What are the costs involved

[LuckyMrMojoRisin]

Good Morning All, happy weekend!

I have the opportunity to purchase a 2005 rib 7.5m with 225hp Diesel engine. Would anyone be able to advise on what the cost per hour for fuel would be at cruising speed of say c20knots as well as annual cost for mid range dry stacking on south coast. Just ball park figures will be great

Thank you

[GuyC]

£18 per hour at 20 knots

£3.5k 'ish to dry stack

[paulbrown22]

Likewise, from that kind of setup I'd expect something just under a litre per nautical mile at 20kn, so depending on your fuel cost around £18-20/hour. On my pretty heavy 9m Ribtec with a 315hp Yanmar diesel, I pretty reliably average 1l/NM driving between 20-30kn.

South Coast berthing/dry stacking is typically pretty expensive, but there's still quite a bit of variation between locations depending on where you want to be along the coast and the location of the facility within the harbour, so definitely worth hunting around.

[jakew009]

Originally Posted by LuckyMrMojoRisin

Good Morning All, happy weekend!

I have the opportunity to purchase a 2005 rib 7.5m with 225hp Diesel engine. Would anyone be able to advise on what the cost per hour for fuel would be at cruising speed of say c20knots as well as annual cost for mid range dry stacking on south coast. Just ball park figures will be great

Thank you

I dare say the derv cost is going to be the most irrelevant part of the whole cost of ownership.

[LuckyMrMojoRisin]

Massively helpful GuyC thank you

[LuckyMrMojoRisin]

Thank you Again Paul.

[LuckyMrMojoRisin]

Absolutely. I think I’ve pretty much identified most costs now but interestingly hadn’t really considered fuel!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by LuckyMrMojoRisin

Absolutely. I think I’ve pretty much identified most costs now but interestingly hadn’t really considered fuel!

Have you got an idea what it costs to service/maintain a drive leg on a diesel boat, and when the bellows were last replaced etc.

[beamishken]

Im my opinion there is soon to be little advantage in running a diesel boat over a petrol boat with the exception of better fuel availability. Modern 4 stroke outboards are whisper quiet & pretty good on fuel, coming prety close in terms of fuel economy to a diesel inboard. Once we loose the cost advantage of running red diesel in 2022 then considering the significantly higher servicing cost of the diesel then a petrol outboard will likely be cheaper over a season even with doing your own maintenance.
You also gain a significant volume of boat space & save weight for towing. Replacement engine options are also greater if it becomes necessary to re engine. Make no mistake repairs and servicing a diesel sterndrive boat can be eyewateringly expensive.
Don't get me wrong I love my diesel Delta 7.4 & twin diesel engined cruiser but from a rib point of view I think the petrol outboard wins the day both in performance and ease of use.
On the other hand if your planning on staying in the water & doing long distance cruising to remote areas then the availability of dock side diesel will win the day

[Poly]

Originally Posted by beamishken

On the other hand if your planning on staying in the water & doing long distance cruising to remote areas then the availability of dock side diesel will win the day

I doubt that unless you are doing those sort of mileages that the cost of diesel even with the current pricing make economic sense.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Poly

I doubt that unless you are doing those sort of mileages that the cost of diesel even with the current pricing make economic sense.

Yeah your probably right an annual service on a diesel buys a LOT of fuel

[LuckyMrMojoRisin]

Any help with questions like that would be greatly appreciated

[jakew009]

Originally Posted by LuckyMrMojoRisin

Any help with questions like that would be greatly appreciated

Sorry I wasn't very helpful in my first post, I will try to be a bit more useful in this one

I should prefix this with saying that my boating knowledge is minuscule compared to many on this forum, but I have spent my life around diesel engines.

I think the point everyone is trying to get across is that trying to estimate what a ~15 year old diesel engined boat is going to cost to run is a total stab in the dark.

The paths look something like this:

- the engine has no major problems, the diesel cost is about the same as an equivalent petrol outboard. You get a dealer to service it and depending on who / where / what you get a bill that's a lot bigger than an equivelent outboard (could easily be 4 figures).

- the boat has had a hard life and the engine / outdrive is pretty knackered. It breaks down, you get a marine engineer to look at it, it needs a major rebuild / complete replacement / new leg. You end up with a bill that is more than the original cost of the rib which adds zero to the resale value.

- You are practical and can do all the mechanical work yourself, the cost becomes somewhat irrelevant and you wouldn't be asking these questions in the first place.ou n

I originally thought I wanted a diesel rib (and would have the advantage of buying diesel very cheaply). The more I looked at it the more I decided it was probably a bad idea and a petrol outboard had a lot of upsides and no real downsides. In retrospect I'm very glad I went the outboard route.

From reading your other thread, if you're concerned about running costs I'd suggest you try and find something a bit smaller with a petrol outboard which is as new as possible. You're much less likely to have unforseen bills or a huge refurbishment project on your hands (imho). You want to have your eyes wide open buying a 15 year old diesel...