Fuel Prices!

[Surprise390]

The cost of the fuel for my wife and I to get to Key West and back, 350 mile round trip, is higher than the cost of two 1st class tickets to Maui. Washington's complete lack of a viable energy policy sure takes a lot of fun out of boating.

 

[CV-23]

Complete Lack of Leadership is Washington! Donald Trump needs to fire them all....look at the savings we would have then!

 

[Someday Lady II]

By far my biggest expense is fuel for the boat. And I don't pay any where near $5 per US gallon here in Alberta.

In fact the high price of oil helps keep my income taxes to the lowest level in Canada, and keeps us from having a provincal sales tax. Oil is just like any other free market item. It is only worth what people are willing to pay for it.

I don't know what you spend on maintenance and such but I spend $1800 for club membership, moorage and winter storage, another $700 for insurance on the boat and trailer, $400 per year approx on fluids and filters, incl RV anti-freeze. If I factor in plugs, wires, impellers and all the other things that can and do go wrong on a boat PLUS the things you want, or need to do, you are in for a thousand more.

How much did you say you spend on gas last year?

 

[HUMPH]

One advantage of higher fuel prices is there are fewer people out on the water.

TJ

And having fewer people on the water makes your boat value go down. This thread seems to start before every season and people either consider it the cost of doing business (boating) or they b!tch about it. I have full tanks and should not need fuel until July or August unless I run more than I anticipate. In September I most likely fill up twice but will just fill up and pay the credit card bill when it comes. I can cry on the inside if I want but there's not much I can do. Prices will come down in August or September before the election so Obamayomama can tell everyone he saved the day!

 

[Searaybio270]

By far my biggest expense is fuel for the boat. And I don't pay any where near $5 per US gallon here in Alberta.

In fact the high price of oil helps keep my income taxes to the lowest level in Canada, and keeps us from having a provincal sales tax. Oil is just like any other free market item. It is only worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Oil wasn't on the free market. Doing so it gave people the ability to bit on oil futures through speculation that it may go up or down irrespective of supply and demand. Plus, they will never own it, say like a stock, land etc.

As for complaining because the boating season is coming. No. Even if I didn't have a boat I would complain. Dec heating bill, as I sit here in heavy sweats freezing my butt off, $950.00. I drive 22 miles round trip for work - $460 a month. I owe nothing on my vehicle. When it hits $4.00 per gallon or more, I can go buy a car (new) and save money. Something is broken.

 

[Woody]

Oil wasn't on the free market. Doing so it gave people the ability to bit on oil futures through speculation that it may go up or down irrespective of supply and demand. Plus, they will never own it, say like a stock, land etc.

As for complaining because the boating season is coming. No. Even if I didn't have a boat I would complain. Dec heating bill, as I sit here in heavy sweats freezing my butt off, $950.00. I drive 22 miles round trip for work - $460 a month. I owe nothing on my vehicle. When it hits $4.00 per gallon or more, I can go buy a car (new) and save money. Something is broken.

You must have a pretty big house and a gas hog of a car.:wow:

 

[Banagy]

So the President has been studing the pipeline from Canada for three years, and cannot make a decision till after the election. Just a though, did he take the short bus to school?

 

[Ka1oxd]

OK here is my 0.02. It is all about the money! Greed from the speculators. They wordsmith any news to make the oil commodities raise a few cents then sell. When you are talking contracts with thousands of barrels, that is a big killing in their profit, while the rest of us pay for the price. Just to put things in perspective, this chart is from gasbuddy.

 

[tdschafer]

You must have a pretty big house and a gas hog of a car.:wow:

I agree. $950.00 for one month? Is Wisconsin's climate similar to Antartica? Holy crap!! :lol:
Your cummute puts you at roughly 5700 miles a year. If you double that for HEAVY weekend driving that puts you at 11,400 miles a year. I average 10,000 miles a year mostly local driving in a $hitsubishi Montero Sport LTD SUV and only run $200-$240 a month and a report just came out this week naming Long Island, New York as having the Highest gasoline prices in the country.

So my question is this: Does your home have any insulation and what the heck are you driving? An 18 wheeler? :huh:

 

[Westie]

I don't know what you spend on maintenance and such but I spend $1800 for club membership, moorage and winter storage, another $700 for insurance on the boat and trailer, $400 per year approx on fluids and filters, incl RV anti-freeze. If I factor in plugs, wires, impellers and all the other things that can and do go wrong on a boat PLUS the things you want, or need to do, you are in for a thousand more.

How much did you say you spend on gas last year?

I trailer my boat and store it on my property so no storage costs. Cost for moorage was about $100 last year since we stayed at a dock for a couple of days on our annual 3 week trip.
Maintenance cost are less than $200 a year.
Insurance is $379 per year.
Fuel was around $1400.
Last year I added a 1000 watt inverter/charger for $200

No offense Westie, but that's about the stupidest thing I've read since.....I can't even remember when, so let's just say stupidest thing ever.
Oil is not a luxury item, we've gotten to the point where we need it to survive. Unless you plan on living with Ted "The Uni-bomber" Kaczynski, then oil is a must. What people are willing to pay for it is irrelevant. If it takes 99% of your income to pay for it, or you starve...do the math. (actually, truth be told, if it takes 99%, unless you are eating road kill, you've probably starved to death already)

I guess you never read your own posts then including this one. Allot of your oil consumption is completely voluntary; you choose to spend that money.
No one has to have a boat with twin 8.1 it is a choice you made based on your ability to be able to afford it. No one needs to drive a truck or SUV that gets less than 20 MPG for pleasure. There are a lot of other choices out there, get a car that get 30 to 40 MPG, take public transportation or ride your bike. I know many people that don't even have a car. The amount of oil you consume is based on choices you make, no one is forcing you to buy gas for your boat or gas hungry SUV.

 

[comsnark]

Hmmm. $200 a year for maintenance? Wow. I probably spend more on that on bottom paint and wax!

And there is more to oil prices than the gas you burn in your cars and toys. Food prices are greatly impacted by gas prices. So even if you bicycle to work. . .you still have to eat.

 

[nwocouple2006]

I would say fuel is our bigest expense every year. I pay 475 for dockage 275 for club membership 90 for lift fees and storage i do all my own maintenance and shrinkwraping so thats about another 300. last year we spent around 2600 on fuel and that was at around 3.80 a gallon since it only gets marked up 10 cents a gallon and we try to buy right. we are sitting on 11000 gallons right now from the fall. I just recently bought a 300 weekender to upgrade from my 220. we are budgeting about 4000 this year. we ussually go out every weekend and put well over 100 hours a year on our boat.

 

[Jim M]

Yesterday I put fuel in my Center Consul (in St Petersburg) and with my .15 cent discount per gallon I paid $4.14 per gallon. AND it was worth every penny!!!!!!

 

[Searaybio270]

3500square ft.
2003 GMC Envoy paid in full. Runs well. I have taken good care of it But in order save money I would have to buy new and hope the gas stays high. This is what our government wants us to do.

 

[AKBASSKING]

CV-23 it isn't DOE's fault rather it is current policies. Pack thanks for the link and do I dare say.......I agree with you on this one.

Everything we touch is affected by the cost of fuel. Food, cloths, building materials etc., anything shipped by truck or rail. If Keystone was approved tomorrow and speculation ended along with good sound energy policy, then fuel prices would drop almost immediatly.

We will not be doing much this summer if prices don't break soon. We simply won't be able to afford it.

 

[Ka1oxd]

I just switched jobs so I am only running 6 miles a day for work instead 104 miles a day. Last year I spent $6000 on fuel back and forth to work. That included riding my motorcycle for 6 months of the year. Once the weather start cooperating, A tank of gas in my motorcycle should last all month! Last year on the boat I only spent 500 on gas, but I only put 25 hours on it.

 

[Turtlesboat]

The only thing that is cheap on my boat is grilling steaks on my magma.

 

[JimT]

The biggest cause of the recent increase in gas prices is the lack of refining capacity. There is plenty of oil in the US which is exemplified by the the difference in price between Brent and WTLSC. You can also see this in the price differential between the coasts. If you want cheaper gas then support a refinery in your backyard.

 

[Carver370]

If you guys are using your boats like I am, fuel is considered almost an equal expense to what I pay annually for slips, storage, insurance, winterizing and everything. I think last year is the first season I spent more on fuel than the "normal" stuff.

Average 30-36 gph, about 100 logged hours, 4.00 per gallon average=........

Am I unhappy, no its the way it is and I am a boater until the day I die. However I still have a receipt for fuel when this boat was new and 240 gallons worth cost less than $300.00. That is about as sad as it gets in my eyes. Today 240 gallons would cost over $1,000.00. That puts it in perspective.

 

[MonacoMike]

OK here is my 0.02. It is all about the money! Greed from the speculators. They wordsmith any news to make the oil commodities raise a few cents then sell. When you are talking contracts with thousands of barrels, that is a big killing in their profit, while the rest of us pay for the price. Just to put things in perspective, this chart is from gasbuddy.

YADA,YADA,YADA, always the same old song by the same old choir, in that vane I'll sing my part:
.
.

90% of Americans blame “oil speculators” for at least some blame for oil prices, while 88% place some blame on the “oil companies” CNN reports. This puts most Americans in the company of avowed socialist senator, Bernie Sanders, John Stossel reports. "The skyrocketing price of gas and oil has nothing to do with the fundamentals of supply and demand, and has everything to do with Wall Street firms that are artificially jacking up the price of oil in the energy futures markets. ... (T)he same Wall Street speculators that caused the worst financial crisis since the 1930s through their greed, recklessness and illegal behavior are ripping off the American people again by gambling that the price of oil and gas will continue to go up." Sanders said.

Meanwhile the people most to blame are getting little blame: "politicians escape relatively scot-free. Only a quarter say that President Obama or the GOP in Congress deserve a great deal of blame for gas prices", CNN reports. Are we collectively that dumb? Stossel says: In America, we don't have a free market—we have a government-saturated economy in which oil companies and other corporations have a cozy relationship with politicians and bureaucrats. That's wrong, but even that can't explain the recent run-up in prices. Oil companies today are no more greedy or clever than they have been all along.

"Speculators help keep prices stable. When they foresee a future oil shortage—that is, when prices are lower than anticipated in the future—speculators buy lots of it, store it, and then sell it when the shortage hits. They know they can charge more when there's relatively little oil on the market. But their selling during the shortage brings prices down from what they would have been had speculators not acted."

"Speculators are like the ants in Aesop's "Ants and the Grasshopper" fable: They save resources for lean times. Everyone benefits because everyone has a chance to buy from them in those lean times. Speculators don't "artificially jack up the price of oil"—they take risks. Those who guess wrong lose a lot of money. Historically, speculators have been convenient scapegoats, and they have suffered greatly for it. So have the rest of us." Stossel adds.

I hate these unnecessarily high gas prices. We need to drill and get our resources ready to use ( we have more energy than the middle east if we want it) that alone will lower oil prices as will strengthening the dollar we buy it with.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/09/news...poll/index.htm

http://reason.com/archives/2011/05/0...e-market/print​