Fuel Consumption

[Bigplumbs]

Getting petrol out to my swinging mooring will not be the most fun thing in the world but I have a plan. Oh and one of the best devices known to man. A giggle siphon

My plan assumes that my 19 foot fletcher gts with the 3 Ltr Mercruiser (135 hp) will use about the same amount of fuel as my 115hp Mercury 2 stroke on my 17 foot Fletcher uses for a similar trip of mixed speed boating

I would be interested in your views on my assumption

A typical trip out in the 17 ft used about 20 - 25 ltrs last year but of course we will most likely have longer trips out in the Gts

My plan is to initially put her on the mooring with a full tank and 3 nr 10 Ltr cans on board full. Have a day out and then after the trip fill her up with the stored fuel. Then take the empty cans back with me to bring back full on the next trip this way I should always have a fullish tank and very little petrol in cans on her when I am not aboard.

I would be interested in what others do

Dennis

Dennis

[BruceK]

My 3.0 used to average about 2 liter a mile when giving her welly. I used to keep 2 x 20litre jerry cans on board which would extend the delay in having to go into the marina for a fill up at their horrendous prices. But keeping the tanks full on a jerry can was not really feasible. I suppose it depends where you will all be going. I'd average 40 miles an outing as it took 10 miles just to get to Anglesey and the interesting places.

[Ianfs]

This site will give a very rough idea of the sort of consumption you will get from the 3.0l but won't take into account weigh/shape or prop sizes.

http://www.boat-fuel-economy.com/mercury-mercruiser-3.0-181-fuel-consumption-us-gallons

However, what I've done in the past is to top up the tank of a new boat, take a trip out with varying speeds, fill her up and make the calculation. Two or three trips should give you a picture.

I think your idea of 3 x10l cans is a great idea. Some Harbour masters are a bit funny about spillages, but that's if they see it.

Also Dennis, I was thinking that you will have to transport the cans in your tender without a solid floor. However as petrol is lighter than water we are only talking about 21 kgs for 30l of petrol, so may not be an issue and your new tender looks pretty tough. Maybe a small board to spread the load a bit?

[Bigplumbs]

My main tender is a 2.6 Waveco with a boarded floor so no trouble there it is just space Also on occasions when we go out in. The 17 foot bow rider 'I can do a fuel run to the swinging mooring and the cure .

Problem is where I will keep her there are no marinas with petrol to my knowledge. How all the bigger motor boats manage is a mystery to me,

as far as pollution is concerned the JIggle syphone is excellent in this regard

Dennis

[BruceK]

the bigger boats generally have comparatively much bigger tanks. My cuddy with the 3.0 had an 80l tank, my cruiser close to a 1000 litres.

[annageek]

I think your initial consumption estimations are about right - we used to use about 1 and a bit, 20l jerry cans per outing - which was usually 25-30 miles of 90% cruising at 20kts and 10% WOT.

Fed up with the grind of re-fuelling every time though (it's the problem with dry stacks when it's busy - you get the next customers breathing down your neck to free up some pontoon space so they can have their boat launched) we fitted a 178l tank so we could go on long outings, or 4/5 normal outings between refuelling.

We always used jerry cans though (cheaper petrol!) In fact, the whole time we've owned her, we've only ever refuelled from a fuel berth once! We used a Polarn pump (http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Product.do?method=view&n=1887&p=15944&d=124&c=4&l=2&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Base&utm_campaign=Fuel%20Containers%20&%20Funnels&gclid=Cj0KEQjwoM63BRDK_bf4_MeV3ZEBEiQAuQWqkXsKmG7a1Rex7S80kM9g_FdvscKACW6k8DFbzQ5XUygaAkf98P8HAQ) which were considerably cheaper when I bought ours! It's good for the fletcher, as the fuel fill point is quite high up on the side, so with a jiggle syphon you have to hold the can high up to keep the syphon going. Perhaps not so much of a problem with 10l cans, as they'll obviously be lighter. It is a good pump though if you have bayonet fitting 10l jerry cans, as you can just keep pumping air in to get the fuel out. It's quick too. I could refuel 4 jerry cans (80l) in about 3 minutes with it!