On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:03:02 -0700, Gordon wrote:

My neighbor, who is a bit of an entrepreneur, had dirty fuel problems
in a cruising sailboat. When he tried to find a service to polish his
fuel, there wasn't one.
So his idea is to start such a service. Finding a serviceable old
bowpicker or such with deck space for barrels, hoses, spill gear, etc
and traveling marina to marina with pre publicity to service all those
pleasure boats that feel they may have a need.
So, is this feasible? Enough customers for a reasonable income? What
would customers be willing to pay? Bill by minimum charge and then by
the gallon or poundage on top of that?

If you feel this is spam don't bother answering. Just plonk me! It's
not spam, it's just looking for help to maybe set up a service you may
someday want.


There's such a service in Bellingham, WA, and I see them working somewhere
in the marina almost every day. But Bellingham has a large enough harbor
-- 1500-2000 boats and plenty of big ones -- to keep such a service in
business.

They have their equipment on carts, which they wheel down the docks. They
may have a boat too.

We've used their services when someone put water in a fuel tank. I think
they also checked the tank's condition with a video camera after removing
the fuel (ours were perfect).

I don't know what they charged, but I could probably find out.

Matt O.

I picked up 10 gals of really bad fuel at the West End, Bahamas.
Fortunately it was only in one tank, and just before the trip I had finished
the install on the second racor. I can now switch either tank thru either
filter. When I got back to St. Augustine there was a fellow a few boats down
that was polishing fuel on a trawler.
The following day he polished mine. One tank (40 gals) for $220. It was
full of gunk! What surprised me also was I had filtered it thru one of West
Marine's fuel strainers the Practical Sailor had raved about. Comparible to
the Baja at a fraction of the cost.
Needless to say I return it to WM and bought a Baja.

--

Jay A. Howell
Registered Representative
Financial Network Investment Corporation, Member SIPC
4950 Westgrove Drive, Suite 130
Dallas, TX 75248
(817) 265-3513 personal office
(817) 265-2813 fax
"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:03:02 -0700, Gordon wrote:

My neighbor, who is a bit of an entrepreneur, had dirty fuel problems
in a cruising sailboat. When he tried to find a service to polish his
fuel, there wasn't one.
So his idea is to start such a service. Finding a serviceable old
bowpicker or such with deck space for barrels, hoses, spill gear, etc
and traveling marina to marina with pre publicity to service all those
pleasure boats that feel they may have a need.
So, is this feasible? Enough customers for a reasonable income? What
would customers be willing to pay? Bill by minimum charge and then by
the gallon or poundage on top of that?

If you feel this is spam don't bother answering. Just plonk me! It's
not spam, it's just looking for help to maybe set up a service you may
someday want.


There's such a service in Bellingham, WA, and I see them working somewhere
in the marina almost every day. But Bellingham has a large enough harbor
-- 1500-2000 boats and plenty of big ones -- to keep such a service in
business.

They have their equipment on carts, which they wheel down the docks. They
may have a boat too.

We've used their services when someone put water in a fuel tank. I think
they also checked the tank's condition with a video camera after removing
the fuel (ours were perfect).

I don't know what they charged, but I could probably find out.

Matt O.