How much petrol?

[Fishery Pokery]

Hi guys,
Was wondering if anyone with a 16ft ish planing boat could tell me roughly what there average day out costs in petrol (for the boat) and roughly what mileage that entails?
Cheers in advance,
Geoff

 

[northeast1]

What size engine 2 or 4 stroke...that makes all the diff.

 

[treeboa]

forget miles on the sea, totally different to driving a car, gallons per hour you need to look at

think this way, boat does 30mph ( yes i know it should be knots) your going with a 5 mph current, you will travel further for the same fuel as no current, against it you will do less even though you are doing the same speed, then wind comes into it as well

when i had a boat i always worked on 1 1/2 times enough fuel for the trip and 20 ltrs extra

 

[Fishery Pokery]

I know what you are saying guys, just want a very rough figure.
It is so I know what kind of boat I should be considering for a future upgrade.
At the moment I have a 15ft inflatable boat with a 25 hp two stroke and use £15 - £25.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[northeast1]

Same as first reply need to narrow it down to an engine, the Nissan micra gets 65mpg around the doors and my mates Nissan Skyline gets 17mpg.

Has next to me has a 16ft warrior with a 50bhp Yama engine he says he burns 14ltrs an hour doing 17knots but no idea if thats right or not.

 

[dave craig]

Geoff,

I have a Seahog Alaska 500 with a 50hp 2 stroke, as previously said it depends on how much you are thrashing it, but very generally speaking, I can get about 25 - 30 miles from about 30 litres of fuel - obviously less if the seas is flat and I'm going flat out.

Hope that gives you a slight indication.

Dave

 

[Graham B]

Hello Geoff,

I have got the same engine as Dave, a 50 horse two stroke and I work on a mile a litre as well, mostly going as fast as possible! One big difference in a small boat is the weight, if there are three off us it is a mile a litre at best but two and I would say comfortable 0.75 litres a mile. The most we used in one day last season was just short of 50 litres and that was a far off wrecking trip and flat out all day in and out.
If I had the choice again I would definetly opt for four stroke as the 15hp four stroke we had on a displacement hulled boat I used to get from Amble to Creswell and back plus up and down the drift all day on seven or eight litres!

Graham.

 

[big_sean]

Hi Geoff

Most modern engines are using about the same in fuel and this includes 2 strokes as all are now fuel injected
You will find that some 2 strokes have the advantage over 4's as they get the boat on the plane easier
And the 2 strokes are cheaper to service and some only need doing every 3 yerars

aas for how much is really going to be down to how far you want to go and at what speed

if you want to watch the world go by at 8 to 10 knots then an orkney with a 15 on will use very little but dont expect to get very far quickly

or a warrior 165 with a 75 on will fluy and have you over 20 miles out in under and hour

it will be really what you want to do but remember a big engine can be driven slow not vice versa

and the other thing if you want to go off a bit and it starts to look like the wind getting up then throttle open and you can be doing 25 knots and even if it is getting up you will be soon getting back to safety

An off shore trip on my shetland sheltie which i went 42 miles from land and back again and did some running around with a 2 stroke 60hp engine i used 84 litres and the engine wasnt switched off all day total millage was just over 100 ish



Sean

 

[the leadman]

stop being so tite fill the tank an take some extra just in case

 

[Fishery Pokery]

Brilliant advice guys, thanks very much!
The reason I can't give more details regarding the engine is because...
I currently have a 15ft inflatable that is very cheap on petrol, but in the future want something I can launch of a roller trailer and maybe push a little further off shore in. Also with a better freeboard so as my kids get older they can come with me.

I am looking at the different types of boat such as aluminium, abs and GRP with a view on launching single handed and fuel to run. At the moment I think GRP is the way forward for me as I can buy a fixer upper for a lot less than either of the other two.
So before I can choose an engine I just wanted to check the kind of boat I get wouldn't need £100 a day or such like.
Thanks for the advice so far!
Geoff

 

[Falcone]

i get around 1 mile per litre with a 40hp 2 stroke, doing around 20 knots. Obviously it varies due to conditions etc, but that 1 mile per litre is my normal way of me estimating how much juice i need.

 

[kingcod deano]

on the suzuki dt40 2 stroke i had i would get 4 mile to the gallon same as my brother who runs a 35hp outboard i used to take 10 gallon every trip as its better to have too much than not enough on an average day i would use about 7 gall

 

[canman]

Hi Geoff, I run a Reiver sportsman with an 85hp 2 stroke. At 3,000, revs, about half speed, (20mph) launch at cullercoats out to a mark i fish regulally about 3miles run back and forward, in and out doing probably another 3-4 miles run back to cullercoats, and use about 9-10ltrs, plus 2 stroke oil.

 

[The Jester]

Anyone worked out how much it costs at the current prices, if you did around 20 miles per trip,

 

[big_sean]

Anyone worked out how much it costs at the current prices, if you did around 20 miles per trip,

At a mile a litre it would be £27 so not that bad really

If you booked a charter boat now it would be between 40 to 80 per day

so if there are 3 of you and you did say 50 miles for the day it would only be 68.50 at a mile a litre so pretty good really and then divide by 3 its a very cheap day out on a boat at 23 each



Sean

 

[lingking]

cost per mile

cost per mile

aye big lad youd be surprised:exclamr perhaps not:question: how many folks turn out for a days fashin and never offer to put their hand in their pocket

 

[oldessox]

Hi Geoff , I've had a 165 for the last two seasons with a 60hp 4stroke , I used to carry two full 25 ltre tanks of fuel every trip , I very rarely had to switch from one full tank to the other on a day out , and I often did a lot of running about , probably between 20 - 30 miles each time I went out ,not counting up and down drifts over wrecks which probably adds a fair bit to the miles. I'd switch tanks when I got back to the marina and fill the one I'd been using for the spare for the next trip , so I always had 2 full tanks when I set out.
It averaged about £25 each time I filled the tank , but that was last year , probably a tad more now
A 165 type of boat with a 50hp or 60hp is going to cost you that sort of money for a day out , they are easy to launch single handed as long as they are on a roller coaster and you are on a decent slip or out of the wind and they zip around as fast as you are likely to want to go.
I had an orkney 440 with a 15hp 4st before the 165 , it was a tad small for sea fishing and slooooooow compared to the 165 , but much cheaper to run.
More than once we set off in search of a wreck or mark and gave up half way there because of the time it was taking , never had that problem with the 165.


Ray

 

[Fishery Pokery]

Brilliant lads, that was just what I wanted to know.
I was worried it would be a lot more expensive than that, but a litre a mile isn't bad, plus I will probably end up with a lighter boat than those mentioned, so may get more.
Now I have just got to choose a couple of models in my price range and keep my eyes open!
I fancy buying something older and doing it up rather than pay more for something and end up finding faults I didn't know about.
Thank again,
Geoff

 

[Kev1n]

Geoff, my last boat was a 15footer with a 60hp on the back. It averaged about 3 to 4 mpg usually at a flying machine speeds. If you go for a displacement boat, they will be a lot slower but also more economical.
A very rough rule of thumb is to allow about 1gallon per hour for every 10hp at Wide Open Throttle (WOT) i.e. flat out.

 

[Fishery Pokery]

Thanks, think I will be looking at a planing 15 - 16 footer with a small cuddy, probably something that has been around a while so I can get an older boat and do it up, good freeboard for my kids, and possibly a vee hull (but I could be wrong!). Trying to find sites that review some of the options. Am probably asking for the perfect boat!
Cheers,
Geoff