Marine Fuel Prices for Diesel and Gas

[John Nantz]

With the price of fuel up as high as it is, it would be really nice to have some kind of marine gas/diesel price forum. Last year we spent a lot on fuel even though we didn't really go very far. Not only that, but the cost for fuel for the outboard and the generator was more than for the diesel on the mother boat! And that is with very low usage of the generator as we have a couple large solar panels but there were several very cloudy days and rainy days where we had to run the forced air heater and use the generator to bulk-charge the batteries. Which brings up another diesel fuel use: the heater, which we used a lot. What this means is the outboard for the dingy was a major consumer of fuel.So to make such a fuel price page work it would need to be reasonably timely and easy to update. To minimize the webmasters effort it should be updateable by the user community. For starters, perhaps some sort of table could work. Ultimately it would be nice to have an interactive map someday but with a database in place it would make it easier to migrate to the interactive map. Some purveyors sell fuel with quantity discounts so perhaps there should be a column for notations although I've never bought a 100 gallons or dollars worth of fuel ever. However, the latter may change!I did a quick survey of gas price web sites (not for boats, though) and came up with these:Gas prices on MapQuest for the Poulsbo area: http://gasprices.mapquest.com/searchresults.jsp?search=true&latitude=&longitude=&gasPriceType=3%2C4%2C5&address=&city=poulsbo&stateProvince=wa&postalCode=&radius=10&brand=&sortOrder=2msn.com: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=98383&x=0&y=0Aviation gas: http://www.100ll.com/User updated av-gas site: http://www.airnav.com/fuel/A British web site put together by an individual using volunteer input: http://tmdg.co.uk/misc/fuel.phpNo prices by location but interesting information, AAA fuel gauge report: http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/The aviation gas web pages are probably closer to what the marine pages would probably be like because there are a lot fewer of them as compared to auto gas stations.So, Phil, is this anything you can work on? What about in your spare time???It'd sure be nice. Just think, all those powerboaters can stop by and read what we're saying about them!

 

[Banooma]

nice thought!

Interesting concept, John. I'm wondering what market forces are at play that put a premium on marine fuels, and guessing they're asking high prices primarily because, in a good economy, they can. If what everyone seems to be saying, and their market shrinks significantly because fewer boaters are buying, would that not force them to keep prices more competitive so they can attract buyers?

 

[Paul Akers]

John, It Could Be Gas...

...that you are burning. Thank God, it's a lot cheaper to run a sailboat that a gas-guzzling power boat! So, I can't complain.Just change the zip code:http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=xxxxx

 

[John Nantz]

re "High" prices for marine fuels

While the prices for marine fuels may be higher than for automotive fuels, there are a number of factors that can figure into this. The insurance for "over water" activities, for example, construction work, is MUCH higher than for over ground. Another could be with the lower throughput, at least in our area. During the "off-season" the throughput really goes down, like right now. There's snow on them thar hills! .... and rain is forecast for all day today and through tomorrow afternoon and this tends to slow down boating activity.This summer I wouldn't be surprised to see marine fuels getting really expensive because the 'nice' powerboaters that use tons of fuel will be cutting back on consumption. In fact, it seems like Craig's List sure has a lot of powerboats for sale. This is one reason I think some kind of fuel-price resource would be really handy so one could trip-plan a little better. There is nothing like a little competition to keep prices honest. Well, maybe 'honest' isn't the best word but you get the idea.Several years ago I fueled up in Friday Harbor in the San Juans and the fuel dock crew wore T-shirts that said something to the effect "We've got the highest fuel prices around". And, they were right. Not only that, but I've never been back!

 

[John Nantz]

Anchoring out - Good news, Bad news

It was gas that was my main problem. Last year we were gone on one trip for something like a month and a half or two months and only paid for moorage once! The rest of the time we were anchored out or, a few times, used reciprocal moorage. The good news about anchoring out is it saves on moorage costs, this is besides the fact that it's just plain nice thing to do. The downside is the dingy rides to shore and back burns gas (and oil for a 2-cycle). Even though I've had the outboard for some 14 years I never realized just how much this 8-hp critter really uses. When we got home and my wife entered everything into Quicken, it was, like, WOW! We spent more on the dingy than on the mother ship.Even knowing that, would I have done anything differently? Nope, because in the scheme of things it still wasn't all that much but this year I might consider anchoring in a little closer.Fuel prices at the Port of Poulsbo:Gas is $3.80Diesel is $3.79The picture is of the one night of paid moorage at Port Townsend, WA:

 

[sailaway78]

Consider This

Consider the fact that there are supposedly no road taxes on boat fuel. It is the same as off road fuel for farm equipment. This amounts to 40 cents or more a gallon. So why is it, and always has been, higher than the local gas station. If I used large quantities of diesel, I would find me a farm supply to buy from.

 

[Lee Scott]

I've always wondered

why marine fuel is so expensive as well. What I came up with is a couple of factors. One is that most trailered boats just fill up at the local gas station on the way or bring it in in portable gas tanks. (Which is what I do) So, the volume of sales at the marina is even lower than it would normally be considering the fewer number of boats compared to cars. Weekday fuel sales at the marina are probably non-existant, as well. So, they have far fewer sales to cover their costs.The other factor is that even with competition on the water in the form of multiple marinas to choose from, most large power boats get such poor fuel mileage that they would burn way more fuel motoring 5 miles for cheaper gas than it would be worth. The marinas know this, so they don't really care what anybody else is charging.And sailboats don't even factor into the equation. They use such little fuel you'd go out of business relying on them.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Market forces my foot

Given the gazillions in profits made by the oil companies, how can one even begin to think of "market forces?" We're getting gouged, brothers, that's all. Both on land and on the water.

 

[RichH]

uuuummmmmm

If you look at the balance sheet of ExxonMobil youll find that the net profits were ......10%I think you instead better look at the depreciation of the $US to feed the current banking crisis to be the cause. .... and you can trace THAT back to the US Federal Court (Boston) ruling that lending cannot be descriminatory (prohibiting the need to verify if the borrower has the means to pay the mortgage, etc.) .... the exact SAME cause of the S&L crisis of the 1980s (then 'red-lining' of geographical areas that had high default rates.). Its always nice to deflect ones anger to some entity other than the root cause: .... our infamous US Congress ... who is supposed to control the banking system. So chalk it up to the requirement of 'social engineering' attached to the banking system ... and enjoy the value of your money and personal holdings going down the drain. Remember the NEW Congress who promised 'change' ... hope you like that 'change'.