Boat Fuel Cost Tally

[DesertAlbin736]

Just for fun I tabulated annual fuel costs to date rounded to the nearest dollar for our A25 since our initial purchase in March, 2014, to wit:

Year 1: 2014 Engine Hours: 89 Fuel Cost: $108
Year 2: 2015 Engine Hours: 129 Fuel Cost: $142
Year 3: 2016 Engine Hours: 143 Fuel Cost: $115
Year 4: 2017 Engine Hours: 60 Fuel Cost: $45
Year 5: 2018 Engine Hours: 138 Fuel Cost: $271

Grand cumulative total over five seasons: 559 engine hours = $681 in fuel, or on average $136 per season. Average cost per engine hour: $1.21, which works out to roughly 18c to 20c per nautical mile at our 6.5 knot cruising speed. Of course there have been large fluctuations in per gallon fuel prices over these last five seasons, and this year especially most of the fuel we used was purchased in BC, Canada, and converting from litres to gallons while also taking into account the $1US = $1.30CAD currency exchange rate, fuel dock prices worked out to around +/- $6US per gallon.

Though mostly diesel fuel for the main boat engine, this list also includes a few dollars worth of gasoline here and there for the dinghy outboard. 2017 was a year in which we didn't do all that much with the boat, mostly few weekends on the local lake and one week long cruise from Huntington Beach, CA to Catalina Island. 2014 was our first San Juans & Gulf Islands cruise, 2015 was our East Coast/Erie Canal/Block Island Sound/Chesapeake Bay cruise, 2016 and 2018 were Sunshine Coast & Desolation Sound BC cruises respectively.

[Tree]

That’s about what I spend each week in my van doing around 700 miles a week based on your annual use.

My 28TE on the other hand is around £250 a tank ($325). I’ve put six or seven tanks through it this year. Last tank hasn’t yet been used but it equates to just shy of 1500nm this year.

[OldDemps]

DA, do you use fuel stabilizer or some additive (biobor) since you (A25’s) use so little fuel to prevent algae and other stale fuel problems?

[DesertAlbin736]

DA, do you use fuel stabilizer or some additive (biobor) since you (A25’s) use so little fuel to prevent algae and other stale fuel problems?

I do use some biocide additive. The bottle is on the boat now so I don't recall the exact brand name offhand. Also I mostly but not always add Diesel Kleen brand cetane boost/injector cleaner at fuel ups, as I also do when fueling my Ram 2500/Cummins diesel truck. So far no fuel issues, but then again the boat stays stored on the trailer in this low humidity, no freeze desert environment. Several of our sailboater friends have inboard diesels and use even less fuel than we do. While we don't use much fuel I try not to let the 20 gallon tank go below half full, almost never more than 10 gallons between fill ups and most often between 4 and 8 gallons. I log every drop of fuel that goes into the tank ever since we first bought the boat. The above list details dollar amounts spent, but so far in 2018 the total amount of fuel used was 61 gallons for an average burn rate of 0.44 GPH. Of that 61 gallons 50.75 was used on this year's Desolation Sound cruise to cover 580 nautical miles on the water, giving an average nautical MPG of 11.4. The last fill up was on August 2nd, and since then have run the engine only 7 hours, so the tank is only down by about 3 gallons. So the fuel that's in the tank now is for the most part only about 3 months old. We're hoping to get out on the lake next weekend for a sailing club raftup & run the engine more then. I want to run the tank down over the next few months as much as possible then drain & pull the tank for inspection & cleaning if needed since we're coming up on 5 years ownership and have no idea when the last time previous owners had the tank cleaned if ever.

kleendiesel.jpg

[WillieC]

I use BioBor,

biobor.jpg

At the recommendation of the PO. Maybe BioBor JF is better. The internet is full of diametrically opposed opinion. Good reading for these long winter nights.

Better yet, I removed the tank, added an access port, removed the busted rattling baffle, then cleaned the tank by hand. Lots of crud in there, essentially a thin black film mostly attached to the tank surfaces, some floating detritus, but no fuel issues had presented. Annual filter changes as usual. I will run another season before opening the port and inspecting, depending on what I find in my filters next spring.

[jleonard]

I don't add anything to my diesel fuel. I also don't use enough to bother tallying quantity or cost.

[DesertAlbin736]

I mainly track fuel quantity as a matter of keeping up my cruising logbook (I've filled up one and most of a 2nd). The other and more important reason is to estimate how much it'll take to fill the tank, knowing when to slow down the nozzle flow rate, listen for changes in pitch in the gurgling sound, & avoid overboard spillage out of the vent. Our fuel gauge is a simple mechanical float gauge on top of the fuel tank like the kind you see on a portable outboard motor gas tank & is viewed through a small hole in the floorboard. But it's never wise to fully trust any fuel gauge, mechanical or electric/electronic.

[jleonard]

I have a swing arm/float fuel gage in one tank. It is accurate enough so I can guesstimate within 10 gallons how much I need to fill it.
And that's with 2 tanks at 180 gal each.
That's pretty much dead on.

[WillieC]

Mine is good for +/- 10 gallons too. On a twenty gallon tank.

[Paddy]

Tracked the last 3 seasons and it has been equating to 3 GPH...granted, lots of idling and 5MPH zones but like clockwork it has been dead on each season. Can't complain!