$50K and 1 gph?

[HeadedToTexas]

Another noob question. My first couple weeks of reading suggest that it is possible to find a $50,000 trawler to take a couple and occasional guest around the Loop while averaging just 1 gallon per hour. Is that realistic and what are the downsides of my limitations?

[menzies]

When you say one gallon per hour, what exactly do you think you mean?

If you go along at 2 or 3 knots it may be possible, though dangerous.

If you go along at 6-8 knots, not a chance.

[HeadedToTexas]

Yes, that's what I mean: 1 gph at 8 knots. So the physics simply don't add up that way, eh? I see a 36' trawler with a single Lehman 135. What sort of average consumption is practical?

[cardude01]

2gph is doable I would say. My boat averages about 2.5 running the generator at about 7 knots. About 2gph without.

[psneeld]

Lehman 120 pushing a 36 footer at 8 knots will burn close to 2 GPH.


My 40 footer with a 120 Lehman burns 1.9 to 2.1 at 6.3 knots.

[HeadedToTexas]

Originally Posted by cardude01

2gph is doable I would say. My boat averages about 2.5 running the generator at about 7 knots. About 2gph without.

Speaking of generators, and at the risk of hijacking my own thread, we have spent the last few years worth of weekends practicing off grid life. We can shower with a gallon each, cook with very little gas, light the night on batteries with LEDs, and the like. All of that is nice, but unless you're willing to brave the heat and humidity, air conditioning requires at least 120 VAC. Do many folks cruise the Loop without AC?

Or heat? Is a heat pump the only practical source of heat?

[Nomad Willy]

My Willard is one gph and could do the loop w ease but at a much more pleasureable 6 knots. Why go 8?

[Aquafarm]

We are planning to do the loop without A/C or gen...and our boat (new to us) did the loop many times in her previous life and spent some of her life in Fl. all without A/C...so if they could do it...
Meanwhile the specs on our boat, full displacement and a 35 hp engine touted 1gph...we have yet to take a long enough run to test that.

[HeadedToTexas]

Originally Posted by Nomad Willy

My Willard is one gph and could do the loop w ease but at a much more pleasureable 6 knots. Why go 8?

Six indeed! Guess I'm not sure. Slow is generally better, but had been reading a lot about 8 knots and assumed that was the accepted cruising speed. And yes, I know what happens when you assume! Thanks Nomad.

Originally Posted by Aquafarm

We are planning to do the loop without A/C or gen...and our boat (new to us) did the loop many times in her previous life and spent some of her life in Fl. all without A/C...so if they could do it...
Meanwhile the specs on our boat, full displacement and a 35 hp engine touted 1gph...we have yet to take a long enough run to test that.

No boat for me yet, and really no set of preferences on which to start a search. That's really what drew me here. My first thought was that a conventional, more upright design meant a trawler and not a sailboat or motor sailer. It also meant a stern cabin, but I'm starting to realize that two cabins means starting at a size or displacement that might not get anywhere near 1 gph.

[devorenm]

I wouldn't let fuel consumption sway your decision too strongly - even on the loop (which typically means lots of travel days and many miles covered) fuel isn't the biggest expense. The difference between 2gph (say 4 mpg) and 4gph (say 2mpg) can mean a substantially larger boat with more amenities and at the end of the day an extra $20.00 in fuel per day is a nominal part of your cruising budget. It takes a lot of days of cruising at an extra 20.00 per day to equal the 3 boat bucks you drop on a new turbo etc. Heck, even a slip for the night is likely to run you 50+ dollars.

[CPseudonym]

http://www.greatloop.org

Packed with great info if you haven't stumbled upon it yet.

[boatpoker]

The boat in my avatar a 38' Benford fantail 7.5knots at 3/4gph with a Mitsubishi 55

My previous boat a 37' C&C in the photo below 8.5knots at 1.6gph with a Perkins HT6-354

[Baker]

Prairie 29 1.4gph with a 4KW generator running doing 6.7 knots. A roomy comfortable boat at that!!! SO just a tad above 1gph at 6.7 knots.

[healhustler]

Krogen Manatee 36, 24,000 lbs. half load with a Volvo 90 says 1.1 gph at 2000 RPM, 6.2 knots, 7.1 MPH, which pretty much agrees with most Manatee owners I've asked. My Manatee has been refit with a 140 Yanmar and is 1.2 gph at 2000 at identical speed. We'll be starting the loop in Spring 2017 and we're counting on those figures to approximate our budget, plus a bit for idle time and genset if need be. At these lower speeds, a decent full displacement hull doesn't take much to push.

[Jeff F]

Originally Posted by HeadedToTexas

Six indeed! Guess I'm not sure. Slow is generally better, but had been reading a lot about 8 knots and assumed that was the accepted cruising speed. And yes, I know what happens when you assume! Thanks Nomad.

I've been puttering along the Trent Severn the last few days, much of the time at the 10 km/hr (5.4 knots) speed limit. Using less than 1 gph at that speed in my Mainship 34. I think mpg is the best measure, and the difference between 6 and 8 knots is major - increasing from 6 to 8 causes a decrease of more than a third in mpg for my boat. Put another way, it requires more than 50% more fuel to go X distance at 8 knots than it does at 6. There's nothing magic about 8. For me 6 feels good - quiet, no wake, and low fuel consumption.

Agree that from an overall cost perspective it's not material, but speed is probably the biggest determinant of fuel use.

Put it another way - making big waves will take more - perhaps much more - than 1 gph.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Jeff F

Agree that from an overall cost perspective it's not material,

Agreed, especially if you want to live aboard with actual comfort.
I have worked out , using fuel numbers from a mate who has had a 55ft and now 60ft trawler with the same engine as what I am buying, that for me to potter over the other side of the bay and spend a week in that virtually empty anchorage , then potter down to to the other end of the bay and spend a week in another and do the same each week I use a similar amount of fuel to what I used to use driving to work in a car/mth

To get a similar level of comfort on something that was economical on the fuel burn would cost at least $400,000 more (catamaran) and that buys how much fuel?

but speed is probably the biggest determinant of fuel use.

Apparently 12lph at 7 knots vs closer to 30lph for 9.

[psneeld]

Don't believe a lot of the 40 and under crowd getting over 4
nmpg, less than 2 GPH and up around 8 knots with their Taiwan, semi-sisplacement boats. just not what the people I know and trust believe either that have these kind of boats.


Yes there are boats way down near 1 GPH and up over 6 knots, but few and far between. The closer the hull looks like a sailboat, the better your chances.


8 knots in a boxy, load carrying trawler with a waterline down near 36 feet needs some oomph to make 8 knots...and that takes burning fuel. My Albin 40 is really a small 39 footer and its waterline is only around 34 feet (tough to measure exactly).

[FF]

The ALBIN 25 ft will happily do well under 1 GPH .

With its old SABB or a more modern engine it is a remarkable boat , with a CPP too.

About $7K - $20K will get a nice one on a trailer if you wish

6K would be top speed , but much of the loop is speed restricted to 10Klicks , which is about 6K so there would be no increase in transit times.

BEST !!!! of all these boats remain popular , so with a bit of elbow grease (paint sells the boat) you can have the boaters dream,

A Zero Round Trip.

What you buy it for can easily match what you sell it for.

Purchase in "Gods Waiting Room ,Florida" , use it till you drop and take it to the North East , and it would be very hard to loose.

Good Hunting,

Welcome to the ALBIN 25 Site

www.albin25.eu/


The European Albin 25 Ressource Website. ... DIDO Albin 25 AK. This is DIDO, a pocket trawler form the 1970s, our mobile home on the water during summer.



Albin 25 History - Albineers of BC

www.albinbc.com/home/albin-25-history




Of the 2,000 Albin 25s built, many are still doing sterling service, including the 1973 Kie-Lou, whose owners are satisfied they went for something Scandinavian ...

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by FF

The ALBIN 25 ft

Sweet baby Jebus, 25ft?

[cardude01]

Again, as others have said, unless you are traveling great distances (like crossing oceans) fuel will not be one of your major expenses.

You will spend way more on maintenance and repairs, berthing costs and insurance.