yotties asking the mpg question

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after all, what exactly do most raggies think their plastic boats and plastic sails are made from.... ?

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Could this be the way forward?

coracle.jpg


All Right.......Perhaps not!!
 
Whats wrong or impolite about the question? I'm a raggie, but like most boat owners I often wonder about different types of boat, including motorboats. But a key factor for me would be the running cost. Hence the question.

And I am happy to talk about the cost of sails, though in a longish sailing career I've yet to buy any. nevertheless, I dont see anything wrong about openly discussing such subjects. Its not like I'm asking how much your wife costs to run!

Outside the Solent / S Coast, boating is sociable and friendly. We talk to each other irrespective of whether you are a stinkie or a raggie. But it has to be said that a few stinkies arent friendly and instead have a weekend cottage / floating dick, where the objective is more about showing how much money they have made. Invariably the attitude is "if you have to ask how much fuel they use you cant afford it you loser".
 
!!

Well having read the other posts about economy and fuel burn etc blah, blah, I reckon my boat is the cheapest form of transport currently available in the Irish Sea even though it has the new D6 350hp Volvos. You see a return ferry ticket to Liverpool from the Isle of Man is about £40 as a foot passanger and double that to fly. I can take 12 people to liverpool and back for 380 litres of fuel thats £159.60 total instead of £480 by ferry or £960 by air. So you see my ... 100's of thousands of pounds boat saves me money !.

The ferry burns about 20 tons of fuel there and back and at times there are only maybe 50 people on board, that's 400 litres each. So I do declare Iam the most enviromentally freindly boater out there, so pooh to you Mr Greenpeace!
 
yep, you're right that it isn't impolite - but it's such an early question, that's the thing. As thought the *only* enjoyable boat is one that is dead cheap to run. I mean, if I had five kids, surely the first question wouldn't be "gosh and how much is your weekly food bill? - ours is only 15 quid! " I mean, in the early part of a conversation stinkies don't say "jeez, just how fast can you go in this thing eh? - six or seven knots huh? - we can clatter along at 20-25 knots all day or 30knots any time we like!" Well, hopefully not many. Anyway, pls note that it's an awkward and not enjoyable subject for stinkies, even nice ones! Although i grant you, an interesting one...
 
As a petrol boater I'm sure I could get away with pointing out that 80% of the running costs go directly to pay for schools, hospitals and nuclear weapons (delete as applicable), so my conscience is clear...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Praps you could try "more than I care to be reminded of" ?
 
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so, after a long trip you happen across some nice yotties in a fairly empty marina or anchorage and compare notes about the weatehr forecast. However, they can't resist asking the smiley question "how much fuel does it use each hour?" or the same question in a different style.

What's the right answer to this? Isn't it a bit rude, really? I've tried "no idea! - i get swmbo to pay!" which obv isn't correct as i just must have a very clear idea. Or "i just don't think about it!" is another. Once, an aging yotty with swmbo on a long cruise gruffed "I'd rather have my fuel bills than yours!" to which i said something along the lines of i'd rather have my boat than his piece of junk, but er obviously he went off never to be seen again....

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my sail wardrobe stands @ around £8k that would buy a fair bit of fuel, just depends how you tot-up these things
 
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my sail wardrobe stands @ around £8k that would buy a fair bit of fuel, just depends how you tot-up these things

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Just out of serious interest how long would such a wardrobe last? (suspect it is like the fuel in my tank, depends on how far/fast I go...)
 
Thank you for your post

Going through the previous ones, I began questioning my own sanity.
I mean, when asked such question, I always - and quite simply - gave a reply, without thinking about the 2nd or 3rd or Nth reason for asking...
Sometimes, just for sake of conversation, I just added "what about yours?".
Interesting to see how this rather trivial subject is perceived by many as a sort of philosophical matter...
 
Why is it that the Brits have such a hang-up about asking/telling the price of possessions/fuel consumption etc. I don't think it's rude even if it is the first question; it's probably genuine interest, possibly mixed with a little envy. But isn't that part of having a big boat? ie to make people envious and to show off one's success in life. Nothing wrong with that. Anyone would think you were being asked about your sexual orientation or the length of your d%6k /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Yes and I fill up once a year and all the nice chaps on the fuel pontoon remember my name and boat. You go every fortnight and they don't know who you are.

Actually, I have no point to make at all, maybe us raggies are just nicer people who don't get all screwy when asked about our fuel consumption.

No, if you have to ask you wont understand, there is a good arrogant statement.

I will shut up now /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
um starintg from the uk, but with no red diesel in spain or france, i spose it would get some mobos to about gibrlatar, others a bit further, presumably others less - the "totting up" working along the lines that you burned all the sails immediately upon arrival, and bought new ones for the next 1000miles
 
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my sail wardrobe stands @ around £8k that would buy a fair bit of fuel, just depends how you tot-up these things

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Just done the maths for me, £8000 = 2000 gallons (petrol) = 6000 miles = 400hrs @15kts

....which is probably about 2-3yrs usage for me.
 
Always find it amusing to answer in metric to English speakers... and perferrably in cubic decimetre

So for me the answer will be somewhere between 8 and 10 Dm3 / hr at cruising speed.... always brings a smile to their face...
 
aha.. so you DO know TCMs fuel consumption..
Come of it, a few thousand or even tens of thousands larger power boats have absolutely no impact of oil supplies and worlds polution. China developing as an industrial power might notch up on the register, I suppose. Half a billion people in North America having a colder winter might have an effect. Perhaps another half billion people in Europe changing lifestyles so that all food is prepacked in cling film and plastic, wanting a new car every few years, having houses full of electronics etc etc. I should think you re going to need a calculator with a hell of alot of decimals to be able to see the "damage" a powerboat is doing in the scheme of things.
Anyway, as far as i ve read, TCMs boat spends most of the time being repaired, so probably is incredibly efficient in fuel over number of hours in a year!
 
And of course modern sails use petrochemical products in their manufacture don't they? What can be done to dispose of old sails in an ecologically friendly fashion? Eight grand on sails, that would buy me nearly 22000 litres of red if bought sans discount. About 80 full tanks, about 12000 miles or so with the stick right forward and probably more fuel that I'll otherwise buy in my life.
 
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Why is it that the Brits have such a hang-up about asking/telling the price of possessions/fuel consumption etc.

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When I was an active photographer I used to find that a new client was always aghast when I asked "How do propose to pay me for this work?"

It gave me the opportunity to put my terms on the line so that there was no confusion in the future. If they spluttered, then I knew I was not likely to see the money for a while, and could either decline the job or bump up the price.
 
hm yellow card AGAIN

hm another showing-off yellow card, NW. Quote :"It would cost me $21,000 to fill it up" ....but it wouldn't cost YOU a bean to fill it up now would it cos the owner pays, not you as the hired skipper/driver, hm?

Loads of people hire staff but none of them are ever quite so proprietorial as in your posts - I mean, lots of people work in big offices, but none of the employees whine about the rates "costing me x hundred thousand", see?

If you want to leave it ambiguous, consider using "it would cost $21,000 to fill it up". Likewise yesterday it's *THE* 60kw genset and most definitely not *MY* 60kw genset, innit ?

Hey, showing off makes people feel bad anyway - but showing off when the stuff you're showing off about ain't even in the least little bit yours - is just a flippin Mitty-esque windup, innit?
 
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