Fuel Tank Capacities

[PADISail]

A few weeks ago I ran across a Monohull online with the length of 50 to 60 feet, a dry weight of 66K Lbs and a mfgr year of early 80's to late 90's. I do not remember the make/model but it could have been Gulfstar or maybe a 'Maple Leaf' mfgr.
I've searched using both of those filters to no success...
What really caught my eye was the 600 Gallon Fuel Capacity, and the sales profile seemed to lead me to believe THAT capacity was a stock value.

Has anyone run across something along these lines ?

My main 'like' about the Gulfstar 47 SM is the ~300 gal fuel tank, so when I saw this '600' I was greatly surprised and impressed...

[kev_rm]

Was it a monohull powerboat??

Originally Posted by PADISail

A few weeks ago I ran across a Monohull online with the length of 50 to 60 feet, a dry weight of 66K Lbs and a mfgr year of early 80's to late 90's. I do not remember the make/model but it could have been Gulfstar or maybe a 'Maple Leaf' mfgr.
I've searched using both of those filters to no success...
What really caught my eye was the 600 Gallon Fuel Capacity, and the sales profile seemed to lead me to believe THAT capacity was a stock value.

Has anyone run across something along these lines ?

My main 'like' about the Gulfstar 47 SM is the ~300 gal fuel tank, so when I saw this '600' I was greatly surprised and impressed...

[PADISail]

Originally Posted by kev_rm

Was it a monohull powerboat??

No...
It was a Sailing Yacht, a Sloop or a Ketch (iirc).
Unless the listing was in error morphing the two types.
Perhaps it was a typo, but that's why I'm asking here...

(wish I could find the listing again...)

[dfelsent]

600 liters?

[PADISail]

Could have been... (doh!)
That would be an easy typo for someone posting the offering to make.
160 gals does sound more realistic... Just dreaming I guess.
With a 600gal cap I could motor all the way from CA to Fatu Hiva at top
speed only setting canvas to give the engine an occasional rest and check.

Or sail for a year without having to refuel.

The capacity of the Gulfstar 47 being 200/300 (fuel/water) I figured makes it a good candidate for modifying to 400/100, although I haven't run across anyone that has done that mod.
Also the GS50SM at 200/350 or the GS53SM at 400/400 would be a choice I would make.
(Note: prefer the below deck layout of the 47/50 much better than the 53)

[Tayana42]

The Diesel Duck motorsailer has fuel tankage of 1600 gallons.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/201...k-462-1175275/

[PADISail]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

The Diesel Duck motorsailer has fuel tankage of 1600 gallons.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/201...k-462-1175275/

(Quoted from Listing)
Tanks
Fresh Water Tanks: (250 Liters)
Fuel Tanks: (1800 Liters) 475 Gal <-------
Holding Tanks: 2 Fiberglass (40 Liters)
===

Impressive ship... Heavy looking lady...
Looks very comfortable, and many of the aspects that I like afa styling goes.
With that 125HP drive I'll bet she uses a bit more than a couple liters per hour to move the same distance - although that 7-8 kts cruising with a 9+ top sounds nice.
A lot of structure to the weather.

I greatly appreciate the aerodynamic styling of the SailMaster Series, although I'm aware there are sleeker models, the SM seems a nice compromise.
The 475 Gal cap of the '462' is getting closer to what I'm thinking...
Thanks for the link... Learning more...

[frozenhawaiian]

I know of very few boats in the 50-60ft ft range that have that kind of fuel storage standard. my 58ft alden ketch has 500 gallons fuel tankage and she is at least in theory a motor sailor. and for us at nearly 60ft and quite beamy I'd have a hard time thinking of where another 100 gallons of tankage would go.

[Student_Driver]

Cheoy Lee 43 Motor Sailor has 600 gals fuel.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Student_Driver

Cheoy Lee 43 Motor Sailor has 600 gals fuel.

As a long distance trawler person, would add that the care and feeding of that much fuel tankage is non-trivial, especially in warmer climates. Fuel polishing and multi-stage filtering, transfer pumps, etc.

My 36-foot trawler has a Perkins 4.236 which seems to be a common engine for sailboats in the 42-52 foot range. In 1987, a sistership to mine went from San Diego to Hawaii - 2200 nms - and burned 335 gals of diesel. They slowed-down to about 6-kts, and took around 14-days to make the trip, burning 1-gph. I burn closer to 1.4 gph at 7-kts in open-ocean conditions.

Bottom line: 600-gallons is roughly 600-hours of engine run-time. Could easily take 3+ years to run through that much fuel.

[Student_Driver]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

As a long distance trawler person, would add that the care and feeding of that much fuel tankage is non-trivial, especially in warmer climates. Fuel polishing and multi-stage filtering, transfer pumps, etc.



Bottom line: 600-gallons is roughly 600-hours of engine run-time. Could easily take 3+ years to run through that much fuel.

mvweebles.

Great thing is that there are horses for courses and lids for every pot. I don’t have a horse in the race or an axe to grind but can see arguments for carrying lots of fuel.

Uncertain availability at planned remote destinations and/or high local costs could be mitigated by having a large supply. Also, the ability to plan itineraries with higher certainty on schedules also is a feature.

Downsides are obvious. Weight, space and (now I learning) fuel maintenance.

Some like cruising with low or high d/lwl and have differences on low vs high sa/d. I believe I read that the CL 43 MS has a range under power of about 2k miles. Given the high weight and relatively modest sail plan, I’d guess that motoring or motor sailing account for the majority of miles under the keels of these boats.

On the other side of the spectrum are boats like the new Hinckley 50 Deck Salon boats with about 85 gallons IIRC.

Will do a search to learn more about the relationship between tank size and increased fuel cleaning issues and/or polishing systems. If you have any recommended links, I’d welcome suggestions.

[Lost Horizons]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

The Diesel Duck motorsailer has fuel tankage of 1600 gallons.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/201...k-462-1175275/

The link points to a trawler, not a motorsailer.

Here is their motorsailer: https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/201...sailer-674018/ - 3 tanks, 300 gallons. Is it 300 or 900 gallons total?

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Student_Driver

Will do a search to learn more about the relationship between tank size and increased fuel cleaning issues and/or polishing systems. If you have any recommended links, I’d welcome suggestions.

Attached is a schematic of the fuel system I built on my boat (500 gal capacity). I'd say this system is about average for a long-range yacht (power or sail). Tanks should have large access plates as crud is inevitable even with diligent fuel hygiene practices. It's considerably different than typical sailboat applications.

[mvweebles]

Steve d'Antonio, ABYC certified and frequent contributor to several magazines, has the following articles on fuel polishing/management. He works mostly with larger yacht systems, some of which are quite expensive which is why I say my system is only average - taken to an extreme, the system can get very expensive. I do not believe it prudent to discuss relatively large tank capacity without also discussing proper hygiene practices.

https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/f...ems-explained/
https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/c...-diesel-tanks/
https://www.cruisingworld.com/how/sensible-fuel-system/