Wish I had a diesel?

Siochair · 23 March 2011, 01:29

With the price of petrol being so high these days and no sign of the cost per litre getting back to a level that doesn't make your eye's water any time soon (if ever) - does anyone ever wish they had bought a diesel instead?

Cypman · 23 March 2011, 08:56

It's not just the cost of petrol but its poor availability away from the South Coast. Whilst diesel is available in most small harbours our nearest harbourside petrol pump is in Bangor. Transporting Jerry Cans full of fuel from an adjacent petrol station for that thirsty 300hp outboard is hard work!!

biffer · 23 March 2011, 09:17

HUMBER P4VWL · 23 March 2011, 10:42

That should be a "smug" smiley face biffer!

two stroke mick · 23 March 2011, 11:35

I thought I would never say this but I am glad that I have a small rib. as an aside
what would you class as small, med, large ribs
sub 5.3 small
5.3 - 5.8 med
5.8 plus large

Xk59D · 23 March 2011, 11:45

i have a medium rib in your classes, personally anything over 6.5m is large rib territory to me but i guess that is a personal thing.

however i have a 100HP 4 stroke on my 5.6 and what it uses is a LOT less than the 75hp 2 stroke i had before it, can't complain there at all.

diesels tend to be found in 6m plus ribs but cost a fair few quid more that an indentical outboard model. given the average boater is 50 hours per year apparantly it would take a long long time to recoup the cost difference let alone work out cheaper.

be interested to know the break points for diesel on intital cost versus hours ran to recoup that excess over an outboard on same hull size.

with that said-when sun is shining and weather is spot on-who cares what it uses!

cheers

biffer · 23 March 2011, 11:46

i'm not going to go on about this one, i'll just say, it's cheaper to run my cabin rib than my sr4 with a 40hp on

GordyP · 23 March 2011, 11:51

No. There's nothing like the sound and feeling of two 2 stroke outboards pushing you along. It may mean this seasons cruising speed will lower by a few knots to see what difference it makes.

Cypman · 23 March 2011, 12:18

Cruising around the Irish Sea with Brian in his beautiful Scorpion 8.75m with a 315hp inboard Yamaha diesel we use circa 30ltrs an hour at 30kts, i.e. 1 ltr per NM.
It's not just the economy, it is primarily the ready availability of the fuel.
Of course, initial engine cost is a major factor. I guess Brian's installation is now over £30k new whilst a 300hp O/B is around £20K.

HUMBER P4VWL · 23 March 2011, 13:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by two stroke mick

I thought I would never say this but I am glad that I have a small rib. as an aside
what would you class as small, med, large ribs
sub 5.3 small
5.3 - 5.8 med
5.8 plus large

that's a narrow spread. Ribs range from around 4-12m plus.

So perhaps sub 5.5, small
5.5 to sub 7, med
7 plus, large

All very arbitary though.

IMHO once you get over 6m, they seem to drink a lot more fuel due to the beam, weight (boat and passengers) and consequential engine all getting larger! Hence diesels only make sense on over 6m boats (providing you put enough hours on each season to make up the cost difference)

Bit like cars, diesel engines generally weigh more (though less recently) and have more torque than petrol. Therefore they work better in cars of a larger nature. They used to be in trucks, then 4X4s and now down to the Golf bracket of cars. Any smaller than that and on current technology a light petrol is probably better.

jyasaki · 23 March 2011, 22:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cypman

Transporting Jerry Cans full of fuel from an adjacent petrol station for that thirsty 300hp outboard is hard work!!

You need a couple of these...

jky

spartacus · 23 March 2011, 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

You need a couple of these...

jky

Nice one jyasaki. Now all you have to do is fill the damn thing. Petrol over here (in Blighty) ranges from an average of £1.30 to £1.35 for a litre of regular unleaded. Diesel is a little more expensive, with prices as high as £1.42 a litre. Head to the west coast of Scotland and it rises to an eye-watering £1.49 for a litre of diesel!

Useful link here: http://www.petrolprices.com/

The larger Tempo takes up to 29 gallons. If I was to fill it at the Shell station next to me it would cost £183.00 or $297.00!

Siochair · 23 March 2011, 23:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

You need a couple of these...

jky

Sadly there seems to be an increase in garages refusing to dish out more than 10 Litres at a time in portable tanks. Health and Safety being cited as the reason. It's nice to have the powers-that-be look after us so...

biffer · 24 March 2011, 09:07

i've got a rolling fuel tank like that, i've had the garage problem as well, i now put it in the back of the truck and fill it before i do the truck, i had the garage stop me once and i offered to empty it, they don't bother with me any more, a ce certified fuel tank is what it is regardless of it's size

willk · 24 March 2011, 09:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffer

i had the garage stop me once and i offered to empty it, they don't bother with me any more

I'm guessing you didn't mean back in the forecourt tank Biffer?

No such bother here yet..... I've rolled into the local station and filled up all sorts of cans and tanks and no-one bats an eyelid.

Cookee · 24 March 2011, 09:56

Our new boat with twin (diesel) Yanmar 260's should do 1.54 litres per mile at wide open throttle and at 70 mph - not bad for a near 40' boat!

jyasaki · 24 March 2011, 10:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by spartacus

Nice one jyasaki. Now all you have to do is fill the damn thing.

Well, it seems to me that, in order to fill the tank on the boat, it's going to cost about the same whether you roll a large tank, or lug a bunch of jerry cans.

Or is it different over there?

jky

biffer · 24 March 2011, 10:08

the old powerboat Gee takes on nearly 2 tonnes of fuel and only has a 200 mile range flat out, scary!, i'll be waking her up next week

biffer · 24 March 2011, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookee

Our new boat with twin (diesel) Yanmar 260's should do 1.54 litres per mile at wide open throttle and at 70 mph - not bad for a near 40' boat!

John, what range you going to have ?

Cookee · 24 March 2011, 10:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffer

John, what range you going to have ?

Over 300 miles on the main tanks and a total of around 450 - 500 with the auxiliary tanks - it depends on the real life fuel consumption - this is all at wide open throttle, for cruising it will be considerably more!