Fuel Prices

So what's a litre of fuel going for these days?
Leverick
Nanny Cay
RT

I paid $290 for 55 or 56 gallons at Marina Cay 2 weeks ago.

Traditionally Delta has the best prices at the CSY dock to the east of Port Percel. That is the best place for a final top off when returning to a Roadtown base.

Is the delta fuel dock open? I had heard that it has not opened since September 2017.

Is gasoline or diesel typically higher at the docks?

we used very little fuel, and topped it off when we returned to Conch.....8 gals in two weeks.

We should have topped it off at a fuel dock that was not associated with a charter company.. They had their own fuel pump and dock.

Erica thinks it was around $ 4.00 per gallon.

If we were filling the tank of a catamaran , or used a lot of fuel in a mono hull, that would have been a good chunk of change.

Lesson learned.

Last year on a Mooring's 433pc our fuel bill was $683! I've wondered ever since if this was a realistic charge. Our fuel gauge among numerous other items was broken and showed full in both tanks all week. We did the usual loop around plus Anegada and used the generator every day but we were shocked because 3 years ago an identical 433pc and the same loop but excluding Anegada that time and our fuel bill was $113! No way there could be that much difference. I think since the gauges were broken and were stuck on full, the marina probably didn't fill the tanks when we went out and only when we returned so we probably paid the previous charter's bill too. Good thing we didn't run out of gas. Mooring's said that was a typical fuel bill. Really?

Sounds like you got really lucky 3 years ago to me.

agree...we go out on the PC514 and our bill is $1,000 +/- $100 each time doing same tour...

I watch them fill it up

Gee, and that same trip for us in March on our Leopard Cat used a whole 14 gallons of fuel. Happy, Happy happy

Hi Schwendy
Assuming the price per gallon was $4.00 you burned 170 gallons. if you were running 6 days that would be about 30+- gallons per day. Generator maybe burned 3 gallons per day so running two main engines burned 150 gallons. Just spitballing this, but doesn't seem unreasonable. you can reduce your fuel consumption dramatically by running at lower RPM's without much loss of speed. Gotta find the sweet spot.

I would not be surprised if the generator consumed twice your estimate.

The 9KW generator used on the powercat burns .9 gallons an hour under full load. If you run it 10 hours a day you will burn 63 gallons on a 7 day trip. Main engine fuel burn is heavily dependent on cruising speed. Just going 2 knots faster can increase fuel burn 50%. Based on what I saw last trip most power cats were racing everywhere and the generators were running full time. It would take 150 gallons just for the generator running 24/7. By the way, I know this has been discussed before but if you want your generator to work the entire trip shut it down underway and during the day. Crank it up to sleep at night. Contrary to rumor sea air in the BVI won’t hurt you when the sun is up. It only becomes toxic at night!
G

If maintain a speed above 1.35*square root of the waterline length (1.5 for cats) your fuel burn goes up exponentialy. For the Leopard/Moorings 433 that is about 9.5 knots. At that speed it burns about 7 GPH. At 14 knots 15 GPH and at 20 knots 25 GPH. As a general rule, If the stern wave drops behind the transom you are paying a lot more.

Totally agree on fuel efficiency at optimum RPM and would suggest IMHO it is somewhat mitigated by longer cruising times at lower kts. As an example using Glenns #'s if I am going on a 20 NM trip at 20 kts it will take 1 hour and I will burn 25 gallons and at $4/gallon it will cost $100.

If instead I go 14 kts then the trip of 20 NM will take me 1.43 hours and at 15 gph I will burn 21.45 gallons and at a cost of $4 will cost me $85.80 for the trip.

I think a lot of the incremental fuel cost comes down to the generator time and load. I don't know why one might run the generator while moving and Moorings specifically indicates not to. A lot of my incremental costs are running the generator in the evening to keep the boat cool.

My latest trips have been "show the BVIs" trips to people who will most likely never see them again so we tend to go faster although not flat out

We burned close to $700 for a week with no Anegada. Marine Max 443 Power Cat.

24 days on a 48ft monohull with no generator.

...we were on fumes coming in to the dock (not to an unsafe level, but we didn't have much left).

Sunsail includes a tank in the charter price, so zero additional cost.

You all are always a wealth of information! Thanks! My first charter and the low fuel bill was definitely a screw up on Mooring's part. I think the guy at the fuel dock was struggling with some math. When he handed us the bill we were like oh okay thanks see ya and didn't stick around for him to second guess. The second trip being so much more just made me think something was up especially with broken fuel gauges. We only run the generator at night and until about 10-11am for late sleepers and keeping the coffee pot going. I try to stay around 8 knots, not really in a hurry except on the leg from Anegada to Jost crossing the open ocean with some storm clouds in the distance. I think that really did me in fuel wise. A little scared of a $1,000 fuel bill potential for our upcoming trip on a 514pc.

You’ve got me thinking...
I’ve always trusted full fuel gauges. And I always double that check water tanks are full which is easy to verify and top off. Has anyone asked to pull into the fuel dock BEFORE departure and make that the diesel tanks are topped?

We’re on Moorings 4500 sailcat from Croatia next month, they don’t include fuel at that base. So you have me wondering how/ if we should check fuel upon departure.

Many years ago I chartered with a couple of companies that thankfully no longer exsist and learned to top off at my earliest oportunity just in case and present any receipt over a few gallons to the debriefer.

I guess you could put a stick into the tank and verify it's full that way. Getting into an out of Mooring's always seems a little chaotic to me, the last thing I want to do if move a 514pc around to the fuel dock.

Sunsail / Moorings now bring the fuel to the boat, rather than having to take each boat to the fuel dock.

...they told us if we needed to top up we were welcome to come in tie up to an empty dock (quite a few around mid-week) and get fuel that way. My preference would always be Leverick though. Moorings/Sunsail base seems to be to boats what tree-sap is to insects...always seems like a challenge to get away!

Watching Moorings fill up a 514 power cat 4x they actually fill up until the diesel comes out the top so I trust it has been done and trust the gauges. I do visually inspect the water tanks. We actually had a leak last time in May and it took me too long to discover it and we had to get water at Sopers. In Feb went out with 9 guys and didnt go through one tank...go figure.

I dont know what we would have to do to need diesel midweek as I have cruised all over the place in the BVIs and end up no less than 3/8 of a tank. I guess if the gas was significantly cheaper than Moorings base then it might make sense.

As Christo says I like to avoid base until bitter end of trip...

as fyi Soper now has gas for those that go counter clockwise

Just bought fuel at the delta fuel dock Saturday. 45' cat. Fuel price was $3.50/gallon. It does get pretty shallow in there. Had about 6' to 7' water depth at one point.

Just filled up our TMM chartered boat with 27 gallons at the neighboring Conch Charters foro $107.70.

About $3.90 per gallon.

Did not know Conch had fuel.. Also did not know it was available to public.