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How do fuel prices fit into your boating style?

ControlledBurn

Posts: 5
Joined: 2007-11-21

As we bounce around the idea of $3.50 per gallon gas and $3.90 for diesel. (Maui has $4.00 per gal this week) I heard one Captain say he would change his usual summertime every weekend boating to every two weekends. He thinks he will be cutting his potential costs in half and lowering his real costs for fuel.

Sailboaters have the advantage of course as do trawlers and those who have planing hulls they plan to turn into quasi-trawlers by just going slower.

What are your concerns and plans if any?

Ft. Pierce Florida

Submitted by ControlledBurn on Sun, 03/16/2008 - 12:23.

Tom_Tripp

Posts: 40
Joined: 2007-08-07

CB - Last summer, we slowed down to hull speed -- approx 8.4 knots -- from our usual 19 knot cruise in our 43' ACMY. Fuel burn dropped from 44gph to 9 gph; mileage more than doubled. Everything slowed down, including the time on the water, which was a good thing. Noise disappeared and we noticed things we never had before.

Having said that, our hull was not designed for displacement cruising (hence the 9 gph for a 30K pound boat), so I guess that means there is some kind of trawler in our future.

Mon, 03/17/2008 - 11:43

ControlledBurn

Posts: 5
Joined: 2007-11-21

Good info. I burn 40 at 24mph cruise. Think I will try it myself. The transport Captain said the same thing adding he liked to cruise at 9 just to relax. Makes sense when you think about it. hmmmmm

Thanks Tom

Ft. Pierce Florida

Mon, 03/17/2008 - 22:38

glenjustice

Posts: 48
Joined: 2007-11-29

I went the trawler route -- 9 is the only option!

Fri, 03/21/2008 - 09:47

Sandy Daugherty

Posts: 13
Joined: 2008-01-01

Four dollar gasoline will make the South River a quieter place to sail on weekends.

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 13:11

Tom_Tripp

Posts: 40
Joined: 2007-08-07

Jeepers, four dollar gas here on Long Island would be a bargain this summer. Once the summer increases come in I expect to see $4.50 in some places; it's already well over $4 in many.

Thu, 04/03/2008 - 13:15

RedBW

Posts: 23
Joined: 2007-07-14

I expect to see a lot less boat traffic this summer. $4 a gallon gas would be OK if wages and salaries would catch up! The price of diesel is even higher than gas. I am pretty sure that we are going to see $5 a gallon for diesel soon. Maybe before 4th of July.

Boat sales in Europe seem to be going well and their gas is in the $7 to $10 a gallon range. I wish I knew how they afford to use those new boats they are buying. Boating must be a millionaire's game over there. It's getting to be that way in the USA.

I have a "fast trawler' when means it won't go over about 15 to 16 knots and burns about 12 gallons an hour at that speed. I am going to slow her down to about 8 knots and burn about 4 gallons an hour. I also just installed a Floscan to watch the ratio of the speed to the fuel burn.

I can see a vision of myself on a sailboat.

Tue, 04/22/2008 - 11:08

Capt SixPack

Posts: 2
Joined: 2008-05-22

Yes boating has become a bunch more costly than it was a few years ago but even then nobody owning a boat would have declared it an inexpensive avocation.

Most boaters accept the costs involved because they are passionate about the joys of being on the water. I'm one of those who will willingly pay the excessively high cost of fuel because I hate to think what I'd be doing if I weren't on the water. I know of no better way to spend a summers weekend than hanging on the hook in a quiet cove watching a beautiful sunset or sipping the days first cup of java watching the sunrise on a new day of living. And yes it will definitely cost more to get to that idyllic cove but I guess I'll just keep paying the piper because I couldn't ever imagine giving it all up.

Capt. SixPack

Thu, 05/22/2008 - 22:23

gladpraise

Posts: 8
Joined: 2007-08-06

I can well understand the horror with which boaters approach the fuel pier in these days of record-high prices. Last month, my crew and I motored to a nearby marina to do our annual refueling gig (we make sure to fill up once a year so that we'll have some way to gauge how much diesel fuel we have left). And, as you might expect, we were stunned at what we found. After we added in the larger-than-usual number of windless or west-wind weekends last year, the much-faster rise in diesel fuel prices and that the fact this particular marina is about the only place on our river that actually sells diesel fuel as well as gasoline, our total tab came to $41.00--and that includes five months with the boat on jackstands!No wonder none of us can afford our slip fees anymore!

Tue, 06/03/2008 - 11:48