Thames red diesel

Portland Billy

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I am about to fill up with my over winter diesel (heating), and am confused as to what is a reasonable deal.
Does anyone have a comparison chart or formula for deriving the cost per litre from the advertised 60/40 price.
 

Outinthedinghy

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Not sure where you are but Chris of narrow boat Merchant covers most of the River and he sells good fuel.

He is always steaming up and down from his base near Staines.

It's a modern setup not a nackered old work boat with dodgy tanks. In fact he has just had a new engine fitted - JCB 444.

This means he can get to you even quicker :)


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Outinthedinghy

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It's the 100% domestic price I wish to derive from the 60/40 advertised price
Phone the boatyard and ask them how much gasoil is for heating.

I did this with Caversham Boat Services the lady said 93p so I carried on to Better boating which was 89p.

Diesel heaters with a cooking plate or diesel cookers are great devices to have on a boat.
 

LimL

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Not sure where you are but Chris of narrow boat Merchant covers most of the River and he sells good fuel.

He is always steaming up and down from his base near Staines.

It's a modern setup not a nackered old work boat with dodgy tanks. In fact he has just had a new engine fitted - JCB 444.

This means he can get to you even quicker :)


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Yes, I strongly recommend Chris on Merchant too. Good price, efficient and friendly service ?
 

Outinthedinghy

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still rip-off prices, it should be nearer £0.50
This is true specially given the massive drop during the covid problems but nobody seems to want to sell proper cheap red diesel on the Thames.

I heard that one of the fuel boats on the Oxford canal was doing it for 60p but I've not seen anything like that low anywhere on the River.

At the end of the day selling fuel is a profit generating business not a charity so it's probably not really worthwhile doing it that cheap. Of course some of the road based suppliers will deliver to boats if you can bunker over 500 litres.

I know someone who gets low prices by having 3 steel drums which are filled by a road tanker. He uses Kero but similar thing would work with 35 sec oil ie diesel.
I think they are 205 litres each therefore over the 500 litre threshold.

Having 3 of these on your boat is a bit aesthetically naff though. Unless it's a large boat in which case you would probably have large tanks anyway.

Not all suppliers are happy to deliver from a road vehicle to a boat but some of them are.
 

CLB

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Probably low turnover means the stuff in their tanks cost them more than what you can buy it for today. They cant sell at a loss, so have to keep their dated, but high prices.
 

Mark26

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Beware better boating advertise the price for 100% heating usage.

I filled there and declared a 40/60 split (not the normal 60/40) but it still worked out dearer (£0.99 pl ) than MDL who was advertising at £1.32 at the time, but after applying a standard 60/40 split and berthHolder discount it worked out to £0.97pl
 

st599

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Does anyone know when the chancellor's ban on red for boating kicks in? Wonder how that will affect the Thames. Presumably providers will be running the storage down.
 

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