Need fuel question help PLEASE!!!

[Galaxy]

Hello all,

I am brand new to boating. I have 5 kids and I have always dreamed of living on a boat. I have decided that I am going to sell my house and buy a boat and liveaboard at a marina for a while taking short weekend jaunts and longer school vacation trips. I have a zillion things that I am trying to figure out before I make the leap. One of the biggest questions right now is fuel. I have only ever sailed once in my life and really don't have much interest in sailing, and more importantly with 5 kids ages 12-3 I really need as much space as I can get and seems that yachts have much better space. I have been searching the net for days now trying to get a realistic feel for the cost of fuel for a large yacht. I don't want to make a huge mistake and buy this beautiful boat only to realize that it is too expensive to travel in. I figure that I need a private space (cabin) for each kid and one for myself and my mom who is joining us. So, I need at least 7 cabins including crew cabins to have a door for everyone. I am figuring after checking out (via net) a bunch of used yachts that I will need at least an 85' yacht. I might get lucky when the time comes and find something a bit smaller, but for now that's what I'm figuring worste case. I know that there a many variables in regard to fuel consumption/cost, but I can't even seem to get a grasp on a rough idea. I was hoping that folks with boats around this size could give me an idea of trips that they have taken, how long it took them, how many hours a day of travel and total cost of fuel for the trip. For example, if I went from let's say Maine to Florida on an 85' yacht how much would it cost me one way in fuel? I realize that variables are endless, but just trying to get an idea if this is doable for me. Thanks so much for your help.

Also, I am glad I found this forum there is so much real life information that you just wouldn't get anywhere else

 

[John100156]

Hi Galaxy and welcome to the Forum.

I am not best placed to answer your question but at least my eply will get you back up to the top of the page - the YBW Forum is really well supported with lots of great people on here willing to help and offer good advice or correction when needed, we all need that from time-to-time!

So in a first attempt to answer your points raised:

1) An 85' boat is a lot to handle if its your first boat, you might consider a much smaller boat first off, then trade up later.

2) This size of boat is very expensive to berth, insure, maintain and then there's the fuel! A very rough guide that has worked prettry well for me is 10% of the boats value per year!

3) As far as fuel consumption is concerned, I expect we are talking MoBo and not Sail, if so my boat is just over 43' (Sealine F43) and it consumes 4.5 litres per mile at cruising speed, less if you throttle back. An 85' boat I would guess could easily consume 20-25L per mile, so your trip from say the Murr Basin to Daytona Beach would equate to say 1,200nm and would consume a minimum of 24,000L - 30,000L of fuel - not sure what you would pay for it over the pond, a hell of a lot less than us I suppose!

4) At say a typical cruising speed of 20 knots and lets say you coastal hop so say maximum 10hrs on the sea each day, it would take you 6 days to complete the trip! Of course you may need to wait for weather slots and if I am not mistaken you will be running bow on to the gulf stream which could increase fuel consumption, but others will be best placed to provide advice in this regard!

5) You should also factor-in that you are likely selling a low maintenance appreciating asset (not much nowadays I know) for a high maintenance depreciating one!

One final thing to add - have your family undertaken trips of this length before now? If not, you might consider chartering a boat just to see if they can handle it and enjoy a life as liveaboards - sounds a little risky but a very exciting prospect to me!

Anyway, I hope that starts the ball rolling for you - others with better knowledge of larger boats may be along soon to add or correct the above - best of luck!

 

[jrudge]

... and as far as I know if you exceed 74 feet or there abouts ( there are dozens of ways of measuring this it seems) you will need a professional skippers ticket, which cannot be obtained in an afternoon!

If the crew consists of your wife on the assumption that mum and kids wont be able to help with the ropes (the 12 years old might be able to?) then mooring a 85 ft boat looks pretty short handed ... especially if you have never been on a boat before! One plus I suppose it is will be so long when the wife shouts all sorts of obscenities back ("do your own $&^&$@^g ropes then") you probably wont be able the hear her. You probably will hear an expensive crunch though!

 

[lisilou]

Bumping it up coz I find this a very different and interesting scenario so I hope some may have some answers for you. I do have one question of my own tho...you say you're not interested in sailing but you talk about buying a yacht? Do you mean sail or power? Sorry I don't have any answers/advice for you but wow...I'll be interested in following your progress on here. I wish you the very best of luck. 5 kids+2 adults living on a boat wow. I really hope you find something to suit. Oh and welcome to the forum. It's a fantastic starting point with a great bunch of people on here.
Lisa

 

[sarabande]

you could get away with a smaller catamaran, say 55 ft, or a Dutch barge. But until you know what sort of boating you want to do, and have some experience, it will be difficult to help further.

 

[gjgm]

So, you, 5 kids and your mother; an 85ft sailing boat that you, as yet, dont know how to handle, and you only want to motor because you dont like sailing.
Have I got this right?

 

[sailorman]

Hello all,

I am brand new to boating. I have 5 kids and I have always dreamed of living on a boat. I have decided that I am going to sell my house and buy a boat and liveaboard at a marina for a while taking short weekend jaunts and longer school vacation trips. I have a zillion things that I am trying to figure out before I make the leap. One of the biggest questions right now is fuel. I have only ever sailed once in my life and really don't have much interest in sailing, and more importantly with 5 kids ages 12-3 I really need as much space as I can get and seems that yachts have much better space. I have been searching the net for days now trying to get a realistic feel for the cost of fuel for a large yacht. I don't want to make a huge mistake and buy this beautiful boat only to realize that it is too expensive to travel in. I figure that I need a private space (cabin) for each kid and one for myself and my mom who is joining us. So, I need at least 7 cabins including crew cabins to have a door for everyone. I am figuring after checking out (via net) a bunch of used yachts that I will need at least an 85' yacht. I might get lucky when the time comes and find something a bit smaller, but for now that's what I'm figuring worste case. I know that there a many variables in regard to fuel consumption/cost, but I can't even seem to get a grasp on a rough idea. I was hoping that folks with boats around this size could give me an idea of trips that they have taken, how long it took them, how many hours a day of travel and total cost of fuel for the trip. For example, if I went from let's say Maine to Florida on an 85' yacht how much would it cost me one way in fuel? I realize that variables are endless, but just trying to get an idea if this is doable for me. Thanks so much for your help.

Also, I am glad I found this forum there is so much real life information that you just wouldn't get anywhere else

as a rule of thumb a diesel engine uses 1 lt per hr x hp used
300 hp = 30 lts
if only 150hp used of the 300 hp available that will be 15lts

are you sure you are doing the right thing

 

[whisper]

So, you, 5 kids and your mother; an 85ft sailing boat that you, as yet, dont know how to handle, and you only want to motor because you dont like sailing.
Have I got this right?

Don't think he means a sailing boat Gavin.
Could still be very interesting with that number of folk living on board though. Think the younger kids will have to share cabins.
Agree with suggestion that the OP should have a go at chartering first.

 

[Questor]

as a rule of thumb a diesel engine uses 1 lt per hr x hp used
300 hp = 30 lts
if only 150hp used of the 300 hp available that will be 15lts

Did you go to the same accountancy school as Harry Redknapp?

 

[gjgm]

Don't think he means a sailing boat Gavin.
Could still be very interesting with that number of folk living on board though. Think the younger kids will have to share cabins.
Agree with suggestion that the OP should have a go at chartering first.

I wasnt sure as he says yachts have more space...
Was down in Salcome the other w.end-just had to burn some fuel !
That reminds me.. got a question to post !

 

[Galaxy]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments everyone,

The story of my life is actually follows this same suit. Every step of the way I have gone against the grain and done things that most wouldn't dream of in terms of risk and all sorts of other life choices. (I'll save that story for another day, I don't want anyone to think I'm a nut...LOL) So I figure, why stop now?

John, I agree an 85' probably is larger than I should go. I'm just not sure if I will have dedicated space for everyone in something smaller. Wondering what size you guys think would be appropriate for a family of 5 kids and 3 adults to liveaboard? Also John, if your right about your estimation of the fuel consumption that would be good news for me. That would be about 4 or 5 gallons per hr at 20 knots, correct? That would be a lot less than I was guessing. Sure hope your right! I thought it was more like 20 gph. I think that a charter is a very good idea, to get a feel for how the kids would do.

Jrudge, I got a kick out of your comment and I'm sure that your correct except that I will be yelling at my husband to " Go do the &^%$#@ ropes"

Lisa, although I admit that I am just at the very beginning stages of this whole plan, and certainly could change my mind, it just seem that, most importantly, sailboats don't have the same space, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but they seem like a lot more work than a full power boat.

So now with all of your comments and some other research that I have done, I am wondering if it will be at all possible to operate a boat this size. What type of strenght would one need to "do the ropes at docking?" By the time all of this is in motion my older kids will be 13, 12, 11, plus my mom (who is acompanying) will be 60. I can't count on always having my husband there as he has a land job part of the year. So we may sometimes have to leave him ashore.

I guess my 2 biggest fears are buying this large boat only to realize after that it cost me 20k US to take a 1000 mile trip or that there is daily engine maintenance that I would be unsure about. I have no problem with getting repairs done by someone as needed and maintenance as needed, but the day to day stuff. I guess I would have to be taught. Is it really true that one can spend hours a day caring for the boat, every single day? I know that on land I clean some part of my house every day, cook, do laundry etc, is it a similar comparison, polish this one day wax that another day? Can this be done without a real crew? Just so unsure.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Cynical me???

I usually let these threads go over my head so perhaps I am in a grumpy mood brought on by crashed work computers but do we think that someone with the budget for an 85 footer, no sailing experience and thinking of going short handed with his family is real. If so its a heck of a jump into the world of water.

If I have misrepresented the OP I apologise but it seems weird

 

[oldgit]

Did you go to the same accountancy school as Harry Redknapp?

and Lester Piggot
and Ken Dodd.
and that bloke who legged it to N. Cyprus and then came back cos Cyprus wanted some EU bailout money and would have thrown him out anyway as a quid pro quo.

 

[Questor]

Asil Nadir?

In fact I thought a diesel engine burnt (as a rule of thumb) 1 x gallon per 20 hp per hour ish

 

[henryf]

Fuel wise the single most influential variable will be your speed. An 85 foot boat running on the plane will burn fuel at a hell of a rate of knots. One ticking over at a displacement speed relative to it's hull length will be far more manageable. On this basis you will probably want to consider a boat designed to potter along from the outset. I you are really lucky it might come with functional stability aids.

Things can be done on a budget, the recent article in Motor Boat and yachting shows an example. I won't scare you by showing the photos of cutting up the transom with a saw

Good luck

Henry

 

[Galaxy]

as a rule of thumb a diesel engine uses 1 lt per hr x hp used
300 hp = 30 lts
if only 150hp used of the 300 hp available that will be 15lts

are you sure you are doing the right thing

Thanks, that is the kind of useful information that I'm looking for.

Yes, I do believe that I am doing the right thing. Most people in their lifetime will never get the opportunity to show see the world as they choose. This will be the greatest adventure.

 

[Galaxy]

So, you, 5 kids and your mother; an 85ft sailing boat that you, as yet, dont know how to handle, and you only want to motor because you dont like sailing.
Have I got this right?

No, I was hoping to get a motor yacht. I want plenty of space and sailing seems like a lot of work.

 

[Galaxy]

you could get away with a smaller catamaran, say 55 ft, or a Dutch barge. But until you know what sort of boating you want to do, and have some experience, it will be difficult to help further.

I figured that I could dock in a marina until my kids are out of high school, taking short weekend trips, and longer school vacation trips. Then by the time my kids, or at least some of the older kids are off to college, then I will have a good feel for the boat and be able to take longer excursions abroad. We will live on the boat while my kids finish school.

 

[prv]

I wasnt sure as he says yachts have more space...

I think this is someone with zero knowledge or experience on the water, picking up the "luxury yacht" media cliche for lack of anything else. In that context, for some reason "yacht" means "big swanky motorboat".

Without meaning to be rude to Galaxy, this is clearly complete fantasy at this point. Not to say he (she?) won't get there one day, but there's a massive gulf between here and there. A good first step would be to charter a more sensibly-sized motorboat (seriously, 85 feet is massive) for a week or two's holiday to see if the family even likes being on the water.

Pete

 

[Galaxy]

Pete,

I have already stated that I have no knowledge or experience, that is why I was asking for help. I use the term "yacht" because of the size. I really thought that anything that big was a yacht, please correct me if I'm wrong. I know that I love the water and freedom to travel. I lived on an exteremely small boat for a week with 6 others and loved it. My mom lived on a boat for 6 months. My kids are extremely adventurous and there is no doubt in my mind that they will also love it. I agree that chartering is a great way to get a feel. The only reason that I want such a large boat is because I want to be comtorable while we are docked at our home base marina and my kids attend school.