Where to buy fuel and get a deal?

Hi,

Last time I did it it took approx 5 hrs to load 200,000 lts through a 2" Pipe.

We used a Bunker Broker and started looking around a week or so in advance of arrival in case we got a good deal at a different port before we docked somewhere else.

Fueling 1000 gal. tank is no big deal. Many marinas have high speed pumps that push out about 25gpm. So about a half hour for 800 gals. (15 minutes with 2 hoses going). I don't recommend knitting. 1st, you'll seldom find pumps with trigger-set in the marine world. If you block it off you still have to stay on the job because they don't have auto-shut-offs. I once goofed and lost about 1 gal. overboard at Hilton Head. Those guys covered it in oil pads like they were paper napkins. I was impressed. Most came up with barely a drop. Then they charged me retail for each one, $189. Of course, my alternate choice was to deal with the CG & DEP. I said thank you and learned my lesson well.
And yes, you shop price. Locals are also a good source for that info. Volume discounts are common.

In addition to all of this good info, if you are in FL, and docked behind a house, you can get a truck to deliver it and it's going to be a much cheaper price then the fuel dock.

C'mon KIWI- that has almost nothing to do with what the OP asked.

I take on between 400-1000+ gallons of fuel and have never had to call ahead for fuel up and down the east coast. I take fuel slow- about 15 gallons a minute- you can do the math. Fuel discounts based on amounts are usually automatic- but go ahead and ask. You sit and stay there when pumping.

Also ask about Boat US discounts. I've only run into a few that give that, but it pays to ask.

Your comment to K1W1 is true, but I did find his comment interesting.

Hi,

I offer an apology to those who I have offended with my earlier reply.

I guess I didn't read the OP completely when I typed that answer.

I will rephrase the answer.

The last time I refuelled a Motor Yacht we loaded 1000 US Gal in approx 5 1/2 minutes, while I was doing this I sat in the Control Room drinking my tea, wondering how long it would take the remaining 50,000 would take to load and if we would take all that we had ordered.

We also loaded 1000 US Gal of Lube Oil from a truck after we had bunkered the Fuel.

There is actually 2 or 3 photos of the boat I was on then taken during the bunkering process posted right here on YF.

For all the Operators here who re fuel with Diesel at Fuel Docks etc.

What is the Flash Point of the fuel you get from these places?

You've got me curious to see where you're going with this.

Fuel Flash Point
(oF)
Acetaldehyde -36
Acetone 0
Benzene 12
Carbon Disulfide -22
Diesel Fuel (1-D) 100
Diesel Fuel (2-D) 125
Diesel Fuel (4-D) 130
Ethyl Alcohol 55
Fuels Oil No.1 100 - 162
Fuels Oil No.2 126 - 204
Fuels Oil No.4 142 - 240
Fuels Oil No.5 Lite 156 - 336
Fuels Oil No.5 Heavy 160 - 250
Fuels Oil No.6 150
Gasoline -45
Gear oil 375 - 580
Iso-Butane -117
Iso-Pentane less than -60
Iso-Octane 10
Kerosine 100 - 162
Methyl Alcohol 52
Motor oil 420 - 485
n-Butane -76
n-Pentane less than -40
n-Hexane -7
n-Heptane 25
n-Octane 56
Naphthalene 174
NeoHexane -54
Propane -156
Styrene 90
Toluene 40
Xylene 63

T(oC) = 5/9[T(oF) - 32]

Hi,

I can find a list of Flash Points fairly easily myself.

Where do you think I am going with this Ed?

I find a simple conversion formula to use mentally is, Take 32 off the F Reading then divide by 1.8 this will give you the result in C or take the result in C multiply by 1.8 and add 32 this will give you the result in F

That I understand. I thought you were going someplace relative to fueling at fuel docks, but couldn't figure it out.

Looking to learn from you.

Often, if there was any question or doubt, we sent one of our trucks to fuel along the east coast. Generally we'd fuel ourselves then sell the balance of the diesel load to the marina at a discount (close to the rack price we paid, enough to cover the transport cost if not our own fuel) in consideration of boatyard costs. Of course back in the days of fuel shortages, that also meant we were guaranteed fuel when other boats were somewhat stranded dockside. Gravity feeding from a bulkhead was about 10 minutes to take on 700 gallons. If we had to pump up to the boat from the truck, it would take about 10 minutes more.

An option on some waterways is to find small oil dealers with tank farms. Some of them will have fueling docks adjacent to the docks where the tankers come in to fill the storage tanks. Generally cheaper than marinas, but far less convenient. The alternative to a fuel dock is these oil dealers have delivery trucks, and may be willing to make a delivery arrangement to your boat if you have a location where such a delivery is feasible.

No offense taken- just wondering why you are talking about taking on hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel when the OP asked about fueling a boat less than 70 feet taking on about ONE thousand gallons. The experience you have posted has almost nothing to do with the question at hand.
Unless he's at the "MegaDock" he will almost never cross paths with vessels you describe, and your fueling and his are apples and oranges.

Just for clarification, you also seemed to have misread. 50k is still way more than 1k but a lot less than 100's of thousands.

Hi,

My question about Flash Point affects you guys on the smaller boats as much as it does the bigger boats if the rules are applied equally.

Marine Gas Oil the stuff we normally get onboard has a minimum Flash Point of 60 Deg C (140 Deg F), this is what the onboard storage and handling systems are designed and arranged to handle.

With the drive to reduce Suplhur content and generally clean Diesel Fuel Up we are finding that many times when we request Fuel we are being supplied with Automotive Gas Oil which according to EN 590:1993 (Diesel Fuel Specification) should have a Flash Point of 55 Deg C.

The fuel often comes with a Specification Sheets that shows a Flash Point above 60, the use of a portable Flash Point Tester is an easy way to check if the Spec Sheet and the product are the same thing. It is a lot easier to refuse to accept Bunkers than to discharge them. I know there was an incident in Palm Beach last year when Diesel Fuel with a low 50's Flash Point was delivered, it took a few days to get the Fuel Test Results back and a few weeks to get the 100,000 odd USG taken off again.

This particularly affects the larger Private Yachts as Marine Gas Oil in many places is only available duty free to commercial vessels, we cannot buy MGO and pay tax on it as there is no tax structure for this fuel.

I would tend to think that Fuel Docks in the US generally are supplied with Automotive Diesel hence my question.

Are you guy's who refuel there filling your boats with lower flash point fuel and if so does your insurance company accept this as a risk?

On the commercial fishing boats in Venezuela, we were asked what sort of fuel we required for bunkers. The answer?

The cheapest.

For fishingboats we were paying U$0.08c a litre That was 10 years ago though.

Hi,

What are you supplying as Diesel over there in the CI's Fish?

In the Channel Isles, we get French fuel (8% biofuel) on one bunker dock or UK fuel (4% bio) on the other. I know which I prefer for least nasty growth in the tanks.

In Venezeula, they invented their own type of fuel. All the the crap bitcumen laying at the bottom of rivers was blended together with water. Who did they sell it to?

The Floridian powerstations.

Not a very clean fuel, thanks Jeb.

Hi,

I think you will find the stuff coming out of Venezuela that is or was so popular in Oil Fired Power Stations is called Orimulsion and is pretty much a mixture as you describe.

Florida Power Stations are not the only ones who do or did function on a diet of this rubbish.

What I was trying to find out is what Flash Point is the fuel you are delivering to your customers?