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Fuel
Costs September 2008
We have just topped off Wind Horse's fuel tanks in Ireland, and have been recapping our consumption and costs for the 2008 cruising season. With all the headlines about US$150 per barrel crude, if you are like us, you would expect this to have been an expensive summer. Total fuel consumed for propulsion, electric needs underway and at anchor, heating, and hydraulics has been 7831 US gallons/29,641 liters. Over the past five months this has been used as follows:
Fuel burn underway comes in at 6.9 gallons/26 liters per hour of which 0.7 gallons/2.64 liters is used to generate hydraulic and electric power. Most of the trip was run at 11 knots with only a brief period of short hops in Canada spent at a more efficient 10-knot speed. About a third of the miles were uphill, another third with a push downwind, and the rest with winds light or abeam. All passages were run at maximum gross weight (replacing fuel burned with fresh water), except for the trip to Panama where we allowed the boat to cruise light as seas were calm or behind us. Fuel consumption is in line with what we have come to expect. The big surprise was in the cost of fuel, averaged over a variety of sources. Mexico was very reasonable, Panama the same as the US, Canada (gasp) really expensive, Greenland somewhat less than the US, and Ireland maybe half of what we have been told to expect in the UK and Continental Europe. Average cost for the summer? US$3.35 per gallon, or Euro 0.632/liter. Part of the reason for the low costs is large fuel tanks, which allow us the range and flexibility to pick the lowest cost sources. The total cost for the 11,000 miles is substantial, and hurts for sure when the credit card bill comes due. But we have a rationalization to make us feel better. On a per-mile basis this works out to US$2.21 per nautical mile. Allowances for engine and transmission maintenance and eventual rebuild add about 20 cents (US$), bringing the total to $2.41 per nautical mile. Beowulf, our 78-foot ketch cost $3.09 per mile and this was averaged on costs between 1995 and 2003, before the recent bout of inflation. Painful as buying fuel may be, it is still less costly than cruising under sail.
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