Old subject: Red Diesel in inland Waterways

[boatmike]

Obviously this has been done to death in the past but I have a practical question. With a MoBo that has about 900 litres on board I am concerned that it will take a long time to get the red dye out of my tanks if I top up as normal. I don't like going to sea with low fuel reserves but intend soon to cross the channel in the hope of navigating the French Canals. If I have the tanks filled at Honfleur or Le Havre I will obviously have a receipt for that which could be shown to any over zealous official thereafter but it's not going to get the red dye out of the tanks. In a practical sense I don't think most of us have a problem with French channel port officialdom but I am concerned that I might meet "Mr Jobsworth" inland. Will a receipt for fuel bought in Le-Havre be enough to defend the fact that I still have UK fuel dye in my tanks?

 

[duncan99210]

I thought that it was the Belgians (and possibly the Dutch) who were upset about red diesel and did some limited stop and search on Brit boats, but that was a bit ago: the French took a fairly relaxed attitude to it all. IIRC the usual thing to do is to ensure you have a receipt from your last UK refuelling, showing that the red diesel was legally bought under UK rules and you were not sailing round on French red diesel you had obtained illegally. The other rule is no red diesel in cans, only in the fixed fuel tanks.

 

[Tranona]

Doubt you will have any problems even if your tanks were full of red. However expect you will find diesel much cheaper in france, so worth taking just enough plus reserve to get across the channel. Worth researching potential filling points and prices before you go.

 

[bendyone]

However expect you will find diesel much cheaper in france, .

Fuel prices have gone up a lot in the last few weeks in France .€1.40 for unleaded and €1.20 for gas.

 

[Grehan]

There is very little chance that you'd get nabbed for faint traces of red diesel travelling through inland France, of course as we all know, in boating sh!t can happen. Officials should know that different rules may apply in the UK and if that's where you've come from, and you've filled up in France then ok. It's quite possible that you'll get visited by customs when you get to Rouen (we did) to check papers. Not heard of anyone who also got tanks dipped. Thereafter river police inspections happen and papers and fire extinguishers and safety gear (lifejackets) get checked, but again never heard of diesel problems. After ten+ years and thousands of km in France we've never so much as had our papers checked after that first time.
I've also had problems trying to work out if fuel is currently cheaper in France than UK . . . it certainly has gone up sharply over the last couple of months, I think. ??

 

[blampied]

Obviously this has been done to death in the past but I have a practical question. With a MoBo that has about 900 litres on board I am concerned that it will take a long time to get the red dye out of my tanks if I top up as normal. I don't like going to sea with low fuel reserves but intend soon to cross the channel in the hope of navigating the French Canals. If I have the tanks filled at Honfleur or Le Havre I will obviously have a receipt for that which could be shown to any over zealous official thereafter but it's not going to get the red dye out of the tanks. In a practical sense I don't think most of us have a problem with French channel port officialdom but I am concerned that I might meet "Mr Jobsworth" inland. Will a receipt for fuel bought in Le-Havre be enough to defend the fact that I still have UK fuel dye in my tanks?

Hi Mike,
We had exactly the same worries,
my advise:- have details of size of tank,
keep all fuel receipts,
keep the log up to date if possible with daily with fuel log used
(we have a fuel flow meter, so it was easy to keep a note of the daily consumption)

However
We topped up in Alderney before heading up the channel, the Seine, through Paris, the Marne river quite a way east before going down the Soan and Rhone rivers in the centre of France. The fuel gauges were hardly moving, and fuel flow showed us not burning much at all at river speed (as the boat was new to me I started doubting the accuracy fuel flow meter) When we finally arrived at Port StLouis in the Med and refuelled we had indeed used slightly less than half a tank of fuel. Refuelling had done nothing more than dilute the red by 50% and it still looked just as red as normal. I was by now getting rather nourvous that no Med French customs was ever going to believe my receipts. We used the boat for a month then we laid the boat up for the winter (the mechanic doing the engine service did point out that it was red) We started again the next year still with almost full very obviously red diesel, it wasn't until two more refuels and having crossed over into Spain (apparently the Spanish aren't any where ne'er as vidgulent at checking such things as the French) middle of the Summer that I started feeling comfortable. I feel luck no one ever checked.

Having said that I now have brimmed tanks of duty free again, only this time white from Gibraltar only 29p per litre.

 

[blampied]

Hi Mike
If you are coming down?
We have now decided we are Staying in the Med for an extra year,
We overwintered living on the boat in Cartagena last winter, weather was good all winter and it was an absolutely brilliant
place to be.
Since then we have travelled down the Spanish coast to Gib, across the straits to Ceuta (pick pockets got my wallet) down to Smir then back to Gib, we're now slowly heading north currently at Benalmadena (50 miles from Gib.)
We will spend this winter on the boat in a marina somewhere on the Spnish coast.
We haven't decided where yet, but back to Cartagena is a strong contender if no it will be Valencia, Alicantie, Saint Carles, or Barcelona. (Anything north of Barcelona can be rather cold for overwintering)

Maybe we can meet up?

 

[boatmike]

Hi Mike
If you are coming down?
We have now decided we are Staying in the Med for an extra year,
We overwintered living on the boat in Cartagena last winter, weather was good all winter and it was an absolutely brilliant
place to be.
Since then we have travelled down the Spanish coast to Gib, across the straits to Ceuta (pick pockets got my wallet) down to Smir then back to Gib, we're now slowly heading north currently at Benalmadena (50 miles from Gib.)
We will spend this winter on the boat in a marina somewhere on the Spnish coast.
We haven't decided where yet, but back to Cartagena is a strong contender if no it will be Valencia, Alicantie, Saint Carles, or Barcelona. (Anything north of Barcelona can be rather cold for overwintering)

Maybe we can meet up?

Glad to Paul. I have sent you a separate e-mail.