Considering 280 Sundancer vs COBBALT

[ganymede]

Have a 2005 Cobalt. We are about to trade in for a 280 Sundancer . What freaks us out is the cost of fuel. Even in great weather on Long Island Sound, all we see are larger twin engine boats a mile or 2 away from their slip or at the slip sitting largely because of fuel costs even this year.

How much on average does a 280 owner spend per weekend on fuel with moderate usuage. I know the GPH for both boats but am more interested in how 280 owners use their boats over a weekend and the cost of fuel.

 

[Turtlesboat]

what kind of usage are you talking about? Most people I know with cruisers have a place they want to go, throw the anchor and stay the weekend. That's the great thing about it, little floating condo that you can take where you want to go. If you want to cruise around and explore all weekend long, you'll burn some fuel.

 

[comsnark]

You think FUEL freaks you out? What about maintenance?

Granted. . .I don't spend the whole weekend at 3000 rpm. . .I put about 50-60 hours on the engines each year - but I find that for my twin engined boat, fuel is maybe 1/3 of the overall operating costs. That includes gas, maintenance, trips to West Marine and insurance, but excludes winter storage, dock fees, and boat payments.

(the "moorage" and "capital costs" are accounted for differently on my books)

 

[Lazy Daze]

I haven't run twins for a long enough period of time to give reliable GPH to you. However, I friend of does. His old, '01 310DA had T-350MAG's, He consistently burned 7.5gph each at cruising speed - low to mid 20's.

 

[fc3]

Fuel isn't the biggest cost. If you're that concerned, maybe twins aren't for you. Sometimes we burn only 30 gallons a weekend. Sometimes 300 it depends.

 

[Turtlesboat]

I measure fuel in lobster dinners. If we go out for a short run and throw the anchor for the weekend, we get to have a lobster dinner and a bottle of wine. If we take a long run on the weekend, we grill chicken on the boat and drink beer.

 

[skibum]

I figure it it terms of vacation days. if I take the admiral and the kids to Ocean City or Wildwood for a 7 day week, I'm looking at well over $1000 just for the room. Add in all of the fun and food money, and I'm pushing $1600 - $2K (or more) for the week. I burn about 14 gph while cruising, and also put about 60-80 hours on the engine over the summer. 80 hrs * 14 GPH * $3/gallon is about $3360. Not all of those hours are spent at cruising speeds, so cut that back to about $2800-$3000 in fuel for the year, or about 1 1/2 weeks of vacation money for fuel costs. Not too shabby for a whole summer of fun...

 

[kbarrett]

Amen brother, as prices go up or down, so does the quality of our wine.

 

[kbarrett]

Im with you skibum.
Fuel 3.00 per gallon ish...
Travel time and truck fuel 8 miles per gallon
Transient dock fees 2-4 per foot ish...
watching my 14 yr old daughter bring her in and dock....

pricless!

 

[berth control]

I agree that the fuel is not that big of a deal in relation to the other costs. When I bought my twin engine boat I was concerned about the fuel costs, but now they are just not that big of a deal. The bigger cost is in maintaining all the systems on the boat and the twin engines/outdrives. Plus the slip fees, storage fees, hauling fees, ect. ect. ect.

 

[Presentation]

I measure fuel in lobster dinners. If we go out for a short run and throw the anchor for the weekend, we get to have a lobster dinner and a bottle of wine. If we take a long run on the weekend, we grill chicken on the boat and drink beer.

Mike makes a great point.

By the way, given the two above choices, Ill taken chicken.

 

[JV II]

It would help if we knew your power. With twin 5.0s I burned 1000 gallons last summer for 100 hours of boating. It is all relative. Have a fuel budget of $2,000 to $3,000 for the summer. Today, we were our most of the day. We visited 2 other marinas for $20 each. The ice cream was $10. So, its not just the fuel.