A sure sign it's about boating season. Gas prices go UP.

[Doc]

Gas was down near 3 bucks a gallon. Then 3.29, now it jumped to a whooping 3.69.
I suspect we'll see 4.00 a gallon by memorial day. What do you think?

 

[Phillbo]

4.65 on the trailer 5.82 on the water..... u have cheep gas... AZ is number 3 in the country for expensive gas behind hawaii and Cali......

 

[SST]

Well from this season forward, I won’t be stuck buying marina gasoline. So from now on it will be mostly autogas but even that is climbing. The Mobil station down the street was very competitively low priced at 3.29. Then it creeped up to 3.32 and held there for awhile. Then 3.39 and then just three days after that it went to 3.59.

But at the end of the season I will run the tank nearly empty, fill it with either treated gas or non-ethanol gas and still put in Stabil to “soak up” any residual ethanol.

 

[Denny]

Could be the refineries, or the government pushing the electric auto's, or both. The positive part, is that you aren't buying an expensive new boat also, to put all that expensive gas in..

 

[Phillbo]

In my truck i fill up every couple days ince it is going up...

 

[SST]

Due to circumstances I have my Focus and F150. The 150 is basically just to tow the boat. Otherwise it doesn't move much. So I top the tank and that's it for nearly a month. My Focus is my primary vehicle and I get 34mph around town.....40 on the hwy. The mileage for the 150 is 10mpg to tow the boat, 14 around town and 19 hwy [without towing]. I'd hate to have to fill this up all the time. Gas usage for the 150 will go up this year due to more towing but with the boat not being in a slip, gas consumption for the boat will go down.

Either way, I'll be paying the OPEC user fee authorized by our President.

 

[Denny]

I remember buying gas on the water for less than you could get it at the pump on land.
Reason why, because there was no road tax on the water, then they invented user tax.

 

[Iggy]

I use diesel. Anyways?? I have said this before, gas the the cheapest thing about boating!

We spend thousands on slip fees, Insurance, taxes, upgrades and more. I spent $600 on fuel last year. If it doubles, that goes to $1200. Not happy over it. Again, its small compared to everything else.

Let me put it another way. If your motor or outdrive needed to be replaced at $5,000. Would you get out of boating?

 

[Doc]

No argument about gas being one of the cheaper aspects of boating but .....
After paying for everything else and I want to cruise 30 miles to a restaurant up river.
At 4 dollars a gallon it would cost me 80 dollars to get there, and 80 to get back to my dock. That is figuring 1.5 mpg.
At 2.50 a gallon it would cost 50 each way.
I budget 150 per weekend for fuel. One trip at 4 per gallon would be 160. So, I will not be able to go up there very often unless I can stretch my weekend budget to 200. Do able but it sucks. There is no reason fuel should cost this much.

 

[Iggy]

I understand! My last Chap was a 2011 Sig 29 with twin 4.5L engines. I was getting a flow rate of 22 to 23GPH at 28 to 30MPH. Your flow rate sounds too high or you have older engines and drives.

But thats why I went to a diesel engine. Many pluses over gasoline

 

[Iggy]

Oh! I would look at Cutwater boats. There can be trailered, with outboard and diesel engines. Some have gensets, solar systems and thrusters.

 

[SST]

I understand! My last Chap was a 2011 Sig 29 with twin 4.5L engines. I was getting a flow rate of 22 to 23GPH at 28 to 30MPH. Your flow rate sounds too high or you have older engines and drives.

But thats why I went to a diesel engine. Many pluses over gasoline

I'll stick with my single engine 23 footer....7gph at cruise.

The direction this country is going and my age, this will be my first and last boat. It's just getting too expensive. Since I've owned the boat in 2008, the value I get out of it has exceeded the cost of operating it. But now, the cost vs value are teetering back and forth. For the first time, I've had to cut corners to keep it afloat. Well, good luck to all.

 

[Iggy]

Boating is not cheap! But my wife and I consider it our vacation home on the water.

 

[willbaker13]

 

[willbaker13]

I'll stick with my single engine 23 footer....7gph at cruise.

The direction this country is going and my age, this will be my first and last boat. It's just getting too expensive. Since I've owned the boat in 2008, the value I get out of it has exceeded the cost of operating it. But now, the cost vs value are teetering back and forth. For the first time, I've had to cut corners to keep it afloat. Well, good luck to all.

Agree. Our slip fee has increased ~30% over the last 3 years. My wife always says that I get a content/happy look/vibe being on the boat but not sure how much longer we can afford the annual increases.

 

[Phillbo]

No better feeling than when I am floating.... I'll pay the price.

 

[Doc]

I understand! My last Chap was a 2011 Sig 29 with twin 4.5L engines. I was getting a flow rate of 22 to 23GPH at 28 to 30MPH. Your flow rate sounds too high or you have older engines and drives.

But thats why I went to a diesel engine. Many pluses over gasoline

I used a chart by boat test to come up with mpg for my single 496 mag pushing a 288 sunsation boat.

 

[Iggy]

Agree. Our slip fee has increased ~30% over the last 3 years. My wife always says that I get a content/happy look/vibe being on the boat but not sure how much longer we can afford the annual increases.

In the East Coast (not sure of other places) we have yacht clubs. These clubs are listed "not for profit". What I mean is that they are member owned. A big price difference. If there are clubs that you can join you may want to look into them. Right now I am paying 2/3 less than the Marina next door. The only thing with clubs is some have 10-20 work hours that members must do in order to keep cost down.

 

[Denny]

We have some of them in my area. They are called a working mans club. They have a lot to offer socially within the club, and with other clubs that are affiliated.

 

[Iggy]

We have some of them in my area. They are called a working mans club. They have a lot to offer socially within the club, and with other clubs that are affiliated.

The same here. Some Clubs will offer slips or moorings to visiting club members at a lower price.