Rising fuel costs are not only affecting drivers, but recreational boaters as well. As the boating season kicks off ahead of Memorial Day weekend, one marina manager says boaters can save on gas by staying closer to port and slowing down.
Gas at a marina can be slightly higher than what drivers pay at the pump, but Tom Pirro, who opened Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton in 1998, said as fuel costs rise, he would rather keep prices down to draw more boaters into his marina.
“We’ve been coming here since 2002, 2003. Tom has long been known for having the cheapest fuel on the river,” said customer Bill Harrison, one of the 400 large cruiser customers Pirro sees throughout the season.
Earlier this week, Pirro was charging $5.39 per gallon for 90 octane gasoline and $5.99 for diesel. Pirro said the average fill up for a boat in the 25-30 foot range will be $150 to $200 and that be enough to last for a long weekend - for now.
“We’ve seen them go up almost $2 a gallon since last fall. It’s fluctuating sometimes two to three times a week, heading upward. They said that this Memorial weekend it’s going to surge again. We have boats traveling through, larger cruisers that will take 2,000 gallons on a fill up. We heard stories that they have paid $7.80 down on the Hudson for diesel, which is staggering,” said Pirro.
Large boats traveling long distances, like Harrison's, who is traveling up to the St. Lawrence, can spend thousands to gas up, but both Pirro and Harrison said it won’t be as big of a deterrent as some may think.
The pandemic created a high demand for boats and a shortage in supply, which continues today.
“People have been bound up by COVID for so long, I think they feel they’re just going to get out, have fun and enjoy [regardless of the cost],” said Pirro.
“It just makes no sense to own a very expensive piece of equipment and have it sit,” said Harrison.
Although boaters may look to save money this summer, Pirro cautions about the type they use. Cheaper E15 fuels, a blend of 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline approved by the federal government for sale this summer, are not boat friendly and burn faster.
Instead, Pirro said boaters can adjust how they drive to maximize cost efficiency.
“They can scale down how fast they go. If boats are up on plane, running at 25 or 35 mph, they’re going to consume three times more than if they run at 10 mph. They should make sure they maintain and keep their boats in pristine condition, because the value of used boats has skyrocketed,” he said.
