Cruisers: How Much Fuel?

[Livia]

We are at 5 years of cruising with a 25 gallon diesel tank. Additionally, we carry 3 five gallon jerry cans - a grand total of 40 gallons of diesel aboard. This has been plenty for us.

In fact, while coastal we convert one of the jerry cans into gasoline for our dinghy so we can have more gas storage which we go through much more quickly than diesel for our main engine.

YMMV of course.

[Bpw]

Originally Posted by downunder

Many certainly manage it on limited fuel and on many routes fine. Just remember that there are areas such as Patagonia and in the Pacific around the equator where fuel capacity can be a real issue.

Slightly old thread but thought I would chime in,

Patagonia and an equator crossing can both be done with zero gallons of fuel, as can most any other cruising destination. So the amount of fuel needed really just comes down to how patient are you and do you have to be anywhere on a certain date.

Doing a passage entirely under sail may be slow and tedious at times, but it is also very rewarding at the end.

[Herodotus]

I've cruised and circumnavigated with two diesel tanks of 100 litres each (44 Imperial gallons; 51 US gallons total) plus half a dozen twenty litre jerry cans and have genwrally found that to be sufficient.

My sailboat has a 38 horsepower diesel and is 42 feet in length of a moderate displacement design. You probably onowthe general rule of thumb that "a diesel engine consumes (about) a tenth of a litre per horsepower generated per hour" which I have found over all conditions over a number of years to be true.

Please bear in mind that a 38 horsepower engine will not chew through 3.8 litres per hour if you are only running it at say, half revs. Each engine has a power curve and fuel consumption curve. I have a Nanni diesel with top revs of about 3300, and usually motor along at between 1800 to 2000 revs - a lesser horsepiwer output. It'll use more fuel at top revs.

Hope this helps
Ciao
Peter
N.Z. Yacht Herodotus


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[LakeSuperior]

Having sufficient fuel, as mentioned is a comfort/safety issue also. When crossing the North Atlantic we were in the cross-hairs of a 700 mbar low (800 nm diameter of gales). With modern GRIBs reception you can see this stuff coming 2 or 3 days out.

We had light airs so we motorsailed for about 12 hours until the winds picked up. We worked for 2 plus days toward sidestepping the worst of that beast. The yacht three days behind us had to hove-to for 12 hours when it passed. We saw only light gales.

Agree that one can cruise without fuel and an engine but how much punishment are you willing to accept?

Our Mason 44 carried 160 gallons so we had about 1200 plus miles of range. As I tend toward worry and there is plenty to worry about, with margins it is easier to get a good nights sleep.