Rising Fuel Costs?

As we all know fuel costs have been rocketing for the last couple of years so as a little experiment we decided to keep a log of how many miles we travelled and how many litres of fuel we have used. We have done this for the last couple of years, so for the whole of 2010 and 2011. We won’t be doing many more miles this year so we have decided to check out the figures and see how they stack up. The figures are purely based on miles travelled and litres of fuel used and take no account of the diesel used for heating the boat or time spent with the engine idling. They are also based on starting the season with a full fuel tank and ending the season with a full fuel tank which is how we like to operate. The approximate cost per hour is based on our long term average speed of 5mph which takes account of time spent on the canals at 4mph or less, as well as time spent on the tidal rivers, estuary and coast at 25 knots plus.

2010
· 1216 miles travelled
· 923 litres of fuel used
· £696.91 cost of fuel
· 76p per litre average cost of fuel
· 58p per mile travelled
· Approx 5.95mpg
· Approx cost per hour = £2.90

2011
· 1322 miles travelled
· 1177 litres of fuel used
· £1087.57 cost of fuel
· 92p per litre average cost of fuel
· 82p per mile travelled
· Approx. 5.05mpg
· Approx cost per hour = £4.10

As you can see over the past 12 months the cost of fuel has risen and whilst it may sound like a lot and look like a lot at the pumps, the overall additional cost over the year has equated to a mere £1.20 per hour, a small price to pay for the enjoyment which we get from our boat.
The fuel price hikes have been felt much more by those who run petrol powered sports boats, as they don’t have the option of tax relief on their fuel. The price they see at the pumps is the price they pay to refuel and with prices hitting £1.40 per litre in the petrol stations and £1.50 or more water side, it is starting to hurt the wallets. Our friends with petrol boats have used their boats much less this last year than in previous years.

There is a noticeable drop in miles per gallon achieved between 2010 and 2011 which is purely down to the type of cruising we have been doing in the two seasons. During 2010 we spent most of our holidays on the inland waterways, plodding along at lower engine revs, giving better fuel economy. During 2011 we have spent much longer on the coast with the engine working harder for longer, thus using more fuel in the process. We are not overly concerned with these figures and for the type of boat we have they are actually astounding figures, much better than one would expect from a sports cruiser.

We will continue to log our distance travelled, fuel used and cost of fuel so that we can compare the cost of boating year on year. Of course fuel is only a small part of the cost of owning a boat but it seems to be one that gets a lot of attention, especially with the continually rising prices and changes in legislation.