Fuel whoopsy

Mark26

Mark26

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Just filled up at at Better Boating in Reading.

I have a 320 litre tank and took 300 litres on board. Oops.

I thought it would only take 70 litres !

At the marina where I berth they won’t let owners fill their boats - maybe they are scared of spillages?, they always say it’s full and I’ve often not been convinced.

I do have a fuel gauge but because they say it’s full and the gauge says it’s not, I have for the last three years, assumed the gauge was faulty and have been working out my consumption and range based on hours and fuel used.

Better Boating insisted I fill it myself, after putting in 300 litres not the expected 70 now the gauge reads full. We only went in there because it’s so cheap, if I hadn’t, we would have run out !

I shall trust my gauge in future not the folk in my home marina.
 
Fuel Prices.
Finding it hard to understand how Better Boating can sell at 89P
Bray and Windsor MDL charging 1.23P
PH wanting 1.34.
Shepperton charging 1.05.
RCC club member rate in same heating only wheeze. 63P
61p a litre difference in the worst case.

You lot must be minted :) ..................Somebody up there is being taken for a right royal ride !
 
Are you comparing the same fuel, stuff on the river is supposed to the Fame stuff, and isn't the better boating price for 0% propulsion? Yes its a rip off on the river but the demand is very low, I filled up couple of weeks ago and took on 425l, that will last a couple of years if we don't go tidal.
Its also location, Better boating will sell to a lot of narrowboats and livaboards so quote 0% price, Bray and Windsor mostly cruisers in richest area, Shepperton gets a bigger turnover for boats as its the last stop before the tideway.
 
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We were in our home marina when they put 250 litres into our friend's boat, which only had a 70 litre tank. Much panic ensued. An engineer had been replacing the little chain on the filler cap, and had put a plastic bag over the filler pipe end inside the hull. He had left his job very suddenly and no-one else knew it was there. The fuel quay man questioned such a small boat having a huge tank. The boat was on charter. The charterer nipped below to check the handbook and found the bilge boards awash with diesel...
 
BB quote the 'full red' price because they service all sorts of craft and adopted the practice started by the previous owner - You make your own declaration based on your conscience / whatever.
The marinas quite a 60/40 rate as most of their boats are propulsion only and depending on who is on duty, you can negotiate a rate..

It' all change in a couple of year as Red will disappear and the price will rise to at least £2 a litre - OR most of the marinas will stop selling fuel for all sorts of other reasons...
 
Is gasoil really going to be taken out of the system? I wonder what people will use for their diesel fired heating systems and generators.

If the subsidy goes for those uses that would be a huge fuel bill increase for domestic heating.

It seems more likely that gasoil will remain available but not allowed to go into propulsion tanks.

However it would all come down to enforcement ultimately.
 
Outinthedinghy said:
Is gasoil really going to be taken out of the system? I wonder what people will use for their diesel fired heating systems and generators.

If the subsidy goes for those uses that would be a huge fuel bill increase for domestic heating.

It seems more likely that gasoil will remain available but not allowed to go into propulsion tanks.

However it would all come down to enforcement ultimately.
Click to expand...


From April 2022, red diesel will be available only to agriculture and the rail sector. Users of off-highway construction machinery will have to pay an extra 46.81 pence per litre for their diesel, paying the standard tax rate of 57.95 pence per litre rather than the subsidised red diesel rate of 11.14 pence per litre.

The chancellor made the announcement in his 2020 budget statement in the House of Commons.

He described red diesel as “a £2.4bn tax break for pollution that's also hindered the development of cleaner alternatives”.
 
TrueBlue said:
From April 2022, red diesel will be available only to agriculture and the rail sector. Users of off-highway construction machinery will have to pay an extra 46.81 pence per litre for their diesel, paying the standard tax rate of 57.95 pence per litre rather than the subsidised red diesel rate of 11.14 pence per litre.

The chancellor made the announcement in his 2020 budget statement in the House of Commons.

He described red diesel as “a £2.4bn tax break for pollution that's also hindered the development of cleaner alternatives”.
Click to expand...
Chris_d said:
Are you comparing the same fuel, stuff on the river is supposed to the Fame stuff, and isn't the better boating price for 0% propulsion? Yes its a rip off on the river but the demand is very low, I filled up couple of weeks ago and took on 425l, that will last a couple of years if we don't go tidal.
Its also location, Better boating will sell to a lot of narrowboats and livaboards so quote 0% price, Bray and Windsor mostly cruisers in richest area, Shepperton gets a bigger turnover for boats as its the last stop before the tideway.
Click to expand...
As far as I can work out all the marinas advertise the base price on the board outside and then add the duty and vat afterwards ?
 
oldgit said:
As far as I can work out all the marinas advertise the base price on the board outside and then add the duty and vat afterwards ?
Click to expand...
How embarrassing - I don't know - I think it's WYSWG. I invariably fill up so I don't do a mental calculation to check. As in a shop - whereas the till may separate the details all I get is a net figure - as you would when buying fuel for your car.
 
Sandydog2 said:
We were in our home marina when they put 250 litres into our friend's boat, which only had a 70 litre tank. Much panic ensued. An engineer had been replacing the little chain on the filler cap, and had put a plastic bag over the filler pipe end inside the hull. He had left his job very suddenly and no-one else knew it was there. The fuel quay man questioned such a small boat having a huge tank. The boat was on charter. The charterer nipped below to check the handbook and found the bilge boards awash with diesel...
Click to expand...
Many years ago, when I was moored in Brighton Marina, someone bought a motor cruiser and took it to the fuel pontoon to fill up with petrol. After much more petrol was put in than expected the new owner told them to stop and paid. It later turned out that the filler pipe wasn't connected to the fuel tank and the bilge was full of petrol
When he turned the ignition key the boat exploded and the new owner and his wife were blown up into the air, landing in the water. They survived IIRC and the fuelling man managed to push the burning boat away from the fuel pontoon, avoiding a much greater explosion.
 
Chris_d said:
No marinas show the 60/40 price on their display boards, BB show the 0/100 price.
Click to expand...


MDL Bray and Windsor were displaying a price of £1.23 on the board.
MDL Penton Hook attempted to charge me £1.34 a litre .
When I mentioned the discrepancy , young lady in PH office stated it was all to do with when they had purchased their fuel ??????

RCC buy red diesel in tiny quantities 10,000 Litres compared to MDL their mark up must be impressive to say the least, and we add the Grotomar fuel treatment included in the price.
 
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TrueBlue said:
...
It' all change in a couple of year as Red will disappear and the price will rise to at least £2 a litre - OR most of the marinas will stop selling fuel for all sorts of other reasons...
Click to expand...
From .gov website :


At Budget 2020, the government announced that it will remove the entitlement to use red diesel from April 2022, except in agriculture (as well as forestry, horticulture and pisciculture), rail and for non-commercial heating (including domestic heating).


Last three words means red diesel will not "disappear" in fact I would be unsurprised to find a fuel boat selling heating oil to boaters in the future. Loads of boats have diesel heating and hot water production systems. Perhaps prepacked 20 litre containers of red diesel will become popular.

Rather than pumping directly into boat tanks.
 
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oldgit said:
MDL Bray and Windsor were displaying a price of £1.23 on the board.
MDL Penton Hook attempted to charge me £1.34 a litre .
When I mentioned the discrepancy , young lady in PH office stated it was all to do with when they had purchased their fuel ??????

RCC buy red diesel in tiny quantities 10,000 Litres compared to MDL their mark up must be impressive to say the least, and we add the Grotomar fuel treatment included in the price.
Click to expand...
It's the same one the road though isn't it, I paid 1.04 for diesel at Sainsburys, drove up the road and rural garage wants 1.24.
 
Yes, I think a separate small tank for heating will be the way forward for those who think they justify the outlay.
I certainly shan’t bother. Although I am on the boat as much as possible in the winter, taking the heaters consumption into consideration I shall just run it on white
 
Outinthedinghy said:
Last three words means red diesel will not "disappear" in fact I would be unsurprised to find a fuel boat selling heating oil to boaters in the future. Loads of boats have diesel heating and hot water production systems. Perhaps prepacked 20 litre containers of red diesel will become popular.

Rather than pumping directly into boat tanks.
Click to expand...
Red diesel and Kerosene are not the same. Some diesel engines may be happy with it but not all.
 
ProDave said:
Red diesel and Kerosene are not the same. Some diesel engines may be happy with it but not all.
Click to expand...
I do know that red diesel (35 sec) and kerosene (28 sec) heating oil are different oil products however it is true that a lot of boats have diesel (35 sec) oil burning heating systems. That's why I think that "red diesel" aka gasoil aka 35 sec heating oil will remain available to boats.

I would suggest that in the residential and non residential boating world the number of heating systems running on kero is very small compared with those who use red diesel. A lot of them can be used on either fuel but some may require modification. Mine will be using gasoil.

Diesel engines will run on 35 sec heating oil (gas oil in the world of heating so called because it is the vapour/gas produced when it hits a hot surface which burns to generate heat).

Edit: I'm interested to know which diesel engines are happy to run on kero.

It doesn't seem to have the correct lubrication properties for the fuel injection components.

Hopefully electric drives will become more feasible before anyone needs to look too carefully at the functioning of diesel engines !
 
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