INSURANCE, GAS PRICES, A REASON TO BE GRATEFUL

F

ffheap

New member
Hi Folks,

I have just been reading my April ENSIGN, the USPS Magazine. In the letter to the editors, it was announced that they will no longer insure boats over ten years old in the southern states. No new business will be sold either. Is this the beginning? They said that they may insure for everything except Name Storms. For us that isn't to much of a problem. I always bring my boat trailer over to Nantucket for the express reason of being able to pull the boat if a storm comes.

Gas prices have gotten so high, that our 22' C-dory's, at 4 NMPG will cost us $15.00 for a 20 mile trip. If we back off a little, we might make 5 NMPG, costing us $12.00 for a 20 mile trip. (That is figuring the cost per gallon to be about $3.00 ) (Mainland USA and Nantucket is about 20 NM apart.)

I have friends that own SeaRays which do 1/2 to 1 NMPG. The same trip would cost them from between $60.00 to $120.00. One said that he will be on his boat every chance he has. He might not go anywhere, but he will be on his boat.

There was a Yard fire at a marina near Boston. Was it arson? I don't know, but I suspect that it was.

I am on the waiting list for a mooring in Hingham Harbor. Three years ago, I was 191, last year I was 134, this year I am 9.

Also, for the first time in years, marinas are advertising to fill up the slips in the Boston area.

It sure is a New World out there. We as C-Dory owners have many reasons to be grateful

Fred Heap
 
Fred-

I'm paying $4.30 a gallon here on Shasa Lake in California!

At about 4 mpg in my 22, that about $1.00 per mile!

Sure glad I went to the Yamaha 90 4 cycle engine from the 2-stroke Evinrude at 2.25 mpg ( $1.91 per mile)!

Are we ready for $5.00 per gallon?

How about a 200-400 gallon fill up?

Joe.
 
The way gas prices are, I would expect the price of used boats to start dropping with the exception of the C-Dory and that type of boat. You may even see an increase in the price of used C-Dorys because of the increased demand for an economical boat.
 
Good point Dave. On a somewhat related note - we got rid of our Isuzu Trooper this weekend and bought a new VW Jetta TDI. Went from 15-16MPG to about 36-42 MPG. For the 12,000 miles or so we drive per year the cost is $2152 gas for the Trooper vs $970 in diesel for the Jetta for a savings of $1182/year (at current day pricing, including the cost difference between diesel and gasoline). That's gas money that can now go into the boat.

While we were at the VW dealer, the salesguy mentioned his recent boating trip on his 32' go fast boat (don't remember the make) - 0.5 - 1NMPG 25-30 mile day trip - and about a $100 fuel bill. I'd rather be on my CD....
 
There are a lot of large boats for sale here as well and more than a couple of people have mentioned to me they are re-thinking their decisions to buy big and wishing they had bought a little more economical. Slip fees are also starting to go up by leaps and bounds but thankfully we dont get pasted by hurricanes here.

The sales section of the newspaper is filled with used boats for sale and they dont seem to be moving very well either. Makes my 25 year old boat with a porta-potti under the front v-berth seem pretty inviting if you know what I mean.

Andy
 
Dan-

I'm already aware of most of those points and agree with you.

When the reformulated gas first came out I was warned about the differential solibility issues vs. traditional gas and varnish deposits.

I bought gas just outside of Reno to avoid California gas and got it instead, anyway, as the Reno area was supplied from the Bay Area. Clogged up one carburetor on Eagle Lake within 3 hours of operating time.

I'm as much for doing what's enviornmentally right on an intelligent, scientific, and rational basis as any good ex-science teacher, but some of the things that are done (or not done) make no sense.

Worst of all, many of the super enviornmentalists want no new development or infrastructure accomodation whatsoever.

They've decided that the population has reached beyond the Earths ability to tolerate any more human activity, and want to stop anything that will, in the long run, enable the population to expand. ZPG.

The problem is that, in the meantime, we need more electricity, water supplies, sewers, roadways, dams, mineral resources, processing plants, housing, and the like to just continue to accomodate those already here.

So what to do? I'd take the position that it's not in our best interests to strangle ourselves just now, and put some faith in the ability of science and technology, intelligently used, to solve many of these problems in time.

A little over 100 years ago we had just started to use electricity. Technological change accelerates exponentially. We can and will solve these problems if we permit ourselves to do so.

End of Soapbox commentary..............

On a more immediate technological note, I think I can get 20+ mpg in my CD-22 with the Honda 1000i generator and electric trolling motor, if necessary. It's a bit slow at 2 mph, but I won't be staying home!

Joe.
 
I have a 300 gallon bulk tank down by the dock that I just had filled with premium last week - $817.92! Yikes!!! Now, if I can just put that out of my mind, I'm good for the season.
Al
 
MOOSE":b0dy16yt said:
I have a 300 gallon bulk tank down by the dock that I just had filled with premium last week - $817.92! Yikes!!! Now, if I can just put that out of my mind, I'm good for the season.
Al
Click to expand...

I hope you have a good lock on that baby!

Joe.
 
Joe/Sea Wolf,
Here's a question for you. At hull speeds , (I assume <7knts,) I've read that the C-Dorys gas mileage at least doubles. Have you experienced this?

We've cruised thousands of miles at 6 knts, and if that speed lets us cruise again, well, wave as you go by. Since we're off to the San Juans and Vancouver Isl. we all may have to slow down.

Boris
 
journey on":2k4i1wzi said:
Joe/Sea Wolf,
Here's a question for you. At hull speeds , (I assume <7knts,) I've read that the C-Dorys gas mileage at least doubles. Have you experienced this?

We've cruised thousands of miles at 6 knts, and if that speed lets us cruise again, well, wave as you go by. Since we're off to the San Juans and Vancouver Isl. we all may have to slow down.

Boris
Click to expand...

I've never gone far enough at displacement speeds to check the mileage out. However, someone with a Fuel Management System has surely noticed the mileage at those speeds, as the system instantaneously calculates fuel mileage by comparing the flow through the flow meter and speed from the GPS.

From watching the fuel gauge, though, it would seem that gas mileage does at least double under about 6-7 mph. Watch yur wake and engine rpm, at around 7 mph the engine starts to labor a lot more without a proportional increase in speed, and the wake size increases a lot, which is where the extra energy is going!

Who's got the figures from a Fuel Management System?

Joe.
 
Boris,

From my "limited" experience fuel consumption at/below hull speed goes up a whole lot. I've never come close to double. Difficult area to test because of so many variables, and the fuel flow devices are not accurate at very low rates... the option, which I use, is to burn fuel out of a measured beaker -- and hope. I've gotten over 7 NMPG at times, and in one long-range test -- 26 ft. boat, and 27 hours steady running at 3.5-4.0 knots we got 6+ NMPG average - but wind, current had some input.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind that you can slow down and save fuel... and my rocking chair loves slow.

Dusty
 
Okay a poll topic:

Al on Moose said he just filled his dockside tank with premium fuel. He runs 40 hp twins.

How many use regular, mid-range, and premium fuels in their engines?
What make and size of engine?
Why do you use your choice of fuel?

Regards
 
This is a memory , UGH, statement of the fuel management I think I have observed on my CD25, Sea Angel.

At abt 7+ kts my NAVMAN indicates a range, with full fuel tank(107gal.) and water tank, of abt 932NMs with a GPS Speed input. At best planing spd it drops to 296NMs. I do run pretty heavy with the a/c unit, refrig and other gear and 'stuff'.

I prefer to do the 7+Kts with the reduced noise and more comfortable ride in the open bay, etc..
 
Back at the ranch.........


In regard to the post four posts ago, about doubling your gas mileage at displacement speeds (as opposed to planing speeds), Pat Anderson recently offered this observation on another thread:

Are we boating less because of gas prices?

"More or less coincidental with the rapid rise to $3.00+/gallon we went from a 4 mpg CD22 carrying 46 gallons to a 3 mpg CD25 carrying 100 gallons (10 mpg if I just slow down to 6 knots, but I just can't seem to do that..."

So, if this observation is correct, slowing down can increase your gas mileage to 10 mpg from 3 mpg, an increase of around 300%!

(We had been hoping someone with a fuel management system would step forward and give us some figures-Thanks, Pat!)

Joe.
 
Slowing down seems to greatly increase mpg, but how does it affect our new four stroke (yamaha 90 in our case) engines?

I seem to remember several folks, including a dealer, saying that these engines like it better when their revs are kept high.

I'm all for saving fuel, and I'll try to cruise at 6 kts (boy that seems slow) but I would hate to hurt my spendy engine saving a few $$$ on fuel.

Any mechanics care to step in on this?

Peace
 
The insurance tab also was a kick in the slats. Our renewal through Boat US was increased upwards of $300. for our C-Dory 25. When I called about it, CNA offered to cut it back a small amount if we reduced liability. It appears the rest of the country is picking up the tab for the last two hurricane seasons. Understandable, but there has not been one through here for a couple of years. A better quote was from AAA with comparable coverage. Any other C-Brats have similar experience? The conversation with the AAA agent so far sounded more like car insurance purchase. Tickets for speeding, traffic accidents, D/L numbers! He never asked about experience or training. That makes me a bit uneasy.
On the matter of fuel, our dizzy governor has used his signing a bill for the California-like refining process as another reason to return him for another term in office. Yes, the greenies have infested Oregon too.
C-Dragon+
 
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