First Time Going Offshore

[Trayb09]

What would a good range estimate be for a boat with the following capacity:

53 ft Jeanneau
63 gal (110 hp Yanmar) not including extra fuel

Estimated time (days) to get from San Jaun, PR to Bermuda with a mix of motoring/sailing?

I know sea state and weather have a lot to do with how long it will take. If it helps, we are planning to leave may 6th.

Thanks for your thoughts/estimates. First time going offshore, nervous I guess. However, the plane ticket has been purchased so I am committed.

Best,
Patrick

[boatman61]

6-9 days...

[a64pilot]

Carry lots extra fuel that way you won't need it

[DoubleWhisky]

I do know nothing about the systems on Your boat and about how power hungry it is.
I do not know if You have a generator, but it is quite probable on 53 ft Jeanneau.
Let's make some assumptions:

1. You have a generator of about 6 kVa
2. You do not want to waive most of day to day conveniences You are used to.
3. Your trip will be up to 9 days - we can believe Boatman

You will probably use about 20 liters of diesel per day by average just for generator. It mean You will use 75 % of fuel just for generating the power. It will theoretically leave You with 60 liters for main engine - something between eight and ten hours of motoring. But if Your tank is 240 liters nominally, You can really use about 85 - 90 % of the nominal capacity, so the reserve for motoring will be ilusoric rather.
If You do not have generator and will use the main engine for generating power (motorsailing for this time) You will need even more fuel, as a gain on average speed can be not huge and alternator is much less effective than a generator.
So - You need to have more fuel on board or to limit Your conveniences (like full lightning, hot water and so on).


My boat is of very similar size and quite power hungry. I have a quite effective generator, and my own allowance for fuel is 40 liter per day for the cruise lasting just several days. For longer trip it is less by average, as the allowance for main engine is diminishing. I can of course limit my power consumption heavily, but... why to be less comfortable, than necessary


If Your boat is less power hungry than mine (rather she is) You can probably calculate for about 30 liters a day:


9 X 30 X 1.25 = 340 liters (25 % reserve accounted for)


Your tank is (usable) 240 X 0.85 = 200 liters


So taking additional 140 liters in handy cans is probably quite reasonable.
Not big problem with storing such amount of fuel on 53 footer



Have a nice sail



Best regards


Tomasz

[marlinmike]

Who would want to be running main engines and generators all the time, just thinking about that gives me a headache!

Maybe leave a little early and have a stop off in the Abaco Bahama's, refuel and rest up. Good luck with your trip.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by marlinmike

Who would want to be running main engines and generators all the time, just thinking about that gives me a headache!

30 liters per day is good for 4-5 hours of running generator and 1 hour of running main engine (average for a whole trip). Not all the time by any mean

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

30 liters per day is good for 4-5 hours of running generator and 1 hour of running main engine (average for a whole trip). Not all the time by any mean

Tomasz, I'm astonished by the fuel consumption figures you quote for your genset! If I have worked it out correctly from your statement, that looks like something around 5+ litres per hour for the genny, and that seems awfully high to me. I'll admit to never having owned a diesel genset, but our main engine (43 hp Kubota) drives our 46 foot boat at around six knots and burns 2.5 l/h. The postulated 6 kva genny should require something like 10 hp at full load, and that shouldn't be burning near that much fuel IMO.

Have I gone wrong somewhere in my thoughts?

Jim

[a64pilot]

Even running the main engine alone, surely it has to burn at least 2 gl an hour, now remember it's a 110 hp engine, not little by anyones standards, that's only 30 hrs of running without any generator. 63 gl for a 110 hp engine isn't much, I'd want more.

20 L a day, but how many hours do you run it in a day? Some run them a lot.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Tomasz, I'm astonished by the fuel consumption figures you quote for your genset! If I have worked it out correctly from your statement, that looks like something around 5+ litres per hour for the genny, and that seems awfully high to me. I'll admit to never having owned a diesel genset, but our main engine (43 hp Kubota) drives our 46 foot boat at around six knots and burns 2.5 l/h. The postulated 6 kva genny should require something like 10 hp at full load, and that shouldn't be burning near that much fuel IMO.

Have I gone wrong somewhere in my thoughts?

Jim

Hi, Jim

Yanmar of this size use about 9 - 11 liters per hour at 75 % of maximum revs.
My generator (6 kW Fischer - Panda, I don't remember at the moment rating for its engine) use under 4 liters per hour.

5 X 3.8 = 19 liters

11 liters left for engine

O.K. - those are "conservative" numbers. Generator is not working all the time under full load, so probably 3 liters are enough for most cases, as 9 liters for main engine may be O.K., but I always want to be on safe side with calculations

Best regards

Tomasz

[dufour35]

Just sail no motor and enjoy the sea! Get a wind generator and a water turbine generator also solar panels!! Why have a sailboat to live like a motorboater! Also can collect rainwater ahh do some research. Im sailing from Cleveland to south Carolina with none of the above with a boat that had the whole bow ripped off(repaired) lol really survive not exist!

[crazyoldboatguy]

==== Just sail no motor and enjoy the sea! Get a wind generator and a water turbine generator also solar panels!! Why have a sailboat to live like a motorboater! Also can collect rainwater ahh do some research. Im sailing from Cleveland to south Carolina with none of the above with a boat that had the whole bow ripped off(repaired) lol really survive not exist! ===

Uh, the OP is leaving 5/6/14. Not much time to totally refit his entire boat with those complex systems, no?

[bensolomon]

Regarding the generator.....you can't run generators while underway. They can't be cooled reliably if the boat is not steady and it will seize up.

Ben

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by bensolomon

Regarding the generator.....you can't run generators while underway. They can't be cooled reliably if the boat is not steady and it will seize up.

Ben

Really?

[CaptTL]

Originally Posted by marlinmike

Maybe leave a little early and have a stop off in the Abaco Bahama's, refuel and rest up. Good luck with your trip.

That stop off in the Bahamas will cost you $300.

I've done that trip a couple of times. You can sail up to the horse latitudes and then you are motoring for a couple of days. You should know what the boat's fuel consumption is,so take it from there.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

[bensolomon]

About the generator heating up...i presumed that it is a built in generator vs carry on. The water intake is via a through hull. If the hull is in and out as it would be while sailing, the water pump will suck air instead of water exposing the generator to overheating pretty quickly.

Ben