It never hurts to ask....

Gofirstclass

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,656
Tri Cities, WA
Boat Info
Boatless in WA
Engines
No motor
My motto has long been "If you don't ask, you won't get."

I was planning on putting some diesel in the boat this weekend. It's getting a bit on the low side and I figure the water's way too cold to swim if we run out so I called the fuel distributor to ask about a discount.

I think I could easily put 200 gallons in it right now (it has a 700 gallon capacity) and thought that might be worthy of a discount. The current price at our club is $2.99.08, I asked what kind of a discount I could get if I put in at least 200 gallons. The lady I spoke with called me back today and said I'd get a $.30/gallon discount.

Well heck, that saves me $60 on 200 gallons so that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
 
I just got a 425.00 bill for 108 gallons of gas in our boat last weekend.
 
I say something close...
If you don't ask the answer is always no.
Too bad you couldn't pre pay for next season!
 
I toped mine off last weekend 220 gallons @ $5.99 = $1,3178.00.
On my lake and us being on the north end there are only five private owners boats and two time share house boats that use diesel.
The marina at our end of the lake has a 12000 gallon tank. They fill that tank two times a year. out of that 12000 gallons I use on average about 2000 to 2500 gallons a year... yep that = on average about 11k to 14k a year.

Now you would think that they would give some sort of discount for that type of usage.... hell know. Got to love Airmark they run all concessions on the lake. I have asked and they just laugh!!!

On the page AZ end of the lake the marina Antelope point is on Indian Reservation diesel there on average will be around 4.00 to 4.50 per gallon.

So hell yes if you can get a discount run your tanks completely out and fill them just out of spite.
 
I was paying 2.49 - 2.69 a gallon for diesel this summer, latest price is 2.99.

I only burned 200 gallons this year....too much work, not enough play.
 
But, have you considered how/where you will be able to pump fuel from a tank truck into the boat. Most marinas with retail pumps servicing recreational boaters will not allow fuel truck deliveries to a customer's boat. Reasons stated will be environmental concerns, safety, liability with respect to other boaters, local codes, prohibited by the marina's insurance carrier, etc. etc.

So this may be one thing you don't know until you ask!
 
We’ve taken on 1900 gallons of diesel in the last 3 days. Price has averaged about $3.02. We always ask for volume and cash (check) discounts. 500 gallons seems to be the price break point at most east coast marinas. BoatUS and Marinalife get us discounts too.
 
I was paying $2.84gal off a truck all summer. Fuel from marines around me is around $3.29gal. I didn’t keep track of gallons but quick math based on hrs is 4200gal. I run at cruise speed most of the time with very little no wake areas where we boat and cruise I am burning 41gal/hr. I filled up a few times at Marinas while traveling so I am probably around $12k in fuel for the season. Ouch, why did I just do that math.
 
I looked into truck delivery to a private dock last year here in the North SF Bay. By the time we paid for special permits and a second delivery man (required for all on the water delivery) we would have had to buy about 1500 gallons to break even with the lowest commercial marina offering diesel. We currently pay $4.30 a gallon and locals get a whopping $.06 discount for purchases over 100 gallons.
 
I toped mine off last weekend 220 gallons @ $5.99 = $1,3178.00.
On my lake and us being on the north end there are only five private owners boats and two time share house boats that use diesel.
The marina at our end of the lake has a 12000 gallon tank. They fill that tank two times a year. out of that 12000 gallons I use on average about 2000 to 2500 gallons a year... yep that = on average about 11k to 14k a year.

Now you would think that they would give some sort of discount for that type of usage.... hell know. Got to love Airmark they run all concessions on the lake. I have asked and they just laugh!!!

On the page AZ end of the lake the marina Antelope point is on Indian Reservation diesel there on average will be around 4.00 to 4.50 per gallon.

So hell yes if you can get a discount run your tanks completely out and fill them just out of spite.
Holy moly that's expensive. Both in terms of per gallon and your consumption!

I filled up three times this year. First was at $2.99, which I thought was a good deal. Gas at the same place was $3.50- $4. Next two times were $3.99 per gallon. We burned about 250 gallons this season, which started in July.

Fortunately my consumption is about 17-18 gph while cruising at 28 mph.
 
My slip mate has a 68 Viking with twin 2200hp MTUs burning 120gal/hr so when I start to get upset about my fuel burn I just think about his and it makes me feel better.
 
My slip mate has a 68 Viking with twin 2200hp MTUs burning 120gal/hr so when I start to get upset about my fuel burn I just think about his and it makes me feel better.

Long-term affordability to actually run the boat has always been on my mind. As such, I have wanted boats with single engines. My wife kind of thought I was nuts for being so insistent. Yet she gives me a lot of side-eye when she sees the fuel bill. I've reminded her that twin engines would have been a lot more expensive.
 
Imagine in WA, you would be #1 diesel by now. Topping up and running it through the fuel system could also save you some headaches later if you plan to run them at all in the cold weather.
 
I need to show this thread to my wife and say "See, I'm doing great". We're a gasser at an average of about $4/gallon. I've spent about $5000 this year on fuel, so I feel like I'm doing a damn fine job on managing fuel costs after reading this thread.
 
If someone that never boated in there life log in today and saw this post I dont think they would buy a boat. lol

I do love the boating lifestyle however you have to have a open checkbook to enjoy it.

I took the liberty of fixing your post.

I paid 2.9 a couple weeks ago at the marina that has the best deal in our harbor. Gas was $0.40 more a gallon.
 
But, have you considered how/where you will be able to pump fuel from a tank truck into the boat. Most marinas with retail pumps servicing recreational boaters will not allow fuel truck deliveries to a customer's boat. Reasons stated will be environmental concerns, safety, liability with respect to other boaters, local codes, prohibited by the marina's insurance carrier, etc. etc.

So this may be one thing you don't know until you ask!

Frank,
Our marina is much different than most of you guys. It's city,and yacht club owned. The fuel company GFC talks about has two sets of pumps, one for the yacht club, and one for the others(me).
If you have their credit card they send you a bill in the mail. So, they can charge whatever they want pretty easily.
We don't even have any services like what I read on this site, pretty much a place to park the boat.
It is a much better price than most though for a slip.
 
But, have you considered how/where you will be able to pump fuel from a tank truck into the boat. Most marinas with retail pumps servicing recreational boaters will not allow fuel truck deliveries to a customer's boat. Reasons stated will be environmental concerns, safety, liability with respect to other boaters, local codes, prohibited by the marina's insurance carrier, etc. etc.

So this may be one thing you don't know until you ask!
Frank, Wyrman already addressed this, but just to clarify a bit, the discount I was quoted is pumping it out of the dockside pump at the club. The pumps there (gas and diesel) are only available to club members because they offer a discount below what the pumps at the Port-owned marina charges. That's where Wyrman gets his gas.

Unfortunately for us we didn't get to use the boat much this summer. Tina's mother is 103 and has had a series of health issues that pretty much kept us shoreside. The few times we have used the boat have just been day trips, so our fuel usage this summer has been nil.

My MIL turns 104 in December. That is a major goal for her. I suspect after she reaches that goal she's not long for the world. I asked her once if she wanted to hit 105 and got an emphatic "NO".

When she passes we are going to take a ~4 month cruise down the Columbia, around the coast and then cruise from South Puget Sound up into Canada. I'm figuring mid-June to mid-October if the weather holds out that long.
 

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