Lot of this has to do with a glut of old boats that are not worthy of restoration and the owners looking for a chump to bail them out of a financial jam.
Ethanol has been blended with gasoline in many markets for over 20 years. I remember back in the early 90's reading somewhere to my astonishment that fuels that contained ethanol or other alcohols were not suitable for 2-Cycle motors. This also included many fuel additives as well. Apparently, the alcohol prevents the oil from coating/protecting the pistons and cylinder.
This is not a new problem, although I wasn't aware that marinas were selling ethanol blends yet. I know the few marinas I have been to are specifically buying non-ethanol gasoline for this exact reason.
The boat owner's argument is somewhat akin to the gripes when leaded fuel was made illegal. All the folks with the old leaded gasoline cars were screaming that they were being unfairly penalized....costly upgrades/etc.
I can sympathize - motors (inboard or outboard) are so incredibly expensive. On the other hand, they had to see it coming sooner or later. But I think they should look at the marinas as well. Unless the non-ethanol fuel is just plan unavailable, they should still be able to get it (at a likely higher cost).
One other thing - I just got back moments ago from going fishing with a friend with a 4 year-old boat. The 2-cycle Mercury (oil injection) has no problem with the blended gasolines - so this is likely, as bigfootbob said, just owners of old boats looking for a skapegoat.
Not true. Many owner of Classics-boats such as the older Bertram mentioned in the article are looking at large bills-to replace gas tanks, fuel delivery systems and in some cases engines.
Not really-many owners of older Bertrams and other classics are facing HUGE repair bills. Ethanol has damaged fiberglass fuel tanks and ruining fuel delivery systems and engines. They are not doing this to get out from under financial jams. The problem is real, and the fix expensive.