Fuel for a day out

Bigplumbs

Bigplumbs

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 Nov 2015
Messages
8,160
Location
UK
Visit site
Much is discussed on here about fuel consumption of various engines but I have come to the conclusion that don't tell you much. In fact it just scares most people with a modest Budget.

Today me and her indoors had a nice day out in our small sports Cruiser (Fletcher 19 GTS with 3.0 ltr Mercruiser) We left our mooring at about 08.30 and did a fast run from Felixstowe ferry to the River Ore and then a slow run to Orford. We then returned against the tide to the mouth of the ore and did a further fast run back to the Deben. We then pootled to the waldingfield Maybush for lunch before pootleing back to our mooring at Felixstowe ferry. At the end of the day I filled up with petrol from our 10 ltr cans with a jiggle syphon (Best device known to man in my view).

The total cost of petrol was £50.

Without over complicating things I was wondering what each of you spend on fuel for a typical day out and on what boat
 

Attachments

  • 20170524_110447 (Medium).jpg
    20170524_110447 (Medium).jpg
    85.7 KB · Views: 2
  • 20170524_110501 (Medium).jpg
    20170524_110501 (Medium).jpg
    83.6 KB · Views: 2
  • 20170524_110543 (Medium).jpg
    20170524_110543 (Medium).jpg
    83.3 KB · Views: 2
  • 20170524_112425 (Medium).jpg
    20170524_112425 (Medium).jpg
    94 KB · Views: 2
Hi, I have a Capelli 32 WA sports boat, so a little bigger than your Fletcher, but coming in at 32 ft powered with twin 250 4.2 litre V6 Yamaha outboards. Motoring around the solent at say at 25-27 knots gives me a burn rate of 55-65 ltr per hour for both engines or around 1.8 nmpg. I usually cover about 40nm on an average day trip and I use around 100 litres of unleaded so £120. Not great but not too bad!
 
Bigplumbs said:
Much is discussed on here about fuel consumption of various engines but I have come to the conclusion that don't tell you much. In fact it just scares most people with a modest Budget.

Today me and her indoors had a nice day out in our small sports Cruiser (Fletcher 19 GTS with 3.0 ltr Mercruiser) We left our mooring at about 08.30 and did a fast run from Felixstowe ferry to the River Ore and then a slow run to Orford. We then returned against the tide to the mouth of the ore and did a further fast run back to the Deben. We then pootled to the waldingfield Maybush for lunch before pootleing back to our mooring at Felixstowe ferry. At the end of the day I filled up with petrol from our 10 ltr cans with a jiggle syphon (Best device known to man in my view).

The total cost of petrol was £50.

Without over complicating things I was wondering what each of you spend on fuel for a typical day out and on what boat
Click to expand...

Saw you twice, great weather eh!
 
I dont know the places youre talking about,so cant really work out how far you travelled that day,so cant work out a rough fuel burn, but my windy 25 with single vp d4 260hp diesel will burn about 25 litres per hour at about 25-30 knots
 
Last edited:
Sealine SC35 with twin D4-260's, something like 60 litres per hour at 22kts.
So that could be £100 each way to the Isle of Wight, but I try not to think of it like that.

nR8v3a.jpg


MSTI0y.jpg
 
Last edited:
I totally agree... We went out on Monday for a day out and a Picnic in Plymouth Sound. We were on the water from 10am to past 4pm and it cost us about £30! OK, we were anchored up for a lot of that time but it does go to show that you don't need to spend megabucks to have a great time and if it is done with care then boating can be a very affordable pastime that most people could afford if they wanted to. Of course, if I went every full chat then it would cost a lot more but boating isn't always about going fast... we often spend most of out time on the water at 6knts enjoying watching the world go by and we always stop for a picnic in some nice anchorage for an hour or two. I rarely spend more than £60 a day on fuel... I can easily spend that on fuel for the car on a day out!
 
If and when I upgrade to a slightly larger boat (25 ft ish) sports cruiser with hopefully a Kad 32 I am hoping that with the lower cost of red diesel (about 65p from Morrisons) I will be able to do similar trips at similar cost. We love our little fletcher but would like more internal space and of course a proper toilet

Dennis
 
julians said:
I dont know the places youre talking about,so cant really work out how far you travelled that day,so cant work out a rough fuel burn, but my windy 25 with single vp d4 260hp diesel will burn about 25 litres per hour at about 25-30 knots
Click to expand...

I just calculated the distance I travelled from Navionics on my tablet and the total distance was 45 nm (52 miles) about half at 22 knots and the rest at 5 knots £50 of petrol is about 42 ltrs so about 0.80 ltrs per mile or about £1 per nautical mile. I am quite pleased with that and will be a decent guide when working out what fuel I need.

Would love to try the Deben to Ramsholt one day which interestingly is a similar distance I think but a lot more at speed

Thanks for all your comments

Dennis
 
I find the cost of fuel thing one of the most boring discussions out there. People buy boats and then moan about cost of fuel, why is that.? You know what you are getting into when you buy the bloody boat, so step on board, drive it and enjoy life. (No offence to the OP as recognise he was not moaning at all). For what it's worth we did a 140 NM trip yesterday in sublime conditions and I could not give a toss about the cost of fuel its just part of the deal
 
paul salliss said:
I find the cost of fuel thing one of the most boring discussions out there. People buy boats and then moan about cost of fuel, why is that.? You know what you are getting into when you buy the bloody boat, so step on board, drive it and enjoy life. (No offence to the OP as recognise he was not moaning at all). For what it's worth we did a 140 NM trip yesterday in sublime conditions and I could not give a toss about the cost of fuel its just part of the deal
Click to expand...

No as you say I was not moaning I am just interested and want to use peoples experiences and trip out costs to help inform my next purchase as I am of limited means (Code for being a bit skint) :)

Dennis
 
Bigplumbs said:
If and when I upgrade to a slightly larger boat (25 ft ish) sports cruiser with hopefully a Kad 32 I am hoping that with the lower cost of red diesel (about 65p from Morrisons) I will be able to do similar trips at similar cost. We love our little fletcher but would like more internal space and of course a proper toilet

Dennis
Click to expand...
Red diesel from Morrisons @ 65p tell me more!
 
Bigplumbs said:
If and when I upgrade to a slightly larger boat (25 ft ish) sports cruiser with hopefully a Kad 32 I am hoping that with the lower cost of red diesel (about 65p from Morrisons) I will be able to do similar trips at similar cost. We love our little fletcher but would like more internal space and of course a proper toilet

Dennis
Click to expand...

The kad32 will burn a similar amount to the much more powerful D4's mentioned above. About 30 litres /hr at 25 knots and 3 litres /hr at 4.5knots.

Currently red diesel with 60/40 split of duty which is accepted by HMRC is 95p per litre locally to me.
In any case why would you mess about with jerry cans and put small quantities in a S23 - it has a 220 litre fuel tank
 
If you have space at home it is also feasible to have a tank installed like a heating oil tank and buy in bulk hence saving even more and also you can pay at the start of the year and use it as you go and it will feel like it is free :)

Dennis
 
We had a shade over two weeks out on our boat last summer to take it from Lincoln to the Norfolk Broads and back. This was a fair old mix of river cruising and coastal cruising with varied sea conditions ranging from pretty much flat calm on the way down to quit lively on the way back so we were not cruising at our most economical speed.

For the 480 mile trip we used 390 litres.

This is with a sinlgle KAD32.

Our weekend spend varies drastically. If we are plodding around on the river it might not be £20. If we are out on the tidal river or estuary it can be £50.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top