marina or forecourt diesel

abbott013

abbott013

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I am undecided whether to use red diesel from the marina or white diesel from the forecourt.
Just fitted a new engine, new fuel lines and filters and the tank has been cleaned with no traces of red diesel remaining.
The cost of fuel is not a issue its more the convenience of fuelling at my marina.
I keep reading we are in contravention of the EU on fuel duty, and if i do use red again my fuel system will be stained.
Any thoughts would be welcome
 
abbott013 said:
I am undecided whether to use red diesel from the marina or white diesel from the forecourt.
Just fitted a new engine, new fuel lines and filters and the tank has been cleaned with no traces of red diesel remaining.
The cost of fuel is not a issue its more the convenience of fuelling at my marina.
I keep reading we are in contravention of the EU on fuel duty, and if i do use red again my fuel system will be stained.
Any thoughts would be welcome
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[I keep reading we are in contravention of the EU on fuel duty,]

It is the colour that is the issue NOT DUTY
 
All I can report is that I have had no problems in France, Spain, or Portugal, and have no intention of sailing to Belgium so am not really that worried. You can get good beer, moules an asparagas in lots of other places.
 
For me it would be too much of a hassle filling up cans and transporting them to the boat, plus same problem when I was away from my home port, would I be able to walk to a filling station or have to get a taxi?
Would the taxi driver take me with a can or two of fuel?
 
Disregarding the colour/duty question for a moment, is there any difference in quality between marine and road diesel? e.g. in terms of additives, FAME, etc.

Also, I've ended up with so much red left over at the end of this season that I think I'll just use white from now on, as that way I can stick the leftover fuel in the car.
(Based on the assumption that I shouldn't use last season's diesel, of course).
 
Robwhelton said:
Also, I've ended up with so much red left over at the end of this season that I think I'll just use white from now on, as that way I can stick the leftover fuel in the car.
(Based on the assumption that I shouldn't use last season's diesel, of course).
Click to expand...

Diesel won't 'go off' in the course of the winter. What it might do is collect some water at the bottom of the tank, through condensation.
 
A number of posters seem to think that filling from cans is not a problem, but certainly on the East Coast there are not many garages that are accessible on foot.

The other consideration is the number of cans. My tank only holds 45 litres, not that big compared to larger yachts, and I tend to fill up when it is convenient and the tank is half full or thereabouts. However even 20 litres is 4 cans and would be a pain to carry to the boat, OK you can make sure you only get say 10 litres at a time, but that means having to find a garage twice as often. I will stick to red from marinas.

I have been to Belgium and am not planning to visit again.
 
Robwhelton said:
Disregarding the colour/duty question for a moment, is there any difference in quality between marine and road diesel? e.g. in terms of additives, FAME, etc.
Click to expand...

Yes. Road diesel has up to 7% FAME added and is Ultra Low Sulphur (10ppm)

Old fashioned Gasoil (traditionally known as red diesel) has no FAME and high sulphur. Depending on area, this is being replaced by a new product called GO10, which is gasoil with low sulphur but no added FAME. This is generally the case along the south coast, cant speak for other areas.

Yet another product has also been launched, MGO1000, is high sulphur, zero FAME, no red dye and MUST be sold at full duty. I dont know where this is being sold yet.
 
The tank on our last yacht here in the UK held 150 litres and we would not want to mess with filling that from cans. Think of our powered friends too. We now have a powerboat, albeit in the USA so not likely to visit Belgium, and our tanks hold 2,500 lts which is an awful lot of cans to waddle up the pontoons with. Plenty of powerboats have tank capacity double that of ours. Also refuelling from cans in many British marinas is not allowed, even if a blind eye is turned at present to it's infrequent occurrence, that may not be the case if everyone starts doing it and dribbling overspill into the water.
 
Leighb said:
A number of posters seem to think that filling from cans is not a problem, but certainly on the East Coast there are not many garages that are accessible on foot.
Click to expand...

Horses, courses, etc.

On a south coast swinging mooring, I find it easier to row out a 5L jerry can of forecourt diesel every second(ish) trip than make a dedicated visit to a fuel barge.

Maybe twice a year, on a week's cruise, I'll fill up on a barge somewhere, when convenient.

The key is, of course, to *use* less than 5L each time you you use the boat ;->
 
We installed a new engine, fuel tank and fuel lines in 2009. I asked the maker, Beta, about white diesel and was told that the engine would run entirely satisfactorily on either red or white.

As the tax concession for leisure use seemed ridiculous and would presumably disappear at some stage we thought we'd try using white, bought in 10 litre plastic cans filled on the forecourt. We've been entirely satisfied by this method.

Our boat lives in a marina. The fuel tank holds 160 litres and 6 cans fit very neatly in a stern locker. We mostly use the boat for 3-day weekends. Each Sunday afternoon, when the boat's back in its berth, we put as many whole cans' worth of diesel as will fit in the fuel tank. The empties are then put in the car, 100 yards away, along with the other weekend clobber.

On the way home or sometime during the rest of the week we'll refill the empty can(s). As each can represents 30M+ motoring it's common to have only one or two. The next weekend we're on the boat the can(s) sit in a trolley for the short walk from the car. We never need to hunt for a fuel berth and attendant, which for us would be a waste of precious boating time.

This system works for us. Our main fuel tank is usually full, reducing the problems of condensation. But I appreciate that for someone with a large fuel consumption or on a swinging mooring with awkward access it would be less suitable.
 
Leighb said:
The other consideration is the number of cans. My tank only holds 45 litres, not that big compared to larger yachts, and I tend to fill up when it is convenient and the tank is half full or thereabouts. However even 20 litres is 4 cans and would be a pain to carry to the boat, OK you can make sure you only get say 10 litres at a time, but that means having to find a garage twice as often. I will stick to red from marinas.
Click to expand...

My tank is also 45 litres, but I don't have any particular difficulty filling up with cans. I have two 20-litre jerrycans from Machine Mart, and can if necessary carry them both down the pontoon (though obviously a trolley is easier!). I have no objection to red, but my local fuel barge isn't always open when I need it.

Coaster said:
I asked the maker, Beta, about white diesel and was told that the engine would run entirely satisfactorily on either red or white.
Click to expand...

Good to know - and not really surprising given it's the same Kubota engine used in mini diggers etc on building sites.

Anyone know if the same applies to Yanmar GMs?

Pete
 
Leighb said:
A number of posters seem to think that filling from cans is not a problem, but certainly on the East Coast there are not many garages that are accessible on foot.

The other consideration is the number of cans. My tank only holds 45 litres, not that big compared to larger yachts, and I tend to fill up when it is convenient and the tank is half full or thereabouts. However even 20 litres is 4 cans and would be a pain to carry to the boat, OK you can make sure you only get say 10 litres at a time, but that means having to find a garage twice as often. I will stick to red from marinas.

I have been to Belgium and am not planning to visit again.
Click to expand...
Why not get a bigger can - my dedicated diesel can is 22l.
 
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