Round Britain Powerboat and Rib Challenge 2014

[MustRib]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

I reckon that support crews with trailers is probably the best way to do it. It's not as straightforward as fueling at the quayside, but at least you can get supermarket prices

support crews? it just takes it further away from people trying to do it on a budget with a small outboard Rib, not a diesel Rib.
On Round Ireland last year, if there were any misgivings from local council, harbourmasters etc about the fuelling operation, I was not privy to them and the operation ran smoothly, with only supportive people on the quayside.
The friendliness and enthusiasm of everyone for the event was evident. When playing catch up to the event last year, and short of fuel I had to come into Wicklow, where the local street cleaner took me and 2 x 20 litre cans 3 miles to the local petrol station in his car. (ok he was smoking - but the window was open in the car )
The email from HMS said that this enthusiasm from officialdom at local level, was far from the case with Round Britain discussions on the fuelling issue. It seems like any 'organised' flotilla with a requirement for lots of petrol, is going to run into problems, whether fuelled from a professional tanker operation, or from a score of tow vehicles filled with plastic tanks.
I suspect, that apart from the H and S issues, licensing issues, associated with refuelling a flotilla, local councils like to know someone is responsible, culpability - in case of accident or pollution. As the event organiser do you accept that responsibilty for a fleet or Ribs, conducting their own refuelling operation?

[PeterM]

I think the 'support crew' can be a mate in a van/big car full of boat stuff towing a trailer just in case .

I agree that the numbers of boats seem to be stumbling block - look at Andres Parker currently going round - all 'low key' and seems to be running very well - albeit with the 'support crew ( a couple of guys in vans) and some prior planning of ports expecting them.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by PeterM

I think the 'support crew' can be a mate in a van/big car full of boat stuff towing a trailer just in case .

I agree that the numbers of boats seem to be stumbling block - look at Andres Parker currently going round - all 'low key' and seems to be running very well - albeit with the 'support crew ( a couple of guys in vans) and some prior planning of ports expecting them.

And diesel which is much more readily available "dock side".

Originally Posted by Mustrib

support crews? it just takes it further away from people trying to do it on a budget with a small outboard Rib, not a diesel Rib.

Its perfectly feasible, even with a petrol boat, with some careful planning if you are in no great rush and willing to accept that getting fuel is going to add to the adventure! Trying to do it with a few dozen ribs makes it much harder.

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by MustRib

support crews? it just takes it further away from people trying to do it on a budget with a small outboard Rib, not a diesel Rib.

Doing it as part of a big organised event with extraordinary fuelling arrangements doesn't exactly fit that scenario either!

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Poly

Its perfectly feasible, even with a petrol boat, with some careful planning if you are in no great rush and willing to accept that getting fuel is going to add to the adventure! Trying to do it with a few dozen ribs makes it much harder.

Mike Garside did some very impressive cruising in his outboard powered boat a year or two ago, transporting petrol in jerry cans. He just got on with it on his own though.

[two stroke mick]

I am giving serious consideration to doing a RI next year on my own as I would be hard pushed to pay the entrance fee and tanker charges with an orgainised event. I would look to start in Westport co Mayo and go from there. I would however welcome company


TSM

[Trevor G]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

I reckon that support crews with trailers is probably the best way to do it. It's not as straightforward as fueling at the quayside, but at least you can get supermarket prices

You must have been spying on us!
Currently the above plan seems to be one that might work, and one that we (i) think we can co-ordinate for a relatively low extra cost. After all - it's not needed for the whole way round - just for the two or three long stretches between dockside fuel on the East coast.

Trev

[sirib]

I went round in Sept 2011 with 2 Ribs. We called it "Take 2 Ribs" Fuel was not the big problem we anticipated but it did mean some extra work at the end of each day , although we did have a 200 -250Nm range.
Voyage Statistics are here Take Two Ribs: Round Britain Voyage Statistics
Main Website here Take Two Ribs

My boat Coastline 7m had 140l built in tank + 2 x 20l Jerry Can + 2 x 45l demountable fuel tanks
The other boat a Ribcraft 6.8m had a 270l built in tank + 4 x 25l Portable Fuel Tanks
So a big fill up would be 2 trips to the local petrol station.

I did do a UK map showing where to get fuel both quayside & nearby see https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...bb6&dg=feature

We always got our tanks/cans filled up, with help from the locals including off duty RNLI guys, harbour masters, B&B owners, petrol station owners, boatyard owners, there was always a way, and in each town a great way to meet some of the local boaters.

Equally we didnt have any road crew following us round, it never occurred to us, but it would have made life a lot easier,and less tiring, quayside with a beer & some petrol each day sounds great.

I my book if you want to do, just get on, you dont need the back up of a big group, which for a lot of the time is just a hindrance and adds lots of complications.

[M.Thornton]

Part of the attraction of cruising in company is the Craic afterwards in the pub,
The waves get bigger and the winds stronger with every pint consumed.
I can see the attraction of doing your own thing but I have certainly enjoyed group trips better. It is a pity that in this jobs-worth age another great adventurace pastime might be a thing of the past,just glad iv'e filled my memory box

[Poly]

Sirib - that is a really useful resource. I think there are a few new places not on there (I *think* Campbeltown and Inverness both have dockside Petrol now?). Is there any easy way we could put this in the "Features" part of the site and have it editable so e.g. any of the admins can update it? I'm not familiar with how google maps api works.

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by Trevor G

You must have been spying on us!
Currently the above plan seems to be one that might work, and one that we (i) think we can co-ordinate for a relatively low extra cost. After all - it's not tugs needed for the whole way round - just for the two or three long stretches between dockside fuel on the East coast.

Trev

I thought it was the west of Scotland that the big issue was?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

I thought it was the west of Scotland that the big issue was?

No, if you pick your stops wisely* its quite possible to get all the way up the west coast and through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness, its the bit from Aberdeen south that is a big issue. West Coast only becomes difficult if you are going "round the top".

*i.e. not the ones Hugo picked!!!

[Trevor G]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

I thought it was the west of Scotland that the big issue was?

Ah - well it would be if we were going all the way round - but the plan for this time is to go through the canal, so we can fuel up at Oban (Puffin Divers) - the next fuel required would be on the East coast. It's after that bit that I think we start to have more challenges.

If anyone on Ribnet can help with known places where petrol is available on the dockside on the East Coast of Scotland and England their help would be most appreciated.

The next thing we need is ports where there are petrol stations near to the port so we could try and arrange land-support / helpers to assist in re-fuelling without a 20 mile drive being required!

Public replys (posts), PM's or e-mails to myself would be great!

Trev
(email: tgoddard@delgarno.com)

[A1an]

Without reading through all the posts Trevor, when would you be doing the Oban-Fort William leg?

If you need any help in or around the FW area just shout.

[Poly]

Trevor - what's your range / endurance?

Worth double checking this but Scottish Canals: Inverness Marina Ltd, Caledonian Canal claims to have petrol. That I think is your last dockside petrol for a long time.

What's your "Can Carrying Capacity"?

[Trevor G]

Originally Posted by A1an

Without reading through all the posts Trevor, when would you be doing the Oban-Fort William leg?

The plan was to do Oban to Fort William very early on Wed 30th July, to get the 1st lock through the canal on the same day - ie be at Fort William by 8am I think.

The original route and dates proposed by HMS, and which people have booked B&B's for are, I believe:
Thu 24/07/2014 Southampton to Plymouth ( 150 NM )
Fri 25/07/2014 Plymouth to Hugh Town, St Marys, Isles of Scilly ( 100 NM )
Sat 26/07/2014 Hugh Town, St Marys, Isles of Scilly to Neyland Marina, Milford Haven ( 140 NM )
Sun 27/07/2014 Neyland Marina, Milford Haven to Holyhead ( 140 NM )
Mon 28/07/2014 Holyhead to Bangor, Northern Ireland, (via possible lunch stop at Castletown IOM) ( 110 NM )
Tue 29/07/2014 Bangor, Northern Ireland to Oban ( 160 NM )
Wed 30/07/2014 Oban to Inverness (via Caledonian Canal & Loch Ness) – 55NM ( 90 NM )
Thu 31/07/2014 Inverness to Arbroath ( 160 NM )
Fri 01/08/2014 Arbroath to Whitby ( 150 NM )
Sat 02/08/2014 Whitby to Lowestoft ( 160 NM )
Sun 03/08/2014 Lowestoft to Ramsgate ( 80 NM )
Mon 04/08/2014 Ramsgate to Southampton ( 130 NM )
Total Distance 1570 NM

The original dates and route started in Plymouth, but as we'll be coming from Southampton anyway I've assumed that we'll start a day earlier so B&B bookings for others (if they decide to give it a go) stay the same.

SO - as it stands I think the challenge days for petrol would be from Thursday 31st July to Sat 2nd August, as this is the stretch of the UK with limited quayside petrol options.

Trev

[Gilles]

Trevor, i sent an email to Hugo asking all marinas with petrol pontoons and than marians with petrol station close to pontoons and also the marinas he planned without anything. i will fwd you this email once received. next we i ll be able to check my almanac and have more searches on internet

[Trevor G]

Originally Posted by Poly

Trevor - what's your range / endurance?
What's your "Can Carrying Capacity"?

Ah - a tough one as the two are linked..!
On Blue Ray we have a 250 Litre tank built-in. We average (over a whole season) 1.3 to 1.5 Litres per Nm, so in theory we have a "normal" range of about 160Nm to 190Nm.

In crap weather we have never done worse than 2 litres per nM so our planning range is 125Nm.

I have 150 Litres worth of "cans" at the moment - but of course I could get more if needed.
What I think I'm looking at is maybe having more frequent stops and getting top-ups of fuel en-route for those that need it, rather than one massive fill-up for all the boats at the same time. Some smaller boats will (or should) have much better fuel economy than us so maybe won't need as many top-ups.

So - for us, with 150 Litres of extra fuel in various containers, we have a range of between 200 and 300 nautical miles.

As ever - "it all depends" - which doesn't help!

Trev

[Gilles]

i ve a range of 200 Nm with my 200L underdeck tank, doing 1Nm/1L average and have 2 extra jerrycans of 20L each as safety

[Cookee]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

That doesn't really make it a good though idea does it? After all some people don't use kill cords and haven't died yet, but few people here would suggest that it's a good way to operate.

I wasn't for one moment suggesting that was a good idea, besides not having much of a clue how much fuel you had put in made it a bit difficult calculating the amount of 2 stroke oil required!