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Are You Strapped for Cash? Save Fuel to Save Money!
1-engine and prop:
2-weight:
3-speed:
4- hull:
5-navigation:
6-Economize: Buy a Fuel Efficient Vessel
7-Anticipate: Clean Up the Hull
8-antifoul:
9-ultrasonic antifouling:
Reference (s):
Fuel tank must be full and show must go one, right? But what about Benjamins? Does it worth to splurge on money to keep the fuel tank full all the time? Well, read on to get all the answers!
Having a power boat would let you to disappear into the blueness of seas whenever you desire — which is awesome! But there are some stuff about having a power boat that may cause several economical problems for you. Yes, I’m talking about its maintenance costs. Well, not everyone is a yacht owner millionaire and there are people who are not cut out to pay thousands of dollars to set their boat everytime. However, if you’re amongst those who want to economize their situation and save some money, following is a guide to do so.
Our method introduced here — for saving money — is to reduce the amount of used fuel so as to avoid extra costs. This is a great way of cutting down on excessive expenses and saving couple of Benjamins. Moreover, using less fuel will be a favor to environment, helping it to ruin slowly — sorry, but we will ruin it anyway.
Here’s are some tips on how to save money through saving fuel.
• engine and prop:
The engine is the main consumer of your boat’s fuel — and I’m sure you knew it! However, any problems and any defective, faulty, and/or damaged engine can increase the amount of used fuel, resulting much bigger bills than usual. If you don’t check your engine regularly and leave it off from your checklist, it’s better to be ready for major problems. A defective engine not only is a fuel wasting matter, but also a danger containing situation which may cause major issues — even leading to loss of your life. Thus, try to make a checklist for your boat and make sure to put engine check on it too. Regular checks and repairings would save you some money and keep you safe while on blue journeys!
On the other hand, a faulty and improperly mounted propeller may affect the engine’s performance, leading to excessive fuel usage. If you want to make sure that the propeller is working efficiently and suitable for your boat, check it regularly — preferably when doing so for your engine.
Since different different propellers work in different ways when mounted on boats, it’s best to try several propeller throughout the time and see if one fits your boat or not. (You will not have much trouble finding one though).
• weight:
One of the most important factors affecting the fuel usage is your boats weight. A heavy boat may need much more fuel comparing to small powers, but that’s not how weight is related to fuel usage anyway. When a boat’s weight is not balanced and well-dividend, the chances of facing fuel usage snags. Thus, avoid stuffing your boat and try to keep it as light as possible while balancing the weight.
Another aspect of the relativity when it comes to weight and fuel usage is the fact that boats may born much more fuel when their tank is filled to the fullest. That’s because a full tank can increase your boat’s overall weight, causing more harm than good. A tank which is filled to the fullest extent is equal to three or four men on your board — which is definitely fuel consuming.
When planning to sail abroad with your power boat, exclude all the unnecessary stuff that may impose more weight upon the boat. The best option is to leave everything that is not vital, and focus on choosing the most important stuff. (You won’t have any problems for carrying light equipments).
• speed:
Piloting to the fullest extent if a boat’s throttle is not a fuel efficient decision. When you reach to more than 80% of a boat’s throttle, it’s more likely to run out of fuel faster than usual. Acceleration is one of the main reasons why a boat burns more fuel. So, to reduce the fuel usage and cut down on further expenses, it’s best to try to control the speed and keep it on the average capability of throttle.
Once you control the speed and avoid putting extra pressure on your engine, the fuel usage will decrease enormously. However, if you don’t want to give up the speed and would like to go faster no matter what, you better buy a fuel efficient modern boat which os designed to use less energy while giving you more speed.
Modern high-speed power boats are a great choice for those who are willing to buy one and have enough budget. You may think that buying a high-end modern boat would be a wasteful move, but I recommend you to think again! A modern small power boat would cost you less money when it comes to maintenance and fuel, which means it would be an economizer in time.
• hull:
Hull is the part of boat which is in the water all the time and considered to be one of the fundamental components of all kinds of boats. Modern boats have much efficient hulls these days — thanks to the development of science and technology. Thus, again moder boats are much more fuel efficient due to their well-designed hulls. The shape and condition of a hull may have major impacts on both speed and power. Moreover, when a boat hull is cluttered and dirty, the chance to face engine problems increases enormously. That’s why most experts recommend you to schedule specific times to clean and maintain the hull of your boat.
As mentioned above, a cluttered and dirty hull would lessen your speed and agility while imposing more pressure upon the engine. A boat without a clean and suffi hull would not be able to move quick and easy through the water, resulting excessive fuel use — leading to bankruptcy!
If you don’t want to face these issues while cruising around with your power boat, schedule regular cleaning programs for it and always keep your hull clean. (I’m going to expand on it further, so read on).
• navigation:
“What’s the fastest way of going to point B from A?”
The answer of this cliche question is actually one of the best options you have to cut down on fuel usage. Choosing the closest route will enable you to end a trip using the least possible fuel needed. As you all know, the fastest way to get to a point is having a direct route — with no turns. However, that’s not always possible to find a straight direction to a point. For this reason, you must try to survey different routes and try to figure out which would lead a faster access to your destination. Experienced sailors can save great many fuel using this method. So I suggest you to learn map reading and navigating as soon as possible, because it would save you some money!
Navigating through the sailing has always been a must-learn stuff for sailors and those who are capable of planning for their routes have much more advantages comparing to others. If you’re convinced to start paying more attention to navigation systems and techniques more than before, read 6 Apps Every Sailor Must Have! It would help you to find some practical applications to help you navigate better than ever.
Bear in mind that finding the fastest route from point A to B would no be easy as it sounds, and you must consider plenty of factors when doing so. However, it worth it to try, because choosing the right route would save you time, fuel and eventually money!
Economize: Buy a Fuel Efficient Vessel
Modern boats are mainly designed to generate more power while using less fuel. Thus, buying a new boat — especially if you haven’t bought it yet or have a really old one — would be a great way of cutting down on expenses. Since new boats require less maintenance costs and are able to perform well with much lesser amount of fuel comparing to other options, you may actually save some money in time!
It’s a economical decision, resulting long term benefits for you. A modern boat may have much more options to enable you spend less money on maintenance and extras.
Anticipate: Clean Up the Hull
However, if you can’t afford a new boat and still have love for your old one, then try to maintain it well in order to save more fuel — eventually leading to saving money. To do so, start from the hull maintenance! As mentioned earlier, the hull of a boat is always in touch with water and can get dirty or become cluttered after a certain time. Thus, it’s necessary to clean it up regularly and keep it in a good condition. Statistics show that boats with cluttered and dirty hulls may lose up to 50% of their power, which means they’ll need plenty of fuel to just get things going!
So if you don’t want to lose 50% of your boat’s power, it’s better to plan a regular hull maintenance and clean up program. There old-school and modern ways of maintaining a hull, two of which explained below.
• antifoul:
The main reason that a hull is exposed to more risk compared to other parts is that there are many living creatures in the water which always look for a good place to attach and reproduce as soon as possible. Having these creatures on your hull would turn it into an inviting environment for other sea creatures, ending up with a heavy, deformed and insufficient hull.
One way to prevent these creatures from gathering on your hull’s surface is using antifoul paints. These special paints are designed to create an unattachable surface which is capable of preventing fouls. Some of antifoul paints are environment-friendly and great to use on all hulls. And the good thing about them is that once you spend some extra money for painting your hull, the results would last for a fair enough time.
• ultrasonic antifouling:
Another method of maintaining your hull is to use ultrasonic antifouling devices. Well, to be honest, it’s not a recommendable choice, because you will need a serious budget to buy these devices along with a great electric source — since they need a lot of power to keel working. ultrasonic antifouling, however, is a luxury method of hull maintenance which allows you to get rid of dirts and sea creatures permanently.
But since we are talking about fuel saving ways that will lead to keep couple of bucks in your pocket, I don’t suggest you to go for it.
Reference (s):
1. Smith Alex | 2016 | 10 ways to save fuel | Boats |
