petrol or diesel?

J

jolly abseilor

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Hi, to you all
Having sorted out which courses to undertake (dayskippers etc)
my next question is diesel or petrol
having discussed this, with work pals at work which is better, the type of power boat i would like to get would be around 30 - 36 ft sleeps around 4- 6 people.
My use would be to have it in a marina abroad, and take it out occasionally, basically like a caravan but on water sometimes staying moored up or just sailing out of the marina for around an hour, dropping anchor and relaxing for the day.

my pals say petrol will eat my bank balance dry and diesel is more for you money on fuel consumption, the other side to this is, if the boat is a twin engine do you run both engines once out of a marina? and if only going out an hour sailing away is petrol that bad

many thank for any input you can give me

jon
 
Petrol is fine for smaller boats (<25ft), and petrol V8's do sound good.

For larger boats, although you might start out with short trips, you might want to cruise a bit further as confidence develops, and having diesel engines that don't empty your wallet if you cruise for 4 hours or so will encourage you to see where you can get to.

With twin engines, you normally need to run both engines to run at a sensible cruise speed, keep the power steering going, charge batteries etc. unless you're on the river and you're happy with 5 knots.
 
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Diesel IMO - running costs etc - cheaper No HT electrics either, which dont mix well with sea water, but most of all its the safety aspects - just would not like to be sat on 200 gallons of petrol! Most will tend to go for diesel engines in the size of vessel you mention, so choice to buy and later resale may be easier too.
 
You have a choice; either pay more for the boat and then less to fuel it, or pay less for the boat and then more to fuel it.

I run petrols for the simple reason that I was unwilling to pay £15,000 more for the same boat with diesels. That buys a lot of four-star, even at approaching £6 a gallon.

Also, you say you'll be keeping the boat in 'a marina abroad'. If you mean Europe you'll be paying almost as much for diesel as petrol. But it's your call...

Edit; On the safety issue, I've only experienced one fire on any boat I've had - it was a scary experience. The boat was a twin diesel.
 
overseas marina ! no lugging get Manuel to fill it(for a fee of course)anyway I thought you were on a counter insurgency mission surveying the Straits for illegals :)
 
"many thank for any input you can give"

Something else to consider is that if your boat is at the wrong end of Gatwick/Stanstead runway,you will not be visiting it as frequently as you think you will,boats do not like to be neglected,they need to be used,suspect after not being visited for 6 months your diesel may be happier to start than the alternative.Petrol is fine for small runabouts but over 7m you really need to avoid petrol if you actually intend to use the boat.
 
Its not just the cost differential on fuel (maybe thats more UK), its also a question of availability and LPH/mpg= range. A diesel will have a much greater range enabling you to cruise without having to plan the whole event around your empty tanks !
Some people dont like the idea of sleeping on top of 500 litres of petrol...
 
tichmarshjohn said:
a days fiahing on my diesel boat £30 a days fishing on my friends petrol boat £100.00 no contest as far as i can see
Click to expand...

2nd that....I've got petrol..She's a little under powered with a 2 littre Volvo and she's about 22 ft...
Granted she's got an old non-fuel injected engine but the way she drinks the motion lotion brings tears to your eyes.

For the size of boat you are talking about..Diesel every time.
 
I am going to agree after runnning a petrol boat and now a diesel - it has to be diesel. Fuel consumption aside it is also far easier to find diesel than petrol whilst on the water..
 
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