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Outboard motor fuel consumption


Adeandlou

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Hello all

This is my first post so please forgive me if this subject is covered elsewhere within the forum.

My question is, what is the average fuel comsumption of an outboard motor of around 10hp on  a 24' grp cruiser on canals?

I understand that there are many variables but am hoping I can get an idea based on members own experience.

Thanks in advance for any replys

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32 minutes ago, Adeandlou said:

That's usefull info ex brummie. Have not got a boat yet but after numerous nb holidays on various rivers/canals we have finally made the decision to buy a boat so are waying up all options so hopefully make the right choice first time.

Petrol is not that easy to buy on the canals,You will probably need to transport it from a garage somewhere

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As per rasputin's experience, we just used Google maps to find petrol stations within a mile or so of the canal and never had any trouble finding one on several hundred miles of waterways. Quite often they were at supermarkets we'd have been visiting anyway to pick up a bottle of milk. Yes, it's a bit of a chore filling cans and topping up the tank every day or two while out cruising, but it's doable.

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3 minutes ago, magictime said:

As per rasputin's experience, we just used Google maps to find petrol stations within a mile or so of the canal and never had any trouble finding one on several hundred miles of waterways. Quite often they were at supermarkets we'd have been visiting anyway to pick up a bottle of milk. Yes, it's a bit of a chore filling cans and topping up the tank every day or two while out cruising, but it's doable.

I don't think that the comment implied petrol is not available, just that, unlike diesel which can be obtained within a matter of few feet of the canal, and having a big tank you only have to worry about filling up once a month (or less frequently), with petrol you need to plan to stop (almost) every day, walk a mile or two to find a petrol station, walk a mile or two back to the boat and repeat, repeat, repeat.

If you have (say) 2x 5 litre cans then you are going to be carrying them to a petrol station after every 8-10 hours cruising

Being limited by law as to the amount of fuel you can carry on board (30litres), and limited, by law, to the amount you can buy in cans, the increased fire risks and BSS requirements just makes petrol an "inconvenient" fuel.

 

The other serious problem with an outboard is the lack of electrical generation (small alternator - typically 6 or 7 amps), they are designed to top-up a starter battery and will not successfully charge a domestic battery bank. Unless you are very, very light uses of power you may find you need a generator and battery charger to keep on top of your domestic electricity usage. - more petrol needed.

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50 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I don't think that the comment implied petrol is not available, just that, unlike diesel which can be obtained within a matter of few feet of the canal, and having a big tank you only have to worry about filling up once a month (or less frequently), with petrol you need to plan to stop (almost) every day, walk a mile or two to find a petrol station, walk a mile or two back to the boat and repeat, repeat, repeat.

If you have (say) 2x 5 litre cans then you are going to be carrying them to a petrol station after every 8-10 hours cruising

Being limited by law as to the amount of fuel you can carry on board (30litres), and limited, by law, to the amount you can buy in cans, the increased fire risks and BSS requirements just makes petrol an "inconvenient" fuel.

 

The other serious problem with an outboard is the lack of electrical generation (small alternator - typically 6 or 7 amps), they are designed to top-up a starter battery and will not successfully charge a domestic battery bank. Unless you are very, very light uses of power you may find you need a generator and battery charger to keep on top of your domestic electricity usage. - more petrol needed.

I wouldn't argue with any of that; just sharing my experience of the amount of trouble actually involved in using petrol.

The point about electricity is important, of course. Our old boat had a manual shower pump and a coolbox instead of a fridge, but we managed without a generator for holiday-style cruising. During a day's cruising, the alternator (and a small 25W solar panel) sufficed to put enough power into the domestic battery to run the LED lights and water pump, as well as charging up gadgets including a portable DVD player for use in the evening. Obviously we could have been a bit less frugal with power if we'd had a bigger solar array and battery bank.

I'm the first to recognise the limitations of a petrol outboard and am very glad our new boat has a diesel inboard, but I'm just trying to provide the OP (who may not have the option of buying a diesel-inboard boat) with a bit of reassurance about the viability of the petrol-outboard option.

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I am very happy with both the disadvantages and advantages of my outboard, 

We live aboard for a month at a time during the summer months and have no problems with getting fuel or electricity, and we do not have to run our engine for hours when we are stationary. 

It's just a different way of doing it 

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In the great CWDF tradition of taking off at a tangent.. I think on balance I would rather have an outboard on a small boat. 

We've cruised extensively on a little Springer with an o/b and I don't remember obtaining fuel being an issue and we didn't have internet access.  It's surprising (or is it?) how many filling stations are either adjacent or very close to the canal.  Hanging the engine off the back frees up a lot of room in the cabin, and removes one source of water entering the bilge.  The electricity generating issue isn't a big deal now we have cheap solar and LED lighting.

The main disadvantage I would say is wheel steering an outboard is the worst of all combinations and it's no surprise you see a lot of outboard powered boats where the owner has fitted a rudder and locked the engine in place.  Our Springer had a tiller on the outboard though and was great fun to steer.

Oh, and it consumed about a litre an hour.   

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Actually its one of the few instances where its critical to get the spelling right, to clearly indicate the correct canal, thus receive the correct advice. There exists both the Bridgewater Canal (North West England) and the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal (South West England). Furthermore, its correct name is Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, not to in between. And also, just for luck, the Bridgwater & Taunton canal is isolated, ie not connected to the remaining navigable canal network (although historically it was connected, albeit via the Bristol Channel). 

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Wow not sure if your taking the Michael or you are seriously that pedantic. Before you started typing did you not stop to consider  that the auto spell checker might have done its job on this tablet also I thought it would have been pretty obvious what canal i was refering to because of the way I termed it I.E. Bridgwater to Taunton.

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