who buys gas on the lake?

jimmythemufflers · **Joined:** Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:26 pm **Posts:** 40

I just bought gas for the first time on the lake. $4.90 a gallon. $1.00 more a gallon than back on land. The pump says "specially formulated for marine engines" does that mean anything or are they just trying to justify an extra buck a gallon?

I normally fill up with a 14 gallon portable tank with a gravity feed hose. Takes a bit more time and a trip to the gas station but with a 32 gallon tank its worth it.

jimmythemufflers · **Joined:** Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:26 pm **Posts:** 40

Btw i keep my boat on the water all season. Driving by a gas station on the way to the ramp only happens a few times a season depending on if i need to take the boat out for any reason.

So who buys gas from where and why?

LouC · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2014 12:34 pm

I keep my boat on a mooring behind where I live and I use 2 gas docks both charge about 50-75 cents a gallon more than the street price. It's certainly easier than getting the trailer on and out of a gas station so I don't mind. The only thing is that it makes me very nervous when I see people there who do not lift the engine hatch to sniff for fumes before starting. Very poor understanding of safety procedures. There was just a fatality due to a boat fire after fueling about 1/2 hr from here.

rpengr · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2014 1:54 pm

Marina gas is often 91 or 93 octane, and non-ethanol, so that is some of the price difference. The rest is location. Around me, 91 octane non-ethanol gas is available on the street also, called Rec gas (recreational). It costs at least 50c more than ethanol fuel.

I have my carb engine tuned for ethanol, so it actually does not run as good on marina gas. I use 89 octane street gas all the time, but I trailer, so it is easy. 65 gal tank.

fi.na.tine · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:53 pm

I trailer, so I fill up on the way. Usually get regular unleaded from either Chevron or Shell. I add stabilizer with carb cleaner sometimes as well. I also fill up every time I go out - the one time I did not I white knuckled it all the way back with the needle on E. Rookie mistake.

Our river gas is about .50 - .70 cents more than on land -it is only listed as "non-ethenol" - What works for some, does not for others.

I have only been boating a short time and all I can say is that I have found that there is no "one way" to do anything. You do what works for you, You learn from others and modify as needed, but everyone has their own way of doing things. (Not saying a little advice has not helped me out though.)

jimmythemufflers · **Joined:** Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:26 pm **Posts:** 40

No ethanol? That makes sense if its the same at my local marinas. Ill check it out next time im out. Ive always filled up regular 87 with marine stabil. I would image if i only used marina gas i could ditch the stabil. With the exception of storing it of course.

My previous boat i ran out of gas once. After that i always. Kept a 3 gallon tank in the back. Its worry free knowing if i run out i have a reserve that can get me home. Im not sure how that 3 gallon tank would work on the bigger boat...

meinmelb · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2014 6:17 pm

Oh my Lord! You guys pay abou $1.10 per liter for fuel??!!!!

At best we pay AU$1.50/L but it rises to about $1.70 nearer the water and on weekends!! That equates to about US$6.30 per gallon.

fi.na.tine · **Posted:** Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:33 pm

The states have always paid less for fuel. I have heard many different explanations for why.

LouC · **Posted:** Sun Aug 24, 2014 6:34 pm

The main reason it that our gas taxes are lower. After the gas shortage back in '73, there was talk of increased the tax as in Europe and in Japan, but there was not the political will to do that.

298VISTA2000 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 24, 2014 7:29 pm

Actually, given government-mandated gas is made from corn, we pay a lot more for food than we should. I would much rather pay more for gas than food any day of the week (especially as a family of six).

fi.na.tine · **Posted:** Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:46 pm

LouC wrote:

The main reason it that our gas taxes are lower. After the gas shortage back in '73, there was talk of increased the tax as in Europe and in Japan, but there was not the political will to do that.

I have heard that one, as well as domestic supply/demand, refinery location, how it gets here, where it comes from, government mandates - pretty much everything but space aliens and mad cow being the reason....

ric · **Posted:** Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:51 pm

Gas my my marina is $1.75 higher than street gas, they're insane. I try to avoid it if possible unless I really need it. It's 91 octane ethanol free. That's a case of beer I'm wasting getting 20 gallons from them.

My boat's carb and ignition are both set and tuned for ethanol fuel, it runs smoother and uses less gas when I fill it up with Wawa's 87 octane E10 compared to 91 octane E0 marina gas. Fuel injected boats made past 2000 or so will also run better on E10, the ECU was programmed for it. The boat has no idea you're running E0 or E10 and will run rich on E0 (unless you have a 2012+ boat with o2 sensors).

LouC · **Posted:** Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:51 pm

Its good and bad in a sense, because while we had and still do have cheaper than world price gas (except middle east, parts of South America) the fact that our gas was always so cheap meant that our automakers never got really serious about building good small cars. Even though some of them did that just fine in Europe (Ford and GM both). So our small car tech was way behind the Asian and European (where they pay 2x as much for gas) and when the big increase in gas prices hit in '08, our auto makers were caught short. If our prices were increased to world levels way back when, that would not have been the case. Keep in mind in Europe and Japan, not only is gas more expensive but you pay a tax based on your engine size too.

TimBobCom · **Joined:** Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:23 am **Posts:** 44

I have kept both my previous and current boats in marinas on the Mississippi River, so I have been buying my gas from the marina(s) for the past few years. Usually it is about 30 - 40 cents more per gallon than on the road, however in my state I can get a refund of the "road taxes" portion of the gas at the end of the year, which is currently 18 cents per gallon. So, overall it's only 12 - 22 cents more than on the road for me.

This is for 89 Octane, non-ethanol, unleaded with Valvtect added.

The marina gas prices only change when they get a fresh load of gas in, so there have been times when the marina's last delivery was before a big spike and I actually paid less at the marina than I did to gas up my truck to get to the marina. I think that only happened once though.

rpengr · **Posted:** Mon Aug 25, 2014 9:41 am

fi.na.tine wrote:

LouC wrote:

The main reason it that our gas taxes are lower. After the gas shortage back in '73, there was talk of increased the tax as in Europe and in Japan, but there was not the political will to do that.

I have heard that one, as well as domestic supply/demand, refinery location, how it gets here, where it comes from, government mandates - pretty much everything but space aliens and mad cow being the reason....

I also wonder how much of the higher price in Europe, Japan & Oz is Value Added Tax.

Keep in mind that when you hear American prices, Taxes are not included. We lose about 30% of our income to Federal and Social Security Taxes, then there is about 5-8% state sales tax, then local property taxes of perhaps $3000/yr average. None of that is reflected in our prices.

When we travel abroad, we essentially pay double taxes if we pay European VAT taxes also. That's why we are such crabby tourists. :evil:

www.iFourWinns.com

who buys gas on the lake?

Who is online