When you’re at a boat show and look up to see an airplane towing an advertising banner saying ‘TEXT FOR A CHANCE TO WIN FREE FUEL’ – it is probably a good sign that the show is not focussed on electric boats.

That was certainly true of the 63rd edition of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show last week, with dock after dock – 90 acres in all – of fossil fuel boats, including 60 foot racers with as many as five 400HP outboards hanging off their transoms.

It was still impressive, though to see how many electric boat and boating exhibitors were there, strewn throughout the gigantic site, including X Shore, Vision Marine Technologies, Limestone/Aquasport Boats, Four Winns, TWIN-DISC, Voltari, Sunreef Yachts, Aqua superPower, ePropulsion, e-Motion Hybrid Systems, Highfield RIBS, Torqeedo, Pure Watercraft, SILENT-Yachts and Ingenity Electric.

In all there were over 1,300 exhibitors and 1,000 boats on display across three million square feet of in-water and on-land exhibit space at the Broward County Convention Centre, Bahia Mar Yachting Centre, Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, Pier-66 Marina and the Superyacht Pavilion at Pier South.

Ingenity Electric had one of the prime locations, near the entrance of the Bahia Mar in-water exhibition, and their new collaboration with classic boat builder Hacker was the first stop for thousands of boat show visitors.

The mahogany deck, glistening hull sheathing and iconic lines of the Hacker-Craft 27 Special Sport is what…