Fuelling Points

[Lowestoftboater]

I'm going to be on the Broads aboard Herbert Woods' Florida Light 2 and wanna keep as much of my fuel deposit, so I was wondering what the best place is to top up the fuel and the average price of fuel at boat yards. I'm boating in October and I know the days are shorter but it's a break I booked earlier in the year due to work commitments.

 

TIA

Karl (Newbie broads cruiser)

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello Karl welcome to the forum and your first post.

Please let us if you are staying on the northern rivers or venturing to the southern rivers?

On the northern rivers then your best bet is Boulters at Horning.

Regards

Alan

[stumpy]

Hi and welcome Karl - Boulter's isn't the easiest fuel pump for a newbie to get alongside.I'd suggest Southgates next door to the New Inn at Horning as it's truly Riverside. Re. Price - we filled up at Sutton Staithe last week (another b*gg*r to get on) at £1 a litre.

[Bound2Please]

Hello Karl

a warm to the forum from me and the Wench (some call her Inge) Geoege at Ludham bridge was £1 a litre last week, when we filled up.

Charlie

[BrundallNavy]

2 hours ago, Lowestoftboater said:

I'm going to be on the Broads aboard Herbert Woods' Florida Light 2 and wanna keep as much of my fuel deposit, so I was wondering what the best place is to top up the fuel and the average price of fuel at boat yards. I'm boating in October and I know the days are shorter but it's a break I booked earlier in the year due to work commitments.

 

TIA

Karl (Newbie broads cruiser)

Welcome aboard,

Not sure many yards would fuel a hire boat without the yards permission, HW might express that the boat is not fuelled elsewhere as they cannot grantee the quality.

if you cruise slightly slower you will see more as well as save fuel, win win.

 

[SweetKingfisher1]

Hello Karl and Welcome , ok we are based on south river, but we topped up last weekend at Brooms, Brundall and the cost was £1:12 Litre, so not the cheapest .

Regards

Marina 

[Jocave]

How much are you hoping to save by filling up yourself?? Not sure if the time and effort required will be worth all the bother, and what will Herbert woods think when you take it back almost full..

[deebee29]

Hi Karl & 

We have had 2 of HW older boats over the last year and got a good part of our deposit back (over £70 in April) both times.

We did a fair bit of cruising including going south and used the heating. If you keep your revs low there's no need to fill up and as others have said you might run into problems with the yard.

We've been hiring since the early 80’s and always had money back.

[vanessan]

Russell's at South Walsham was 96p a couple of weeks ago and it is an easy place to access. Take note of what others have advised though re filling up a hire boat. And welcome to the forum too. 

[NorfolkNog]

Hi Karl and welcome. With respect I wouldn't bother topping up. You have plenty of fuel on board and its a small boat. You would save buttons by buying fuel elsewhere and for all the hassle I'm not sure its worth it. Herbert Woods may not be too happy either. We go with them every year in February and usually get around half of our deposit back.

The decision is yours of course.

[JennyMorgan]

For those wishing to save fuel then hiring from Hunters has to be the way to go!

http://www.huntersyard.co.uk/home/sailing-with-hunters/

[Chelsea14Ian]

to the forum.I would suggest you go with the tides keep you speed down you should be okay.Most yards work out on average how much you will use.Why not phone the yard they can let you know the best way forward.what ever have a good trip.let us have some pics

Ian

[JanetAnne]

If I had hired and discovered that my yard were charging more for their supplied diesel than one of the other suppliers on the network I would brim the boat before returning it.

Its nothing to do with saving the few quid, more the principle. If you aint making enough money out of my hire that you need to jack the fuel prices as well then maybe something needs to be looked at.

[Jocave]

If I was spending x£ amount on hiring a boat the last thing on my mind would be messing around trying to find somewhere that sold cheap diesel to save the odd fiver or tenner, rather spend my time and money enjoying myself for the short time I was there ..

[BroadAmbition]

Some of the yards charge £1:20 per litre or even more

LBBy Sunday last was £1:05  - Not too easy to get alongside if you are a newbie helm.

Forget Boulters unless you are really know what you are doing on the helm

Southgates - easy peasy to get alongside - as far as I'm aware they will sell to any hireboat without blinking

Sutton - easier than Boulters to get alongside (Where isn't?) but awkward to get out and turn unless you are well versed

However - If you choose to hire again with H.W's I would think twice about returning the boat with a nearly full tank.  They will not be best pleased.  If all hirers went to Boulters / LBBy or Sutton then they would simply put a stop to it or hike their prices up for basic hire.  The yards make profit where they can as they need to.  So if you really want to save a few pennies, just ask Southgates to chuck in say 40 Litres or so and you might get away with it.  The biggest fuel saving you can make is by going with the tides - Not too much of an issue if staying North.  Also being October you will probably have the heating on which of course uses diesel

We have our annual Lads week on 3 x cruisers in October.  If it's cold then the heating is on 24/7 as being comfortable is higher up the pecking list than the diesel tank.  If the tides are not good for us (And yes we always venture south) then hard luck for us although when I'm doing the Navplans I do take them into account, daylight and pub opening times are more important than saving a few litres of diesel.  We hardly ever get any of our fuel deposits back, we normally owe them some - And are we bothered? - Not a jot!  However one year it did make us blink, we hired boats with hydraulic drives - they suck it up far more than shaft drive.  Even 'B.A' on a Lads Week will get through 90 odd litres sometimes more but always less than the hirecraft and she cruises further to and from Potter to meet up with them and 'B.A' is the one towing a dinghy too

I would just accept that your fuel charge is just part of the holiday package

Hope this helps,

Griff

[VetChugger]

I'm with JanetAnne on this one. If the yards are taking the proverbial in over charging for fuel I will return ther favour by filling up a degree. Enough to make my overall fuel spend something like the standard pump price available to privateers! Goodchilds is a good source at a very good price usually. I'm afraid I don't subscribe to the arguement that the yards have to make their money. They both have and take the opportunity to do so  in the hire price. At a southern yard I hired from, I asked, on takeover, what they were charging for fuel. They looked at me very suspiciously and were totally hostile to me and the rest of my friends for the whole of the holiday. As it happens I did not top up the tank on that occasion due more to lack of opportunity than intent!

[JennyMorgan]

Why should filling up a hireboat be a problem? What happens if a boat is out for a fortnight or more and gets caught short, surely it can fill up and the nearest convenient pump?

[BroadAmbition]

The size of their tanks, 40 odd gallon is not unusual if not larger. You would need to be doing a LOT of running against tide to use that lot up in two weeks.  A fortnight without running short is not an issue

Griff

[VetChugger]

Our week, late last month, we paid £100 fuel deposit. From Loddon we did Surlingham, Thurne Dyke, Coltishall via Potter, Stokesby, Rockland Staithe, Oulton Broad and Reedham in that order. Yes, we did some against the tide on the Sunday to Thurne. The rest we managed to time fairly well. I received the princely sum of £1.20 refund!

Once again, we didn't top up mainly because we were treated so well by the yard and the original hire charge truely was very good value comparatively.

[dnks34]

I think for that distance the £100 and £1.20 refund probably wont be that far out.  

I also suspect I know which southern yard you are referring to.

I once hired from a southern yard and on handover it was made very clear I was not to put any fuel in the boat period.  Poor fuel quality elsewhere was the reason given which was clearly total bull! 

We had a few days afloat the other week and went from Loddon to Norwich, Norwich to Beccles and back to Loddon and when I dipped it as I always do I reckon it used around 25 to 30 quids worth.

If any of the larger hire yards are charging more I doubt its a drastic amount per hire but over the season its probably a reasonable sum for them. 

I agree with other posters its probably not really worth the hassle trying to find somewhere to fill it up for you I wouldnt bother. 

[deebee29]

To be honest, as a hirer on my holidays I never give the price of fuel a second thought.

I've know the cost and paid for my holiday upfront. When I get my boat I want to enjoy it and the Broads, go where I want and not be worrying that I could get cheaper deisel.

We always cover a good distance, have never run out of fuel and have always had a good amount of money back at the end, Even from the yard that I think is being referred to here.

Each to their own I guess

[NorfolkNog]

Another point to mention is that the amount yards charge 'extra' for fuel is part of their hire costings, they are not taking the proverbial, it's simply if you didn't pay for the fuel you would pay more for the hire charge. As I'm a light user of fuel I actually think the reverse ie I'm getting value from the yard. As others have said, I'm out to enjoy my holiday, not spending it queuing for fuel. In all my 40 years on the Broads I have never failed to get a refund on the fuel. Just my 2p  :-) 

[BrundallNavy]

I topped up at Boulter's cruised back to Stalham then up to Coltishall next Potter Heigham back to Stalham, Then a few weeks later back to Boulter's to top up again princely sum of £19, that's the beauty of a BMC over a modern Nanni.

 

If you really want to save a few quid take a Gerry can to Nicholson's in Sutton and buy red diesel there.

[Gracie]

Everything what Dave and Howard said. We cruise a lot, even going North to South in a week and still get some money back. Not a lot of fun in going on a beautiful broads holiday having to worry about filling up with fuel to save probably just a few quid. Make sure you fill up with water though, now that you can run out of half way through having a shower, with shampoo in your hair and everything, not that I've done that of course

A very warm welcome aboard the forum Karl  I'm so excited for you, once you're on board and under way, fuel will be the last thing on your mind, you're in for a wonderful time and in October too, a beautiful time of year to be out on the rivers

Grace

[JamesLV]

I've already spent enough on the holiday to waste any of my precious (and quite expensive) time worrying about the price of diesel.

then again I'm not one of these people who drives 8 miles out their way to save 0.7p on fuel for the car either, in fact I can't remember the last time I actually looked at the price of petrol at a petrol station...