PETROL POWERED BOATS

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wilsibabes

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I have been considering purchasing a petrol powered boat for use in the North West England and the general feedback I received was that I should not consider petrol due to there being very few ports selling petrol. This would mean endless trips with a Gerry can (is that term racist now?) to the nearest petrol station.
I understand this view but I wonder how all the other people who sail petrol boats in the North West cope? Is it a case of humping the can to the petrol station, are there tricks of the trade people to know, or does owning a petrol boat limit your sailing.
 
You will get lots of comments I am sure - but I had my boat in the Northwest up until last year - Petrol V8, and it is a pain getting fuel. To my knowledge you can only get petrol at Deganwy (Conwy), but you can get Diesel at most places.

I used to have to fill large jerrycans and cart them down using a trolley, and then do everything I could not to spill any when filling up. It became a pain in the butt - I really wouldnt have a petrol engine unless you can tow the boat on a trailer - in which case you can take it to a garage.

There are some sailing boats I see with petrol, but its very rare, and also a Gerry can for them lasts a lot longer.

If you really want petrol then as a minimum base yourself out of somewhere like Conwy so at least you can fill up - it really is tedious after a while humping around petrol, and its bleeding heavy!

Best of luck

Martyn
 
hi, petrol boats if large can be expensive to run, plus risk from fumes. how big is the boat???

Jerry can solution is true though, petrol not sold every where
 
I have always owned petrol powered sportscruisers. IMHO petrol makes sense for fast planing boats under around 28ft as long as they are single engined.

We have trailed our boats all over the UK and Med. You can't ignore the fact that petrol is like hens teeth, but with decent planning and effort it is usually possible to keep the boat full of the liquid gold.

We carry about 4 jerry cans on board and an alminium folding trolley. We always take every opportunity to keep the tanks topped up. This usually involves walking to the nearest garage with cans and trolley or speaking nicely to marina staff to give you a lift. This can be very time consuming.

A trip round the west coast of Scotland and through the Caladonian Canal was the most difficult. I once spent 3 hrs shuttling to the petrol station at Tobemory and back via dingy to fill the boat up.

Having said all that, my only experience of boating actually in the North West is Conwy, which had a petrol pump anyway. My best advice would be to ring round the Marinas you are thinking of visiting and ask them about the petrol situation.

This forum always gives sound advice, and buying a diesel powered boat is very good advice. However if you are on a smaller budget then a petrol boat is usually the only way to get on the water.

To sum up, if I had the money would I buy a diesel over a petrol powered boat-yes.
Given the choice between no boat and a petrol power-lead me to the nearest unleaded pump /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I was considering a 30 ft Bayliner flybridge and I was hoping to sail to the IOM and southwest Scotland where there is no petrol available at ports.
I now realise that to do the cruising I want to I will have to have a diesel.
However there are a lot of petrol boats out there who must cope somehow. HOW?
John
 
A lot are on the southcoast or inland where petrol is more readily available. If you are planning on longer passages such as the Isle of Man you might want to consider diesel as they are more efficient, so you can go much further for the same unit of fuel.

I had a 28ft petrol bayliner with a modern fuel injected engine. I got around 50 litres per hour out of her at a quickish cruise. I now have two 3.6l diesels in a boat that weighs twice as much. Same speed I am using about 45-50litres combined, cept now I have two engines. Like for like single to single you will have a greatly extended range.
 
Right. Well first of all. Where in the North West are you going to keep it??

Second. Very few boats actually go anywhere at all, except maybe into the bay and back.

Those that do go anywhere are either yachts, or 35ft plus diesel engined power boats. When the red diesel goes, they wont be going anywhere either, even though there much more economic than petrol.

From the North West, it's nearly imposible to go anywhere anyway, less your nocturnal.

You need the tide right for leaving the lock, a calm sea, then enough daylight to get where your going, nearly everywhere is a long way and few bolt holes, if it goes pair shaped.

So days when you can go somewhere are severly limited. Now if you can get a few days off work at a moments notice. Maybe??

But setting off and going some where is the easy decision. Getting back is far harder. Whilst you may have been able to pick your weather on the way out. You cant for the trip back. So may have to ferry or fly home. Then pay fortunes for tempary moorings.........and, and........Sorry. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Hi There,

I recently purchased a 23ft Motor cruiser with a 200 V8 Petrol and to be honest if a diesel one was available at reasonable money i would have gone for that.

However IMO i got a very good deal on the petrol boat and would take me about 10 years to recoup the difference in fuel price on a diesel equivalent.

Also the boat i bought, IMO again, had been refitted very nicely inside and the engine looked like it had been maintained very well.
Yes i do us 20litre army-type fuel cans to refuel her which isnt perfect and i do run the engine fan before every trip but for the size boat the fuel use isnt outrageous and with a bit of planning even half decent sized journeys can be undertaken.

If i were buying a 30ft+ boat then i think diesel would be the only way to go, not only cause of the scarecity of fuel but because the fuel usage on a boat that size would be just too shocking. And i guess you would be into twin engined territory which once again would be big money on petrol.

I think it depends on what you personally class is too much hassle against the extra purchase price.

Horses for courses i guess.

On the safety front, yes petrol is more volatile but if you are sensible and take all necessary precautions i wouldnt be scared of it. The USA is full of Petrol boats and we dont seem to be too concerned having petrol speedboats or PWC's etc.

My 5p worth..(ok 10... lol)

regards,

Nik
 
I have run V8 petrol powered sports boats from 20 to 28ft from Conwy Marina for the last 5 years. We have averaged 120hrs a season and have never run out of petrol, we have visisted every harbour and port around Anglesey, done several round Anglesey trips, been to the IOM, Pwllheli and various beautiful anchorages on the Llyn Peninsula. The key to your trips will be setting off full every time.The range of my current boat is 160Nm with a 20% reserve and I would suspect this would be similar on most modern petrol powered boats. Petrol is available at Conwy, Deganwy and Pwllheli, I believe it will soon be available at Holyhead. On long trips we would carry two full 20 litre cans, topping the tank up at the earliest oportunity for safety. The only place that we have had to do a petrol station run was the IOM, even though I still had well over half a tank left, this was made much easier by the very helpful harbour staff who ran us to the petrol station in thier pickup, at the time there was no diesel available either.
I have now moved up to a larger 36ft sports boat and considered long and hard over the petrol/diesel decision due to the latest press with regard to derogation. I have gone with diesel as we intend to make longer trips, it is twin engined and availability of the fuel.
 
I have a petrol boat, which i had planned on moving to the West coast of Scotland(Clyde) this season(plans changed now), Petrol is ONLY available at 2 places on the Clyde, Largs marina, and Holy Loch Marina. That wouldn't stop me keeping my boat there, but it does limit the cruising ground we have. I wouldn't concider a long hop in it though. There is more gaurentees of getting diesel in marinas you visit than there is getting petrol.

Cheers

Al.
 
I had a Searay 23ft petrol sports cruiser. I had the same problem that not many marinas sold petrol. I used 5 gallon drums and a £70 transfer pump onto a 12v battery did not take to much effort to fill up.
 
If carting Jerry cans from a garage, remember there is a rule about no more than 2 gallons in a regulation can, and carrying no more than one can in a car. You need a friendly garage with a blind eye.

You don't need to stand on deck trying to slosh fuel down a wavering funnel. There is a device consisting of a ball-valve pump in a length of pipe. You just move it up and down a bit and then it syphons by itself. You could do that discretely behind screens or dodger.
 
My friend bought the ball device a few years back at SIBS, it does work well, and is a good piece of kit, if you are into decanting fuel!
I'm not, so i always fill up at the marina.

I used to carry jerry cans when i had my first boat, but was always well aware i was breaking the law regarding carrying the fuel in my car, wasn't all that comfortable about it, so gave up, and pay the marina prices.

Cheers

Al.
 
biggest problem I have is marina dont take company shell cards
and if I use company credit card my bookeeper would chase me round the office with a big stick /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

only kidding mr taxman - I pay for all my personal fuel
 
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