Electric, petrol or diesel?

Electric, petrol or diesel?
A question we are often asked............
For outboard engines, the choice these days is almost always, but not exclusively petrol power. The major Japanese outboard manufacturers have all invested a lot of their engineering and development resources in these outboard engines and modern four stroke outboards are excellent. Diesel outboard engines are now very rare and the few which are around tend to be very expensive and with spares hard to come by. Normally diesel outboards are only seen on the boats used by major commercial vessels (because of the availability of fuel). Electric outboard engines are developing all the time and - especially one German made brand - are often excellent. However electrics are generally still only suitable for small inflatables and small rigid tenders.
For inboard engines, the majority of new marine inboard engines are now diesel powered. The diesel  inboard engine manufacturers are quite sophisticated and they provide a wide range of engine sizes and options. Few new designs of inboard petrol engine are available, so most petrol inboards tend to now be seen on older boats - however many are still in good condition. One major disadvantage of petrol inboards is that few marinas or quayysides now have large volumes of petrol available for sale on the fuelling berth, which can mean that fueling a large inboard engine can be a chore.