"DSK" wrote in message

Well duh...who can afford all that diesel?


Maxprop wrote:
A single engine trawler, such as a Nordhavn 43 running at 8 kts., is
relatively economical to operate compared with, say, a semi-displacement
trawler, such as a Grand Banks 42 with twin 3208 Cats running at 14kts.
Then again I buy roughly $40 of diesel per annum.


Well, if you doubled... or quadrupled... that, would it be a major expense
factor?

No, but $160 won't take you far in even a 35' CWB with a single Ford Lehman
135. We didn't cruise much this past year--no time and ****ty weather--but
still logged around 400 miles, mostly under power. The CWB would have
racked up a $250 diesel bill with the same distance at 8 kts. My friend's
35 CWB with twin 125 Lehmans burns about half a gallon per mile, and another
friend with a similar wood trawler with a single 135 Lehman burns about 1/4
gallon per mile. My boat gets about 8-10 miles per gallon, depending upon
wind and if assisted by sail.

You'd have to cruise at least half time or more (depending on the boat, I
don't think of Nordhavens as particularly fuel-efficient) to spend on fuel
what you already spend on insurance and taxes. Add in a full-time slip,
and fuel becomes almost trivial.

Insurance: approx. $400 for my 34' Sea Sprite, taxes: approx. $60 per
year, not including fuel taxes or sales tax. Grand total of $500, including
fuel expense. If I cruised half the time, I'd have well over 2000 miles in
the trawler, and no trawler I'm familiar with can travel that distance on
$500. More like $1250. And why aren't Nordhavn's fuel efficient? A
Nordhavn 40 with a 140 Lugger or a 101 John Deere and 920 gallons of diesel
can cross the Atlantic, or travel roughly 2750 miles without refueling. Try
that in a Grand Banks with a pair of 3208s, not that GBs are offshore boats
by any stretch.

I can tell you this- for what sails & running rigging cost, I can cruise a
long long way in our trawler.

This is a typical obfuscation of the argument when powerboaters attempt to
compare costs with sailors. No one denies that both types of boats have
expenses, albeit quite different ones. The net costs typically average out
between the two types of boats of similar length and displacement. It's
*pay me now or pay me later.* But we were discussing fuel costs. Period.
And it wasn't my intent to denigrate powerboats or trawlers.

We've spent approx $150 on fuel this year, making 2 cruises of 300+ miles
plus going out almost every weekend, and we've still got more than 1/2 full
tanks... which is good, because now we're running the heater almost full
time...

What type of boat do you have? What power? Sounds quite economical, unless
you only run at 6 or so knots.

Max