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Yup. And for users of small outboards you can buy ethanol free petrol at garden equipment centres or even have it delivered.
Esso make a point of not adding ethanol to their E5 premium fuels in the south east.
Shell V Power is staying at E5 so may or may not contain any ethanol depending on exchange prices at the time. As seem to be most premium grades so that much older cars can operate without concern.
E10 has been on sale in Europe for nearly 15 years now
Personally, as a chemical engineer by original training but more importantly as someone who does not derive their income from either the petro industry, the green industry or the political industry so am not being paid to speak one side, I'm not really seeing the big issue re E10 for people who stick to best practice and have their head screwed on.
It's appearing much bigger than it should because every car and bike club has the same thing to shout about at the same time and of course, the whole change is politically charged.
The real problems with ethanol is that it rewards deforestation such as the clearing of the Amazon to grow soys and it also takes land that should be growing food crops so people starve. So reducing rainforest, bad. Reducing population, good.
For boats with large integral tanks I would say that is where a risk lies. But these tanks already generate water through simple wall sweating just like the tanks under petrol forecourts so it's a case of focusing on the existing protocols for monitoring excess water in the tanks which users should already be doing as a matter of course to protect the rather expensive engine(s) on the back.
So for the diligent and caring the biggest risk e10 poses is from the rubbish that will be spouted by boat mechanics using it as the go to point for upselling and charging more labour and many who do caught out will be people who weren't looking after their kit properly in the first instance.
Use fresh fuel, ensure any home storage is air tight (those 1 gallon plastic tanks aren't), run the outboard dry at the end of each use, if it's not going to be used for some time then check if fuel needs to be drained from internal lines, use E5 premium or ethanol free fuel where possible and don't keep any fuel over winter.
I think the greater issue lies with old cars that are infrequently used where periodic flushing of the fuel tank might prove prudent if running on e10.
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