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Best place to buy diesel


Nick D

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If everything goes to plan, we are going to collect our new (to us) narrowboat next Saturday. I have already learned lots from the forum and am sure to have lots more questions in the future and am really grateful for the wealth of knowledge on here.  One question that immediately springs to mind is the best place to get fuel.  Only ever having used hire boats in the past, I have never had to buy diesel though have passed lots of marinas and boatyards that sell it.  I don't ever recall seeing the price displayed so is the price roughly the same wherever you buy it or does it vary much? If so, is there any way of knowing where the lowest prices are?  Also, I know that fuel duty varies depending on the ratio of propulsion to heating but who decides what this is?   Any advice gratefully appreciated. Thanks.

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Prices tend to vary, if you say what area you will be in I expect you will get some responses on the best local places to go. Marinas vary but if you regularly cruise an area you will get used to which ones are higher than which are lower. There may also be a fuel boat in the area which most boaters like to support.

The declaration is something you decide on based on your usage but there are some marinas that will only sell at the tax man's suggested 60:40 split.  In the winter when we use the diesel heating more we use a split that is less propulsion and more domestic, when we are out cruising a lot then propulsion percentage is increased.

 

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Thanks for the early replies. It was a general question really rather than looking for a supplier in a particular place e.g boatyards tend to cheaper than marinas. However, if it helps, we are collecting the boat from Overwater Marina on the Shropshire Union and making our way to the boat's new home mooring at Fairies Hill Marina on the Calder and Hebble at Castleford.

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42 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

These two sites should help

 

Inland Waterways Diesel & Pumpout Price Survey

 

It would be better if more people sent in updates when they bought diesel

5 minutes ago, Mike Jordan said:

The garage at Wheaton Aston is normally the most competitive for many miles, I can't recall ever having passing by without topping up there. The price is displayed at the pump by the bridge.

Mike.

You would need to go a long way to beat their prices

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I have found that I buy diesel when I need it. If the tank is getting low I simply fill it at the nearest available outlet. Trying to save a few quid on a tank of fuel isnt worth the hassle. Personaly I try to use coal boats for all my consumables, I never ask the price as they are competetive anyway and we need to keep them in business.

Edit to add I was typing same time as Mike.

Edited by mrsmelly
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On 12/07/2017 at 21:57, mrsmelly said:

I have found that I buy diesel when I need it. If the tank is getting low I simply fill it at the nearest available outlet. Trying to save a few quid on a tank of fuel isnt worth the hassle. Personaly I try to use coal boats for all my consumables, I never ask the price as they are competetive anyway and we need to keep them in business.

Edit to add I was typing same time as Mike.

 

I feel the same. I like having fuel boats trading on the cut. I buy from them whenever possible whatever the prices, as like mrsmelly, I find they are never a rip off. Even though they are often not the cheapest either.  

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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8 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

How do we find out where the fuel boats are? Is there an up to date location site for them? Apologies for not knowing!!!

There a thead about it on here.

 

Plus the fuel boats all tend to have their own frequently updated websites.

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2 hours ago, Nick D said:

Thanks for the early replies. It was a general question really rather than looking for a supplier in a particular place e.g boatyards tend to cheaper than marinas. However, if it helps, we are collecting the boat from Overwater Marina on the Shropshire Union and making our way to the boat's new home mooring at Fairies Hill Marina on the Calder and Hebble at Castleford.

Your route traverses some of the busiest canals (Shroppie from Overwater Marina to Barbridge, then SU Middlewich branch, then T&M thru Middlewich etc. As such, there's a ton of places which sell diesel so not worth listing them all, but worth for you finding them and phoning ahead to ask for prices. (Pearson's guides would help, but there's a few others not in it - and a few old boatyards which have now closed down or no longer sell diesel). This way you can plan to stop and fill up with the cheapest diesel, possibly with an interim stop to prevent running out. Most people use a dipstick to check tank contents, and most tanks are regularly shaped so dipstick depth relates to volume etc.

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My advice is to try to buy from outlets that, if they have poorly kept or contaminated diesel it is going to cost them more than you. Even better if they have a high turnover. This typically means hire fleets as long as the retail diesel comes from the same tank as the fleet's fuel. If the garage at Wheaton Aston sold contaminated fuel I am sure his farmer customers would cause him grief. Also try to avoid fuel containing FAME (bio-diesel) although its impossible to be sure that claims are actually true.

If you buy contaminated diesel and get a dose of bug it is all but impossible to prove who sold you the contaminated stuff so are unlikely to get any recompense for cleaning the system.

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12 hours ago, Nick D said:

Thanks for the early replies. It was a general question really rather than looking for a supplier in a particular place e.g boatyards tend to cheaper than marinas. However, if it helps, we are collecting the boat from Overwater Marina on the Shropshire Union and making our way to the boat's new home mooring at Fairies Hill Marina on the Calder and Hebble at Castleford.

Martin on Halsall covers your first part of the trip. He is heading up the Shroppie at the moment and should be near you this weekend, as will I keep a lookout for me.  follow link for schedule http://www.fourcountiesfuels.co.uk/ and Liam on Ariel covers the Bridgewater again follow link http://longfordcanalservices.co.uk/ they both also have facebook pages. I like to buy of boaters, where at least you meet the guys whose pockets the money goes in. They also tend to have a good turnover so the fuel is less likely to be old and contaminated by the feared bug

What's your boat called and I will keep an eye out for you, I am on the Middlewich branch at the moment and should be passing overwater on Saturday on the way south.

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If you are going north from Overwater then Nantwich Canal Centre is not too bad.  Most marinas will charge the most, often 10p+ litre more.  Fuel boat Halsall is also reasonable.

Declare what you like for propulsion,  don't pay the 60% the HMRC came up with, after consulting mostly with river and marine boaters who use very little fuel for non-propulsion.  20-30% for propulsion is reasonable and won't raise many eyebrows.

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28 minutes ago, dor said:

If you are going north from Overwater then Nantwich Canal Centre is not too bad.  Most marinas will charge the most, often 10p+ litre more.  Fuel boat Halsall is also reasonable.

Declare what you like for propulsion,  don't pay the 60% the HMRC came up with, after consulting mostly with river and marine boaters who use very little fuel for non-propulsion.  20-30% for propulsion is reasonable and won't raise many eyebrows.

Another vote for Halsall, who will happily fill my tank even when I'm not there as I've given him a key, and arrange payment by phone. Excellent service. Give him a call and he will make it easy, subject to your being in his territory.

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13 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

I find when I'm getting low on diesel all price sensitivity goes out the window. When I need diesel, I have to buy it from wherever sells it on my route regardless of the price. 

 

13 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

I have found that I buy diesel when I need it. If the tank is getting low I simply fill it at the nearest available outlet. Trying to save a few quid on a tank of fuel isn't worth the hassle.

I use the same principle for road fuel and boat fuel.

As far as the OP is concerned I would have thought the best bet was to fill up where the boat was bought. Saving a few quid (or a few tens of squid) on a tankful isn't an issue when you're buying a boat worth over 100 times the value of the tankful.

ETA: Unless you know there's a fuel boat in the area, of course!

Edited by Machpoint005
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Thanks for the advice so far.  I'm hopefully collecting the boat on 22nd July so might miss Halsall but it sounds like there are plenty of other options.  Good idea about using a dipstick also as I have no idea how much fuel there will be - why do boats generally not have gauges?  Also, I cant find anywhere on the sales particulars what the capacity of the fuel tank is, though it might well be in the paperwork on the boat itself.  What is the normal capacity of fuel tanks or do they vary wildly from boat to boat?

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49 minutes ago, Nick D said:

Thanks for the advice so far.  I'm hopefully collecting the boat on 22nd July so might miss Halsall but it sounds like there are plenty of other options.  Good idea about using a dipstick also as I have no idea how much fuel there will be - why do boats generally not have gauges?  Also, I cant find anywhere on the sales particulars what the capacity of the fuel tank is, though it might well be in the paperwork on the boat itself.  What is the normal capacity of fuel tanks or do they vary wildly from boat to boat?

We have a fuel gauge on our tank because its under the engine, via a curved filler pipe, and so virtually impossible to dip. But many boats have the fuel tank in the counter with easy and direct access to dipping - and bearing in mind even if you cruise for 8 hours a day you can probably go 2 weeks between fillups, its not something you have to think about that often and many folk don't think its worth the expense and complexity of an electric gauge when a bit of stick does the same job!

45 gallons / 200 litres seems a typical capacity for a modern leisure narrowboat. But bear in mind you don't want to let the fuel level get too low. Over time, crud comprising dirt and water tends to accumulate at the bottom of the tank. If the tank is well filled this tends to stay at the bottom and the takeoff point for the fuel is usually 1/2" or so from the bottom. But if you operate the boat with a very low fuel state, there is a lot of sloshing that mixes up the crud which then gets sucked up and at best, blocks filters. If you ever run out of fuel, chances are, unless your tank is very clean inside, you will suck up muck, block filters, and if the filters bypass then damage the fuel injector system. I never let ours go below about 1/4 full.

Edited by nicknorman
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32 minutes ago, Nick D said:

why do boats generally not have gauges?

Because a dipstick works perfectly well and you only need to know the level every so often. As Nick says, don't let the level get too low, and do keep the tank full over winter.

The level of fuel in the tank can conveniently be expressed in inches or millimetres, by the way. There is a direct relationship between depth and litres for your own boat, but does it really matter? 

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