Fuel Capacity Requirements for Tuna Trips

[Birdsnest]

I think it would be a good idea to segment the tuna threads this year. For this reason I am starting this thread so that fuel usage can be discussed. Hope I do not step on any toes.

Anyhew:

I run a 22 weldcraft ocean king which is not a full deep V and powered with a 200 optimax. It is 24 feet from the nose to the back of the transom and weighs 3000lbs without fuel. It has a fuel capacity of 400 L. On a tuna trip I travel between 200 and 250 miles in a day. Up to 100 miles of this is running ( 20 to 28 kn) but the average is just over 80 miles. The remainder of the day is trolling at 6 kn at about 1200 rpm. I will use up between 200 and 240 liters on these trips where the motor will run for around 10-12 hours. As far as I know the one of the more efficient boats making this trip but not the ideal boat.

Interesting to see what others are doing. If your not sure post your data and maybe we can do a guesstamate.

This thread should be in the motor, boat and rig section. Sorry.

 

[CrabbyChris]

I run a 26 Osprey.I'm guessing its close to 9000lbs with ice,gas,beer and fat guys.
5.7ltr burning around 70ltr per hr
Pack 570ltr in the tank and 100ltr extra

Running out of Tofino on a average day is 350-370ltr,45-50 mile each way plus trolling..

Worst last year was around 65 mile each way plus trolling all day drained the tank...haven't had to use the spare gas yet!

 

[Birdsnest]

I guess I would be over 4000 lbs loaded with ice gas and dudes not to mention the weight of fish on the ride back if we are lucky.

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Run a 24' wellcraft, pack just under 400 l of fuel, avg trip last year out of salmon beach was around 60 mile each way and 8 hrs running at 6 kn, 250 V-Rod, 3 guys, 2 coolers, slush bucket, ice and beer around 5500lbs I figure. Worst trip we would have run in on fumes but dumped 40 l in the tank for the run home. I have packed fuel every trip but have not needed it, but will continue to pack it just incase as we have had good weather each trip. Better safe than sorry I say. The more weight you pack on with fish the more fuel you will burn even as you use up weight you are piling it on at a faster rate if you get into the fish.

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Nice thing with my Merc is being able to watch my fuel burn as well, computer is accurate within a gallon or two so I try to keep an eye on it when we run out as we are usually straight into the swell on the way out, so if I go by the third, third, third rule for fuel I know I should burn less on the way back in to the beach than I did on the way out. Probably why I haven't needed to use the spare fuel but it is there just incase I get lazy or the weather picks up.

 

[Birdsnest]

Things can happen with motors too causing them to guzzle the fuel. For years it was not uncommon for the optimax to loose a cylinder due a faulty coil. Merc has since changed the coils it provides and I have not had the problem for a couple of years. The issue was this would happen with no alarm and barely a difference in sound. We had to always watch the Gallons per hour on the gauges to make sure it was not above the regular rate. Regular was 8 to 10 gallons and hour and missing a cylinder ti would go up to 13 to 15 GPH. A game changer on a tuna trip. The 1/3 1/3 1/3 rule still saves me in this scenario tho.

Um??? Third third third rule is 2/3 maximum planed use, 1/3 reserve, ya?

 

[Tidal Chaos]

1/3 reserve to get home.

As for the coils, I lose 1 or two a year and pack spares as I can tell when I have dropped a cylinder just on how the boat is handling. Pack spare plugs and a belt as well as you never know what little thing can make it a bad trip. End of season last year I burned a bridge in my computer and had no neutral on my DTS but had been told I could still shift with my fingers. Good enough to get us home but a little dicey when we got back to town and had to dock with no control.

Things can happen with motors too causing them to guzzle the fuel. For years it was not uncommon for the optimax to loose a cylinder due a faulty coil. Merc has since changed the coils it provides and I have not had the problem for a couple of years. The issue was this would happen with no alarm and barely a difference in sound. We had to always watch the Gallons per hour on the gauges to make sure it was not above the regular rate. Regular was 8 to 10 gallons and hour and missing a cylinder ti would go up to 13 to 15 GPH. A game changer on a tuna trip. The 1/3 1/3 1/3 rule still saves me in this scenario tho.

Um??? Third third third rule is 2/3 maximum planed use, 1/3 reserve, ya?

 

[Birdsnest]

Its a verado?

 

[Sculpin]

I'm running around the same numbers as Birdsnest. My boat weighs a little more and I'm packing 105 US gallons of fuel or 397 litres. Most trips out of Salmon Beach to the Loudon I have half a tank left when I get back. Bamfield trips I burn a little more but still have 1/3 left when I get back. I will be tracking the fuel better this year now that I have the Mercmonitor hooked up. I'm in the more efficient boat category as well. Probably one of the smallest in the fleet. She is a very tough and capable little gal with an interesting design.

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Yah a gen 1, fuel burn is 12-15 g/hr depending on the weight i am carrying and the weather! I put on a 4 blade prop mid season and it brought my fuel burn down just over a gallon an hour and got my stern out of the water a few inches, helped my cruise by a couple of KN as well! well worth the $600 it cost, if only I could do something about the top end porpoising I get, but what can ya do.

Its a verado?

 

[seadna]

I run a CD-Dory Tomcat 255. The boat weighs in at around 8500-9000lbs when loaded with full tanks of fuel ( 2x75gals = 150gals = 567liters). For a trip out of Neah Bay, I'm typically running about 40-60miles out to the end of JDF canyon but last year the fish seemed to be a bit farther out so the trips were more at the far end of that range and occasionally took us 70 miles out. When I'm at speed, I get around 1.8-2mpg with twin honda 135s. If I slow down to 6kts, I can get around 5-6mpg. Typically we blast out and back with 8-12 hours of trolling. We ran through about 100gals per trip. The longest trip we did was at the end of our season last year on Sept 14th when we went out to the end of Nitinat and then wound up following the SFBC crowds' radio info up to Barkley Canyon. Once we finished up fishing there, we were about 80 miles out of Neah Bay. We may have burned closer to 110 gals on that trip but we came in pretty slow for the last 20 miles or so as it was dark and I always run slow if I can't see deadheads etc. I generally plan to leave 1/3 in reserve so the longer trips pretty much put us at what I consider our safe limits. If I want to do an even longer trip, I'd have to plan my time differently and allow 8-10 hours of travel at 6kts to get there (and maybe come back at the same speed). Then we'd have tons of fuel available, but the game is different as you need crew to split sleep and helm watch and you need space to sleep.

Also, and I've mentioned this previously, if you have dual fuel tank each of which is routed to a single engine in a twin configuration, you want to make sure you install a crossover valve that will allow you to draw from either tank in the event of a failure of one engine. Otherwise, half of the "reserve" capacity disappears the instant one engine fails and you have no way to get fuel from that tank to the other engine. On most boats with twins, the boat won't quite plane on a single engine and if you operate at anything but hull speed (e.g. 6-ish kts), you're typically in the worst part of the fuel economy curve. So if you do have twins and one engine fails you may have to come home at 6kts to conserve fuel. That can make for a very long day when you're 60 miles offshore.

 

[fishin_magician]

1/3rd reserve is not a Sam Heck of a lot if things go wrong and the weather comes up.

The "perfect world" scenario only plays out so many times.

 

[seadna]

1/3rd reserve is not a Sam Heck of a lot if things go wrong and the weather comes up.

The "perfect world" scenario only plays out so many times.

1/3 left over when you get home generally means that you had enough to get home twice over when you were offshore. OR go twice as far to get home if needed. Also, depending on weather, the reserve fuel can go a long way if one is willing to take it slowly on the way home. If 2/3 fuel usage for an out and back + trolling trip, leaving 1/3 left over when you get back doesn't seem like a lot to you, what would you suggest is safe? The 1/3 reserve rule seems to be something that most mariners believe leaves them with a lot of options but the key is that it is 1/3 left over when you get to port not when you decide to "go home".

 

[Birdsnest]

1/3 left over when you get home generally means that you had enough to get home twice over when you were offshore. OR go twice as far to get home if needed. Also, depending on weather, the reserve fuel can go a long way if one is willing to take it slowly on the way home. If 2/3 fuel usage for an out and back + trolling trip, leaving 1/3 left over when you get back doesn't seem like a lot to you, what would you suggest is safe? The 1/3 reserve rule seems to be something that most mariners believe leaves them with a lot of options but the key is that it is 1/3 left over when you get to port not when you decide to "go home".

I fully agree with seadna here. 1/3 fuel remaining when you arrive back to port on a average tuna fishing day with no unexpected weather. Ive had my azz handed to me due to rough conditions(a fishable 12 -20 kn) on a couple of trips and every time was because of bad weather forecast interpretations on MY behalf which I have learned from. Each time when I got home I would review the weather and find my mistakes if I didn't already know what they were. Yes unexpected weather events on the coast and the off shore are posable but with todays technology the likelihood of it happening are far lower than ever. What the forecast is and how it can be interpreted can be 2 different things. Sounds like a new thread: Tuna Trip Weather and Sea Forecasting

 

[getbent]

I agree with the third reserve when you hit the beach, plus this is perhaps the best buddy boat/team fishing that there is on the coast.
Good call on the other new thread on conditions and forecasting...

I was out 3 times last year and am ruined...RUINED!!!!

Happy New Year to all....

Guy

 

[Birdsnest]

I was out 3 times last year and am ruined...RUINED!!!!

Ya thats what happens. I just got back from driving around the harbour at 6 knots testing new splash birds in the rain. People watching must wonder what I am fishing for. lol

 

[Derby]

I was out 3 times last year and am ruined...RUINED!!!!



Me too & they're so dam tasty...

 

[tykkyt e blue]

At least you were in saltwater! Last fall in the Fraser, I passed a guy anchored while fishing sturgeon. He was yelling to me that I was trolling tooo fast!!!! Ha

On topic, I have 23' podded Monaro w 250 Yami 4 stroke, about 4400lbs loaded. Tank is 385l - My lowest fuel burn was out of Lapush 2 years ago - 42 miles out and 5 hours trolling was 156l. Highest fuel day was from Bamfield to Louden and 7 hrs of trolling. By the time we stopped trolling and turned for home. the GPS said 71 miles back to Beale! That was a 264l day.
I think the easiest way to apply the 1/3 rule is being commited to turning back to port when you have burned 25% of your total fuel on board. You KNOW there will be a at least one reason to stop and fool around some more on the way back in.

 

[Sculpin]

Ya thats what happens. I just got back from driving around the harbour at 6 knots testing new splash birds in the rain. People watching must wonder what I am fishing for. lol

Lol!!! that's awesome . I will be doing something similar this year in Departure Bay .

 

[harper44]

My 25' Carolina Classic holds 190 US Gallons of diesel, I have fished from JDF to Loudoun from Bamfield in all kinds of weather and never burn more than half of my capacity. in 2012 I fished Nitinat Canyon from Bamfield two days in a row without refueling due to no Diesel available. Weather was perfect but I came in with very little reserve on the second day. That was a bad call on my part and I got lucky. But I've got lots of fuel on board for a full day of tuna fishing in any of the Canyons I fish.

I agree with the thirds rule as well. Gives you lots of options in an emergency