91 Octane and Up - Free Beer!

[KahunaCraft]

I can't help but notice that many other brands demand octane levels that are hard to find on the lakes and rivers I boat on...

Couple of questions...

Does your lake / river have pumps that are 91 or higher?

Do you care about fuel costs ?

Do you run with premium fuel or additives, if how much of a difference does it make on performance?

Our lake sells 89 octane fuel at $6.20 / gallon... So I use a 25G trolley with a few 5G jugs to fill @ 5.00 / gallon at the road side stations. I'll fill on the lake in a jam, but that's only 4-5 times a year. My fuel costs are between 3-5k per annum...numbers are converted from Canadian to USD.

My opinion, I do care about fuel costs, having to pay for premium higher octane fuel adds 15-20% to the overall costs to operate. It doesn't affect the number of hours I spend on my boat, but the extra pinch at the pumps would be noticeable. The delta on a full tank is a couple cases of beer in the U.S. or one case in Canada. In this light, MC is giving us $40-50 bucks with every tank of fuel...buy some beer or other stuff...

I've seen posts where people say, if you can afford one of these boats, you shouldn't complain about the costs to run them...to that I say, find me someone that doesn't like FREE BEER!

[Jerseydave]

I trailer so I never need to buy fuel on the water. 89 octane is what my MCX calls for, so that's what it gets. What does your 6.0 Illmor call for? For engines that only require 89, you would be wasting money using super.

I usually take 4-5 riders with me, $20 per person for 2 sets so my boat fuel is usually paid for.
This is far better than years ago when I had a Formula 303 with twin 502's, 125 gal tank that I had to fill each time myself! Gotta love wakeboarding!

I don't drink beer on my own boat since I'm the driver 90% of the time, so nobody brings beer for me as fuel payment.

I feel sorry for you canadians that pay big bucks for gas. Better get your buddies to chip in big time!

[KahunaCraft]

All engines in the Ilmor line up call for 87 octane.

Yeah, there was a thread on collecting money from others, I've got friend that reciprocate and kids with friends where I don't mind. I'll find and edit this post with a link. Key is to decide who the takers and givers are in your life and adjust accordingly. I've never collected, but this forum has changed my opinion on that. Edit: the discussion was on the bu forum, worth a read.

I'm not advocating drinking and driving, just that the savings of having an 87 octane boats adds up quick.

Edit: I'm not convinced that a 93 octane CC gets better fuel mileage than a MC, in fact, I'd say my X30 compared to a G23/230 would be over $1000 cheaper to operate each year. Not to mention that I feel the quality of the MC on fit and finish is much better.

[ProStar200]

Favourite saying of mine is "my Boat doesn't run on thanks".

[east tx skier]

Originally Posted by KahunaCraft

All engines in the Ilmor line up call for 87 octane.

Yeah, there was a thread on collecting money from others, I've got friend that reciprocate and kids with friends where I don't mind. I'll find and edit this post with a link. Key is to decide who the takers and givers are in your life and adjust accordingly. I've never collected, but this forum has changed my opinion on that. Edit: the discussion was on the bu forum, worth a read.

I'm not advocating drinking and driving, just that the savings of having an 87 octane boats adds up quick.

Edit: I'm not convinced that a 93 octane CC gets better fuel mileage than a MC, in fact, I'd say my X30 compared to a G23/230 would be over $1000 cheaper to operate each year. Not to mention that I feel the quality of the MC on fit and finish is much better.

The PCM Excalibur (5.7) in the CC calls for 87 octane. I think the ZR and supercharged engines are the only ones that call for 93. My 98 PCM GT-40 calls for 89 Octane just like my old Indmar MC 351HO. Difference in price per tank for 89 over 87 is about $4. I have gotten used to running 93 in my VW. So 89 for the boat is a discount. In short, I give the engine what it wants and not a bit more.

[GoneBoatN]

My 2010 MCX calls for Mid Grade (89 octane). Typically I trailer so I give it want it says it wants. The week we spend on vacation on the lake, the marina only has 87 so I run it for just that week.

[lakeoz tristar]

I buy gas on land and lug it down to the dock, Gas station is about 4 miles away..I can get close to 40 gallons per trip, buy used gas cans at every garage sale I see if they are in decent condition. One of the concerns I don't think any one mentioned here is Ethanol. Around here gas is soo expensive on the water I only buy it if I am out and about and running out of fuel...have not bought gas on the water in many years so I don't price it but it is usually .75 plus cents more on the water..It seems all the gas stations around here only have 91 with no ethanol. I have heard it will do bad things to gas hoses and carbs??? SO I don't take the chance of running that.
Takes me several trips to fill both boats usually keep them pretty full so I don't have to make the trips all at once.

[GoneBoatN]

Originally Posted by GoneBoatN

My 2010 MCX calls for Mid Grade (89 octane). Typically I trailer so I give it want it says it wants. The week we spend on vacation on the lake, the marina only has 87 so I run it for just that week.

Why I don't lug it to the dock while on vacation.

[mikeg205]

I trailer and don't run but maybe 1 a week when I am lucky. I run premium all season long. Manual calls for 89... I rarely run a tank dry and then I trade off running with friend's boats... Add marine stabil every fill up and seafoam once a month.

When I boat in Canada... I get my gas from the station and lug it down. No ethanol I believe when I get premium. Medic moose if you see this - Gas from Redden's - of you know where that is


Don't care what the gas costs... but I won't pay marina prices...

[medicmoose]

Originally Posted by mikeg205

I trailer and don't run but maybe 1 a week when I am lucky. I run premium all season long. Manual calls for 89... I rarely run a tank dry and then I trade off running with friend's boats... Add marine stabil every fill up and seafoam once a month.

When I boat in Canada... I get my gas from the station and lug it down. No ethanol I believe when I get premium. Medic moose if you see this - Gas from Redden's - of you know where that is


Don't care what the gas costs... but I won't pay marina prices...

+1 for the Seafoam and Stabil....helps curb the effects of ethanol (water). I think our stations here have varying amount of ethanol. Regular (87 octane) is usually advertised as "no more than 15 %) while Midgrade (89 octane) says "no more than 10%".

People can correct me if I am wrong, but unless you know you are running a high compression/high performance engine....spending the extra money on premium gas for the octane level will only be an exercise of spending more money. If, however, you are concerned about the ethanol contents of the gas...the higher octane fuels general have a lower ethanol content.

High ethanol contents should be a concern if your boat (or any other engine) sits for extended periods of time without using Seafoam and/or Stabil.

Mike...my only concern about Reddens would be a reduced volume of sales (gas gets older)....but that may not hold true in the summer months with the number of people staying out there.