How would one refuel a large yacht at Sea?

[mickt243]

Surely the simplest answer would be to have fuel transported to you in 205lt/44gal/55gal drums, and either hand pump or electric pump into tanks?

The super yacht likely already has a suitable crane on board (many of the bigger boats I see have a crane in use as a dingy davit) to lift drums from a supply boat etc....

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by mickt243

Surely the simplest answer would be to have fuel transported to you in 205lt/44gal/55gal drums, and either hand pump or electric pump into tanks?

The super yacht likely already has a suitable crane on board (many of the bigger boats I see have a crane in use as a dingy davit) to lift drums from a supply boat etc....

Not as easy as you may think on an open sea with a swell and the potential of damages to the glossy finishes and teak cap rails of a Superyacht.

We do take on sealed drums of helicopter fuel this way, but only in protected anchorages and flat conditions

Usually the drums are waiting for us at a commercial pier when we first clear in to a country.

[Leishua]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

Yes, unscrew and remove the lid and insert the fuel hose or a funnel or what ever into the hole and let the juice drop in... Same procedure like re-fueling a car.

gotcha

[ccannan]

Originally Posted by Leishua

Ah gotcha
If I understood it right the red circle is where the pump is inserted?
https://i.imgur.com/gehcMp2.jpg

No. The red circled area in your photo is not where typical fuel tank filling port(s) is/are located. They are typically (not always) mounted on a flat horizontal surface, up much further away from the water. A key design feature is to prevent the contamination of the fuel by sea water.

A few other observations and comments. While the name of this forum may not be make it obvious, most (not all) of the discussion centers on and around sailboats/sailing vessels/SYs/yachts, etc. Running out of fuel mid ocean transit, while noted as poor seamanship, is not impossible to imagine. Most sailboats skippers would probably elect to continue under sailpower vs trying to refuel at sea because the refueling at sea is seen as unnecessarily foolish, dangerous and expensive. As other posters have commented refueling at sea can be done, but is mostly done by well trained sovereign navies, and commercial enterprises (like oil rig supply ships). As another poster commented refueling at sea can be done using Jerry cans. For sure that method would involve less risk to the vessels (and crew too, probably). It would probably be less expensive than a helicopter or other dedicated supply vessel refueling. The downside to Jerry can transfer is efficiency (fuel quantity divided by time to transfer the fuel). As noted by another poster, a large jet powered boat will need a large amount of fuel (relative to Jerry can quantities) for even shortish (>30nm) distances.

Originally Posted by wjhutchings

I think this discussion should take place between ourselves, as I have much more than a decades experience carrying out the the actions you describe below and anyone who goes to sea deliberately with out enough bunkers to get to the intended port should never go to sea again.

You and I have the experience to carry out the evolution successfully not that many do, also I know that LNG carriers who rely on boil off for their fuel also carry enough bunkers to enable them to do the voyage without recourse to boil of again experience tells me this

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by ccannan

No. The red circled area in your photo is not where typical fuel tank filling port(s) is/are located. They are typically (not always) mounted on a flat horizontal surface, up much further away from the water. A key design feature is to prevent the contamination of the fuel by sea water.

Hi ccannan,

Well the picture with the red dots for the fuel openings is a copy from the Lagoon 400S2 Manual, because I have not found a suitable picture on the internet. I guess, Lagoon knows, where they put the fuel tank caps on their vessels.

[Leishua]

So most yachts normally have their fuel feed at the top then I guess?

[Pelagic]

If you think about it.....
Best place to keep the water out and it has something to do with gravity