Are petrol powered boats really that evil?

So when you said it might be a problem in other areas , which other areas did you mean ? . There's usually fuel available if people are willing to find it which is the same as being on a B road as opposed to a motorway . But it aint that far away all the way along the East coast , it's just that people would rather pull onto a fuelling pontoon and treat it like a garage for boats
 
I live just outside Dunstable, so I would be looking to move away from Swansea which is 4.5 hours drive, to somewhere like Burnham on Crouch, or that area.

Anyone know what the petrol supply situation is like around that area?

S.
 
Your statement that you're going to move makes this irrelevant but I was told over the weekend that they are going to install petrol in Swansea at the end of the season. Haven't had that confirmed yet though.
 
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the one factor people often seem to forget when doing their "will I save the capital extra cost of purchasing a diesel boat in fuel savings of running a diesel?" is that when you come to sell, the diesel boat will still be worth more.



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Near the top of the thread I suggested [ QUOTE ]
Although you may maintain a better resale value, you've financed that difference on credit or lost interest on your cash. And what happens if the market re-adjusts and diesels lose their premium during your period of ownership?

[/ QUOTE ] a point that you are suposing, in your example, doesn't happen. As you are a petrol boat owner you are actually laughing on both scores at the moment. Your boat won't devalue any more than you expected and you are no longer at a running cost disadvantage. (petrol may be thirstier, but servicing costs can be higher for diesels)
 
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but servicing costs can be higher for diesels

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I don't know how you arrive at that. With petrols you have the ignition system with plugs to deal with and usually a shorter service period.
 
They are not that evil!! Plus it would take a very long time and a lot of motoring to make up 10k in fuel! Especially when red stops!
 
There are lots of boaters now extolling the virtues of petrol boats, but unless they have actually tried to use one, I would take their advice with a pinch of salt.

Having converted a V8 petrol to diesel in a 25ft sports cruiser I can tell you this. Unless you are in the Solent or base yourself somewhere with petrol and never venture further, you WILL get fed up with lugging cans. In some places the garage is more than a walk away and if you need fuel you will have to organize a taxi, I know, I have been there. Your cruising will be much more limited with a petrol boat than diesel.

With regards to costs, even if petrol and diesel were the same price, the diesel will still be much cheaper to run. In my example, with petrol I was using around 10gph at 25 knots, with diesel its around 6 gph. This also means my range has shot up from around 100nm to around 180nm for half the money at present, and the same money when we lose the derogation.

Petrol is great for trailboating, dayboating and blatting around your home waters. For passage making and cruising, diesel is the fuel.

All IMHO of course /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I think that LakeSailor put up the best argument, but as the diesel price increase starts, diesels will lose much of their attraction.

They smell, they smoke, they are heavy, they cost a lot to buy and they cost much more than a petrol engine to service and repair, so I am not sure if you have inside information about the future value of a diesel boat or whether you got your figures from the Ministry of Guessswork but, I cannot subscribe to your blinkered view!

Trevera25 said, <span style="color:blue">"So when you said it might be a problem in other areas , which other areas did you mean? . There's usually fuel available if people are willing to find it which is the same as being on a B road as opposed to a motorway ." </span>

Yes, there is petrol, available in my area, but 'my area' means that I have to sail for two hours to get to Holyhead or Phwelli, which there and back is half a tank of fuel. So it is more economical lug fuel from Tesco's or Morrison's.

I have posted this before, but there is a brand new marina planned for Beaumaris, on Anglesy. I enquired last year whether they were planning to install petrol tanks. I was told that to put a diesel tank in the ground coest just over £50,000. TO put a petrol system in, cost upwards of £250,000

Prolly more Ministry of Guessworks figures, but I am sure that a petrol tank costs a lot more than diesel to install, so if petrol does beome more popular, they will probably have to put it in.
 
If petrol becomes more widespread though, the value of petrol powered boats will go up as demand increases. The prices will eventually stabilise, but not for a few years.

Are not diesels more resiliant when it comes to a water/damp etc?

I'm still in two minds on this, the petrol powered boats are a lot cheaper, but I'm lazy, and lugging lots of cans of petrol about doesn't sound appealling.

I have to say that I'm generally a diesl user (3 diesel cars at the moment as well as Harlequin) who has been told that after I sell harlequin, if I want to continue boating, it has to be on the cheap for a few years (baby etc). Fuel consumption is less of a worry as I going to be using it for weekend fun, maybe a little fishing. Not long distance cruising.

Gludy once told me before I bought harlequin that "owning a boat was like standing in a shower tearing up £10 notes". I believe him now! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Steve
 
Its also possible that the relative costs of installing petrol vs installing diesel tanks may mean that there is just simply no fuel around at all.

On the river, in a boat small enough to refuel from jerrycans filled at the supermarket (while this remains possible...) then I would consider petrol, and recently briefly did so, as it would be quieter. However as the consideration involved 2 x 170s the supermarket idea died pretty quickly. I still reckon its a no-brainer in the salty stuff or over 25'. I do my own servicing anyway so the respective costs become less important.

Frankly £1.25ppl is no real incentive to be a boater, I'm sure the Greenies/Inner Party would be happier if I stayed at home watching prolefeed on the telescreen.
 
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Are not diesels more resiliant when it comes to a water/damp etc?

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The usual comparison is of a 20yr old carb petrol vs a pre-electronics low-performance diesel - no comparison the diesel will be more reliable.

Move forward 20 yrs and compare a modern fuel-injected petrol with a modern, high performance (and stress) turbo diesel with probably just as much electronics in it and the comparison is much more difficult.

Fuel injected petrols also have a much reduced vapour risk as the fuel system is fully sealed - for peace of mind I have a petrol vapour sensor fitted in the engine bay that runs the extractor and alarms at 18% of the lower flammable vapour limit.

Lugging cans can be a pain - but using garage fuel also gives you a 20p per litre price advantage (£30 on my typical top up). Worth considering is whether you can add the facility to run off outboard tanks as well as the main fuel tank (I can as the tanks have somewhere to sit safely in the self-draining cockpit, an outboard fuel line connected to the second input on the main fuel filter via a fuel cock then connects the tanks, my Volvo has no fuel return line to the main tank - others may have), this means that if you have to refuel away from home you can avoid having to put the fuel into the main tank by dubious decanting and just run off the outboard tanks as they come from the garage /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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They smell, they smoke, they are heavy, they cost a lot to buy and they cost much more than a petrol engine to service and repair

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My diesels don't smell and neither did my previous one. My petrol boat always smelt of petol though, as have most of the petrol boats I've been on. They smoke a bit when cold, but so what, half my crew smoke too. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cost a lot to service - no they don't. I can do a full annual service on both motors in one day - oil+filter, 2xfuel filters, impeller, air filter, belts and coolant if needed plus checks on hoses etc. Exception is the valve clearances every 200hrs which costs about £100 per engine. On my old V8 petrol I had to do all this plus plugs, points and adjust the carb.

As to future values, who can say, but I for one will not ever go back to petrol, but then mine did nearly burn after fuel vapours ignited in the engine bay. My guess would be values of sub 28ft diesels are most at risk, and over that only if a major exodus from boating. Safety, fuel availability and reliability are big plus points for diesel and always will be.
 
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My petrol boat always smelt of petrol though

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but then mine did nearly burn after fuel vapours ignited in the engine bay.

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I guess these two are connected /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Hope no-one was hurt!

Personally I'd be very wary around ANY boat that smelt of ANY fuel (and I won't have gas on my boat)...
 
Somebody who called themself an 'engineer' was working on the engine, and I think he managed to spill a small amount of fuel into the bilge and then ignite it. He wasn't hurt, and the new automatic fire extinguisher saved the boat. It was a very graphic demonstration of what can happen.

Even when the bilges were bone dry with no fuel leaks there was always a faint petrol smell. My guess is it was from the tank breather, carb or that the seals on the fuel tank were failing. When looking for that first motor boat we set a small budget and looked at 15-20 boats of a variety of makes (Fairline, Sealine, Regal, Sea Ray, Bayliner etc), and on at least 50% in the cabin there was a whiff of petrol to varying degrees, which I and SWMBO especially, found offputting. All the boats we looked at though were over 10 years old. It may well be a non-issue on newer boats.
 
Most probably the carb as that is unsealed in any case. One of the benefits of the vapour sensor I use is that you can leave it permanently on like the bilge pump and it will vent the engine bay should vapours build up while the boat is unattended from typically some vapour loss from the carb (which is normal) for example, helps prevent the boat becoming unsafe should you forget the prestart venting or as in your case someone is in the engine bay for other reasons.

Glad the ext worked as designed and prevented injury and fire!
 
among all the views, here are the ones i agree with.
at 24ft, petrol is probably the better option IF..
- you have a local waterside fuel location,or keep it on a trailer
- its day boating, not longer cruising
-you are going to do the norm 50 or so hours, as opposed to 200, for example
At 28ft and above, Id say your type of boating may well differ from a smaller boat, and the likeliehood of increased distances suggests a diesel. For smaller boats, I m not sure red diesel will have that much effect.
The diesel is a question of sending off a (forgotten) one-off bill; petrol may mean being faced with a nasty credit card bill each time you want to use the boat-(distance depending). Small question of whether that effects you (or swimbo when she sees the fuel bill)
 
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Brilliant boats I like the twins I've got the 131's with the
single carbs,cheap to mantain and economical
either run at 6knots or plane at 18-20 knots for economy


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What sort of economy do you get at 20knots?

S.
 
I got a response from Burnham yacht harbour. No petrol, and you are not allowed to fill up from cans while in the marina (diesel or petrol). You are only allowed to fill up at the diesel pontoon from their pumps!

(He did say that petrol was available from essex marina across the river).

Steve
 
In general. To no-one in particular.
The majority of questions on here about problems are
"can't bleed the fuel system"
"gunk in the tank"
"can I reset my own injectors"

You get the picture. I know there are more diesel owners than petrol, and I have nothing against diesels at all. I've had diesel cars and vans and used to service wagons.
But if you're looking for service problems, as Simon says, it's not the reliable, electronic ignition, petrol engines, but the diesels.
Water holds no fears for a modern petrol engine, but air (or anything other than diesel) in fuel in a diesel spells trouble.
 
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