nooks and crannies,'' said Brian Goodwin, technical director of the American Boat and Yacht Council. "For the engines, it can be as simple as adding a flushing port so the boat owner can flush water from the last lake or river out of the cooling system.''
Goodwin noted that the battle against invasive species has for two decades been aimed at the end user, the boat owner/operator.
"Now we're targeting the manufacturer. The goal is to make it easier for the end user keep invasives out in the first place,'' Goodwin told the News Tribune.
Another change would create a "closed" engine cooling system in certain motor designs so water can't be sucke dup in one lake and deposited into another (with a side benefit of quicker and easier winterizing.)
Other participants in the effort to adjust boat designs include Adam Doll of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and invasive species expert Mike Hoff, retired from his position as research fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Ashland.
Most aquatic invasives spread very slowly on their own but can be moved hundreds of miles rapidly by boaters.
While it may not stop the spread of zebra mussels, spiny water fleas, starry stonewort or other invaders, the group seized "on the idea that we could do minor design changes on boats and realize a profound benefit,'' Jabbour said.
Multiple boat builders have been on board for some time, including Brunswick, which owns 20 different boat manufacturers including Minnesota-based Lund.
"The whole industry is going to share these new standards and hopefully subscribe to them," said John Deurr, design engineer for Premier Pontoons, based in Wyoming, Minn. "Our company has already been doing them — they're common sense and not that expensive," Deurr said. "Until now, we've kept these changes to ourselves as a marketing tool, but now we want to share them with everybody."
Hoff said the move to change boat and motor designs is long overdue.
"It's extraordinary to think there was no activity in this area,'' Hoff said. "What the ABYC is about to distribute (Monday) is in my mind a game-changer."
A stick covered with zebra mussels during an event at the McQuade Safe Harbor in 2012 Duluth. New boat design standards could help reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species. 
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