Best place to Refuel Plymouth to Thames

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Newbroom

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Hi guys got a Princess 435 to bring back from Plymouth and deliver to the Thames, hoping to do Plymouth to The Solent maybe even Brighton in one hit but will probably need to refuel in the Solent
Any suggestions for ease of re fueling and good prices.

Thanks
Dave
 
I tend to fuel at the Cowes fuelling station, just up the river Medina from Cowes yacht station on the west bank of the river. Very helpful people there.
 
If it works in with your journey, ie if you have any reason to stop before getting to the Solent, Andy at Quayside Fuels, Weymouth, is superb and very well priced, we have used him on every trip going past there either on an outward of a complete fill up on a return leg.
 
Dartmouth has fuel barge but in the centre so you have to go up the river to find it. from memory limited opening.
Brixham has fuel in the marina.
Weymouth has already been mentioned.
Poole , cheapest or used to be, was fuelling station by the lifting bridge, if you had an account it was anytime self service fuelling. again long way from entrance. Salterns is 24hr I believe.
Cowes has been mentioned.
Brighton has fuel , have to go right to back of marina to find it.
Dover easy access and may be 24hr check but check.
Ramsgate has fuel too, easy access to.
Medina will have fuel but not sure where off the top of my head.
Then your into London
 
Thanks all
Was tight for time to pick this boat up and get it to Penton Hook for Sunday 20th so was looking at different options now looks that it will be a late morning leave from Plymouth Friday 18th to Weymouth re fuel Weymouth Leave early morning Saturday 19th Weymouth to Ramsgate re fuel then if everything has been going well round to Queenborough that evening and a very early start next morning Sunday 20th up to Teddington and then Penton Hook.
Reminds me of my boat delivery days
 
Newbroom said:
Thanks all
Was tight for time to pick this boat up and get it to Penton Hook for Sunday 20th so was looking at different options now looks that it will be a late morning leave from Plymouth Friday 18th to Weymouth re fuel Weymouth Leave early morning Saturday 19th Weymouth to Ramsgate re fuel then if everything has been going well round to Queenborough that evening and a very early start next morning Sunday 20th up to Teddington and then Penton Hook.
Reminds me of my boat delivery days
Click to expand...

My experience from last year was that there was nowhere open at weekends to refuel on the Thames until Shepperton Marina so hopefully you have enough range from Ramsgate.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
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If your going to refuel in Weymouth with Andy you will have to make arrangements with him. He delivers with a small tanker and usually needs at least 2 days notice. You will also need to ensure the harbour master arranges mooring on C pontoon right outside the harbour masters office to allow Andy access from the road with his fuel lines. The alternative mooring on the west bank is shallow and might also be available subject to tides. The only other alternative for Andy is the inner basin above the lifting bridge but if you talk to him he will advise the best place to meet up.
 
Here's his mobile number : 07747 182181

He has just previously got us to moor outside the Harbour Master's office on one of their pontoons, if it's just a quick splash and dash they haven't charged either, I did insist on paying when we needed 2 tankers as we were tied up for an hour or so all told. Yes, best to arrange the plan in advance and he'll tell you what to do. He's very helpful though.

Edit : Sorry, just seen his number's in that link above anyway.
 
Thanks guys best laid plans of men and mice.

Got to the boat for 9.00 am on Friday to find that the engineers hadn't rebuilt or refitted the raw water pump. Finally got underway at 16.00 by the time we refuelled and got through the lock at Sutton Harbor it was 17.00 no way could we make Weymouth. Then found we couldn't pull anywhere near maximum revs and the best speed we could make was 16 knots.

Decided to head for Brixham to get at least get a few mile under out belt. Checked all the obvious fuel filters air filter fuel etc. Couldn't find anything obvious wrong so we decided that we would head for IOW and have Weymouth Poole etc for emergency bolt holes.

Left at 6 and make a steady 16 knots for the first 7 hours then we lost power completely on the Port engine strongly suspecting a turbo / aftercooler problem as it wouldn't build past 1500 RPM continued on at 10 knots to Cowes and refueled Did some more basic checks and was sure it was boost pressure problems. Rang my son who used to be a marine engineer and said he could get to Brighton for 19.00 if we could get there. Not many other choices so we left and managed about 12.5 knots SOG arriving at Brighton at 18.30 a quick refuel and met up with my son Mark who quickly confirmed our suspicions that it was a boost problem. He stripped down the turbos air intake and aftercoolers and found a jammed butterfly valve which diverts air on starting.(I think).
Hoping for better things next morning we left at 6.00 with the intentions of making London Bridge by 16.00 to carry the tide down to Teddington and have enough head room to get under Hammersmith Bridge.

While we had better performance than the previous day it still wasn't good and we could only manage 15 knots SOG plus we were drinking a lot more fuel than we expected and realised we needed another fueling stop Ramsgate being the obvious one.

London Bridge now beginning to look very doubtful. Arrived at Ramsgate refueled in and out in 40 minutes decided to make the decision about what to do at the Medway on whether to continue or go into Queenborough for the night. Got a great tidal push as we rounded North Forelands into the estuary. For some reason unknown to us the engine also picked up and we found ourselves barreling down the overland route at 25 knots SOG.
We could make London Bridge an hour later than what would be comfortable to get under Hammersmith so we decided to continue making full speed till the speed restriction at the barrier came into force eventually reaching London 50 minutes late. Now Hammersmith if we could make that we could make Teddington. The headroom board showed 4.4 metres the air draft we had measured at Plymouth with empty tanks was 4.3 metre we now had half full tanks and .1 metre to play with. We crept under Hammersmith with two inches clearance on the Radar.
Arriving at Teddington 19.30

We had completed over 400 miles 4 refueling stops 3 marinas two night sleep a constantly evolving navigation plan numerous trips into the engine room in an untried new purchased boat in 50 hours.

Took be back to my boat delivery days
 
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I am guessing that your P435 has Volvo engines. I had much the same symptoms with a Sealine T47 (TAMD 74). After a great deal of investigation of all the obvious stuff it turned out to be a stuck diaphragm switch which indicates to the ECU to ask for the turbo. The switch gets corroded by condensation in the vacuum tube from the manifold. Just a thought.

Pretty epic passage by the way.
 
Yes Volvo engines
the early version engine 71As Very similar the diaphragm in the pump is opened by vacuum allowing more fuel in to burn with the turbo.
 
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