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I went to the bank yesterday and passed my local gas station.
The price of Diesel was $4.15 a gallon.

On the way back from the bank which was only about 15 minutes,
the price of Diesel was $4.25 a gallon.

As far as I know, this is a record high. I have never seen fuel priced this high and they predict even higher prices.

I know I am showing my age here but I remember a group of us trying to gather enough change to buy a gallon of gas when we were in High School. The price was .22 cents a gallon................

I think this is sure going to affect my boating this year. Not only for the boat but for the tow vehicle.
Maybe I should cut down on mowing the lawn and saving the fuel to go boating instead.

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Should have filled up on the way to the bank.

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The only up side to storing my boat with a full tank (34 gallons) of gas.

Then again, I doubt I will get out much or at all this year.

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Joe, I was a 1949 baby, and I think I can remember 28 cents per gallon. but while it is somewhat shocking, going boating is still the best deal on the planet for fun, sanity, and getting fresh air. And you don't need to speed around burning lots of gas. Just being on the water...drift fishing, cruising, or sitting on the sand bar and watching all the others do their thing. Heck, even sitting at the launch ramp for a while is entertaining! So I say that even $10 per gallon should not deter us avid boaters...but it will modify our behavior for sure.

So this year I can collect Social Security and that money is going to help pay for some gas for the boat... before the politicians take that away and add insult to injury by adding more ethanol to gasoline!

Al

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It was higher in July 2008. We were selling Diesel for 4.99 a gallon on the West Coast back then. Five months later in December 2008, we were selling Diesel for 2.29

In a 30 mile radius from my fuel stations, there are four refineries. The cost of the product out of these Pacific NW refineries is determined by the futures market back East. It really boggles the mind sometimes.

John

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considering all this gas/diesel was already refined and in the pipeline before this even happened after place part of the blame on speculators. I would be surprised to see fuel prices double from what they are now. Can't you just wait for the first electric outboard as a main power of course. Here in California we have what they call brownouts, which is not enough electricity in the grid and have power shortages. They want us all drive electric cars but no one of building a power plants what's up with that? Okay I'm off my soapbox now and I haven't made this post political yet so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.

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It feels like a hostage situation. There will come a day when solar cell technology and battery cell development becomes state of the art and we replace combustion engines with efficient electric power. Maybe then the price of gas will be 22 cents a gallon again.

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We easily burn anywhere from 50 to 200 gallons of diesel a day on the fire boat. I've got a feeling we'll be spending a lot less time training away from the dock this summer.

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$4.35 today as well for diesel in upstate NY today...My only saving grace is that my VW TDI wagon that I use for work gets 42-44mpg. Can't wait to see what regular unleaded marina pump prices will be come summer.

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I know my 340 will be sitting at the slip this year, hopefully the whaler will be extra miserly this season.

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When i was a boy i remember my dad paying 24 cents per gallon, id guess about 1970. As said above diesel fuel has gotten out of hand. Im afraid im not going to fish much this year. Probably work on the boat instead.

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I know I will be using my trolling motor more to save gas. I troll for stripers with a tube worm at about one and a half knots and it takes about 3 hours to burn a gallon of gas with a 8 hp . Pretty good for a 21' outrage. Also when in the harbor I will keep the boat's speed down below where it makes any kind of wake which will save gas and I plan on doing more live bait drift fishing and bottom fishing at the same time which uses 0 gal per hour. I will not be held hostage.

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Last week I pulled my boat out of the water so I could take it the gas station to fuel it. I paid $3.60 for each of the 125 gallons I put aboard.

I was irritated because two weeks earlier when current events starting driving up prices I knew my fuel tank was low anyway and it would be good to fill it when prices were $3.20/gallon, but I was very busy and the weather was freezing with snow showers.

Every day I drove by the gas station and saw the price jump another few cents.

I'm still glad I fueled up when I did; it is now up another 10 cents.

I have always noted the gas prices around here typically are low around Christmas and peak around Memorial Day in late May. We have sen higher prices two and a half years ago. It hurt to pay well over $4 per gallon, but the reality is that the difference between $3/gallon gas and $4/gallon gas is not that great. Folks have become accustomed to $3/gallon even though five years ago it was almost unthinkable and outrageous.

People will still boat. It is the price of having fun and as a percentage of boat ownership cost, pretty low.

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We had gas prices at $2.55 right around Christmas, and I thought then that I should fill up my gas caddie (29 gal) but was worried that the ethanol laced fuel would go bad by spring. About a month ago, when the feces hit the fan in Eygpt, and gas shot up to $3.05, I took the leap and topped off every portable tank I own, which included the gas caddy, the two whaler tanks, and two five gallon garden equipment tanks.

I treated them with stabil, so hopefully it'll keep the fuel useable. I may go back and add some ethanol treatment just to be sure. At the very least, I won't have to buy gas for my garden tractor this year, and may get a tank or two for the whaler out of the caddie as well.

Either way, it is infuriating to have to pay these prices for absolutely no reason.

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Tom, why the heck did you delete my post? It wasn't political at all... and it wasn't off topic either.

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the only thing political about gas prices is that political unrest in key areas of the world can cause them to rise on perceived supply/demand issues. For a perfect example of how oil futures work, look at Scott's post timed 11:45am. The difference is Scott, you have to store the end product and on the futures market the product has yet to be realized but everything else is the same.

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Cliff -- If accidentally deleted a post of yours, my apologies. Feel free to repost.

Remember, all of you, this is good place to talk boats but not a good place to talk politics.

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The rising gas prices make me go hug my E-Tec every day. The 5hp kicker I added to the Eastport does not hurt either.

Now TOWING the boat to the ramp is another story!

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Unfortunately its looking like Peak Oil may be upon us. I hope I'm wrong but even the most conservative estimates see it coming by 2030 with extreme price volatility occurring over a 10 year period preceding its eventual decline. :(

Keeping my fingers crossed that we can come up with alternative energy forms that can come close to replacing the resource.

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When i was a senior in H.S. a new station opened in town and a price war ensued. It started at $.28 and when I got back to the station with 3 55 gal fuel drums it was down to $.07. This is the cheapest. My dad would drive 5 miles to buy gas if he could save 2 cents a gallon. Now, I wont drive out of the way for a 10 cent difference as it costs more to drive out of the way than the fuel price savings i would receive. Where I fill up Diesel is now cheaper than real gas. The 10% ethanol is just 2 cents cheaper than the diesel.

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Man you guys n the West coast and the Northeast get nailed. I recently did a 5 day trip on the Altamaha River in SE Georgia where the non-ethanol fuel price at one marina was $4.20 and at another several miles up river it was an astoundingly low $3.70 at a Mom-n-Pop dock. Gas prices at the pump around my area are $3.50+-.
Zap

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Americans are so lucky !!!!

1 gallon = 3.80 liters

In France, today, 1 liter of gas cost 1.80 euro or 2.42 USD

so when you paid 4.2 USD for 1 gallon, i paid the equivalent of 9.196 USD.................

Guillaume

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luckily Trish and I use the boat to cruise to Ski Basin the majority of the time so use very little fuel back and forth for our boating pleasure. But surely will curtail going offshore 50 or 60 miles fishing this year especially if fuel gets up around 5 bucks a gal like their talking about.

Duf

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I saw diesel at $4.09 in south fl yesterday.

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Yes,
Everybody is right in reporting feelings and numbers about rising fuel prices..
The questions are
1-Is this a normal situation?
2-Are the oil resources drying up?
3-Is there enough refineries to supply an increasing demand?
4-Do you have a personal choice in regard to pricing?
And if so..
What are you willing to do about it?
This may not be a situation as putting up with the weather.
Each and everyone of us are part of decision making when paying at the pump.

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Well guys, I guess the fishing will be better and the waterways far less crowded this year. That's OK with me. I remember gasoline during price wars in Albuquerque in 1956 at 0.19 per gallon. A couple of bucks and my 1950 Ford coupe was full. Of course, I only earned $33.80 clear a week.

Life's is too short to allow high gas prices to keep me off the water. I'm close to my 72nd birthday and I intend to get out there no matter what!

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My answers:
1. Yes. It's what happens when demand continues to increase worldwide while supplies are limited, in a large part artificially by OPEC. Apart from removing all gas taxes, our (that is the U.S.'s) ability to influence price decreases every day.
2. Yes, with qualification. New technology continues to make old fields more productive and unconventional sources such as shale more cost effective, but it is finite. We just don't know how much is really left.
3. Do you mean U.S. refineries, or worldwide? I haven't seen any studies that show that more U.S. refineries would drive down our prices, but I'd be interested to see some.
4. I don't like paying high prices, but I think we are unrealistic about our expectations for gas prices, and am willing to pay the going rate.
Personally, I try to drive less. My next vehicle will be significantly more fuel efficient. I will do less of some things in order to pay more for gas. It is not a problem we can drill (or refine) our way out of.

John K.

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I hope this note will not be construed as political in anyway.

While we are wise to be nostalgic for the good ol days, when it comes to gasoline prices, as most of us suspect, gas prices today are pretty much where they have been for good portions of the past 100 years when adjusted for inflation.
http://inflationdata.com/inflation/im..._chart.htm

In 1981 that $1.35 per gallon would be the equivalent of $3.31 in inflation adjusted terms for 2011 dollars. Amazingly the average inflation adjusted gasoline prices for the following peak years were; 1918 was $3.69, 1938 was $3.16, 2008 was $3.23, and for 2011 was $3.51. All very close when adjusted for inflation.

These gasoline prices need also to be put in the context of U.S. household income again adjusted for inflation. In 1967, the median U.S. household income was $6,156 (or $40,770 in 2011 dollars) compared to about $49,445 in 2011.

Looking at it another way, for the bottom 10% of U.S. households incomes have stagnated around $12,500 pretty much since 1967. For the top 10% of U.S. households, of course life has been pretty sweet with incomes going from about $87,000 in 1967 (in 2011 dollars) to about $145,000 in 2011.

Beyond these numbers, we are “better off” on a number of other measures. In 1990 39% of U.S. households had central air-conditioning compared to 61% of U.S. household by 2010. In 1990 the average U.S. household had 2 TV sets (pretty good) and by 2010 that had risen to 2.93 TV sets. Of course some groups have done infinitely better than others most likely because of good old fashioned American values such as thrift, hard work and education.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...13896.html

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Great post Doc!

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I find it surprising that the U.S.'s top export for 2011 was....fuel. "...energy analyst Gregor McDonald points out...that U.S. oil consumption has declined since 2006, which means that much of the refining capacity the country added in the past decade is now geared toward exports."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/e..._blog.html

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And that's why increased domestic drilling isn't going to lower US fuel prices.

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I have been involved in the refining and oil production business for over 35 years. Even with all my involvement, I don't profess to understand everything that drives prices. But one thing that I have found is that most people not in the oil business don't have a clue what is involved and over-simplify all the nuances that affect price.

I am currently one of several maintenance managers that are over eight deep water Gulf of Mexico wells that produce about 1/10th of our countries consumption. One well alone, Thunderhorse, produces over 300,000 barrels of crude a day day and about 1.3 million cu ft of natural gas a day. Most of you can easily do the math at $100 a barrel. Total installed cost however, was well over $3 billion. But when the platform construction began, oil was under $30 a barrel. It was a big gamble when that project began.

Discovery Channel did a special on Thunderhorse and compared it to America's moon program. Thunderhorse is located in 5000 ft of water and no one had put a well in that deep of water previously. Several past astronauts were taken out to Thunderhorse and their comments were along he lines that the high tech effort involved in producing oil from these deep water production platforms are every bit as high tech as anything that the space program does.

Although, yes we do export energy, the article leads us to believe that much of that is precious gasoline when I don't believe that is the case. I do know that the US is a huge exporter of natural gas and that is he bulk of what we export. We simply don't have the infrastructure to utilize all the naural gas we produce.

One other thing about the Gulf Coast wells, is that the oil goes to our Gulf Coast refineries, which once again, very little of that is exported, it's too easy to sell for a great price here stateside. However when you hear folks pushing for drilling in ANWR, claiming it will cure our energy problems, realise that there isn't the capasity to refine that oil in Alaska. Some will come to the lower 48, but most would certainly go to feed the energy demands in China.

Let me wrap up with just an observation. Most people who want to eliminate fossil fuels are the same ones that are going to freak out when they discover the huge demand for electric power and the demand for additional nuclear and coal fired plants, that they've created in the process. Wind, hydro and solar is simply not going to pick up the difference.

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I wish I filled up my diesel car before I left on a 3.5 month trip, oh well!

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I can run around all day and only use 3 gallons, in my 13 footer powered by an '08 25hp Merc/Tohatsu EFI 4 stroke. Even at $5.00 per gallon, if it gets that high, its a pretty cheap day on the water. My Pontiac Vibe tow car gets 29 city and 34 highway, and 29mpg towing the Whaler.
I see alot of newer full size pickups for sale lately,

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I have a question if some one can answer it, On Jan 20/2009 gas was at an average of $1.78 a gallon and the cost of oil was $98.45 a barrel. Today (a little over three years) gas is at an average $3.70 a gallon and the cost of a barrel is $107.35. So how did gas go up about 120 percent and the cost of oil only went up about 10 percent?

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The answer is that I think your figures are wrong. The quick investigation I did show the price of crude oil in January 16, 2009 at $36.51 per barrel. By those figures gas prices have risen at lower percentage than oil prices.

John K.

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Hope and Change.

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Crude went from a high of $106 in Sept 2008 to finally settling at about $36 after the economic collapse. Four years later the economy has recovered sufficiently to the point that today crude is nearly identical to the Sept 08 delivery.

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Agreed. I Hope that fuel prices will Change for the better, but I fear that continued instability in the world will keep the price of a barrel of oil around $100 or above for a long time.

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Hope for a Change !!

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Let us simplify this one to one question.
Can you afford to keep paying these prices?
If the answer is Yes..
The demand is met and prices will keep climbing.
If the possibility of agreeing to boycot this type of gouging is organized..
The reduced demand will naturally bring the prices down.
Does that make sense?

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Not to me. Boycotts generally only work when the supplier has no other outlet for their goods. You can boycott a local gas station to the point where you'll put them out of business, but you'll have zero effect overall on gas prices. In order for a boycott against high gasoline prices to be successful it would have to be a worldwide effort. On the other hand, a U.S.-only boycott would have some impact, but probably minimal, and only for as long as it took for suppliers to shift more of their product (crude, refined, natural gas) into export channels that already exist.

I think a more realistic response is, when purchasing new things, to buy as fuel efficient a thing as possible.

John K.

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Well, it happened again yesterday.

I went into town running some errands...
The price was $4.45 a gallon for diesel.
On the way home, they were changing the signs again....
I didn't hang around to see what price it was going to but I can almost guarantee you the price was not being reduced...

I think I have learned my lesson..
Don't go into town anymore....

I think they see me coming and raise the price..................

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Reality is what WE make it to be, my Friends.
The mentality IS already out there.
I have seen that on certain times of the week,an effort has been made to NOT PURCHASE fuel from any outlets.
Not an easy thing to do I will admit..But look at the alternative from Europe as an example.
We all do recall of those little tiny cars that they drive because of exorbitant fuel prices.
Can you spell Yaris?
I am still driving my Chevy Tahoe but my next vehicle will have to be a diesel power.
As far as outboard I still have my smoker Mercury 150 two cycle.Not much economy there but it is all paid for.
I have been fueling up at Costco where the price is "better" then anywhere else and the Octane content is noticeably better.
Cut backs, less money spent on fuel is the inevitable direction to be taken by the vast majority of our populations.
After all it is not everyone who can right off fuel costs as an expense.
I think that we CAN bring the price down by reducing our consumption.
PS- Regular Unleaded is$ 1.35/Liter this morning.
Roughly 4l/Gal= $5.40per gal
And there is an apparent 15% increase due for spring..
Can we do something about it?
Yes, Buy much less.Together.

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There is something we can do about it and we do it every two years.

We have an overabundance of gas and oil here in the United States and the gas companies are shipping it overseas. And they're just sticking it to the consumer, What do they care. I do respect the right of a business to make money but doesn't oil and natural gas belong to the United States. Why should they go overseas. Speaking of natural gas is anybody ever seen natural gas run outboards?

In closing here, on my soap box, where the heck do they get these prices that they say gas going for. it's been well over four dollars for some time here in Southern California. If you go to an independent are what I call a cheap gas station. You're lucky to get out of there for $4.25. 9/10. I would love to buy gas at 350 a gallon 370 a gallon. Like they say on the news. Living in California we have a special blend as there are many different blends throughout the states. One thing they could do is go to one blend of gasoline so it can be traded between the states and not just one state. Okay I'm off my soapbox

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I'm a temporary California resident, and the prices here are killing me...$77 into my half full truck the other day.

Could you PLEASE tell the rest of your California buddies to quit voting for the hippies that are doing this to us!?

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I thought I did in my last post, by the way I have a GMC Safari work van in arise between 80 and $90. Sometimes a little over to fill the tank depending on how low I run it. not much left over cash at the end of the week to put gas in the boat. this gas thing is going to throw us back another recession I fear. As the price of gas not only affects our recreational use of our vessels. It also affects everything we buy right down to the fishing gear that you buy.

remember, were in that two-year cycle again

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I hope to use more gas in my Whaler than I did last year. (last year was a bad year for me). But I'm reconsidering towing it across the state. The mileage on the tow vehicle sucks (no pun intended) when I've got the boat on the back.

I don't see much chance that gas will ever be cheap (whatever that bring to mind) again. With China and India coming on line as major importers, demand is only going to go up. Econ 101, Increased demand and stable or declining supply = increased prices.

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Well put Fish,
Lets look at it this way.
We can be like bleating sheeps or just perhaps
One of these mornings,
Have gotten up with a sour taste in our mouth and feel rather Foul about the recollection of the latest gas price.
To be fleeced and taken advantage of
for ..
Oh,...for the last two decades (at least)
Has a way to rub people the wrong way after a while.
As a case in history
That is why Professor Guillotin was made famous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-I..._Guillotin
Don't you think that it is vastly overdue for a reckoning from the people like you and I?
Consumers,(What a dumb ass word)have a duty to respond.
There was a time where the term used was Citizens!
The big picture will prove to show that the Mega vehicle manufacturer's owners and Big Oil Conglomerates will have a common interest in making vehicles (or outboards for that mater)that will burn and make mega bucks for those oil and manufacturing invested interests
(Could most likely be one and the same magabucksters here)
The only power of decision that the average Citizen will have is.
A- To fill up and pay ridiculous prices or abstain
B-Refusing to do so.
Just like a drug habit clinical case
The condition has to be inter vented and dealt with great discipline and intelligence.
Can the Glutton stop his hand from feeding his cravings?
It is all up to us to think it through.
I can actually see a movement aimed at buying shipments of fuel by the tankers and starting a trend toward fairer prices.
And for the rest of you skeptics out there.
It is pretty hard to soar and fly like an eagle when you've been plucked and have just a few feathers left.
Are you really in control of your spending?

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we have the E-10 fuel around Houston TX

regular pump gas was $3.53 today and add .10 for same at the coast, dock fuel adds ,50

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Its time to break out the oars.

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I'm thinking about getting a P-row boat and making a hitch for my bicycle to pull it with.

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Just an idea here.

Because of poor demand Chevrolet has stopped making the Chevy volt. Maybe they could take that technology and make a outboard engine. They say that this car will do 35 miles which would meet my needs for a day at the water. Or maybe whaler could purchase an engine and drivetrain and make an in board out of it. Chevrolet is overstocked with these vehicles and that's why they're closing the plant and laying off people for a month. A lot of tax dollars went into bailing out. Chevrolet to promote this green car and now they're closing the plant down. Go figure

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If the media would close there mouth about gas prices it might help. If I was a station owner I would be happy to hear the news channels saying that the prices are going up. Its an invitation to raise them.
I know its alot more complicated than the media, but can they just shut up already!! Just sayin.

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An electric outboard would be interesting if you could balance performance with the weight downside of the batteries.

As for the Volt, I don't think it meets the needs of the broad range of consumers necessary to achieve significant sales: it's expensive, relatively small, doesn't have that great a range when all electric, and when the gas motor kicks in doesn't have that much of a mileage advantage over hybrids. Oh, and then there's the minor problem of battery fires.

It does, however, seem to be a success to a remarkable degree in the role of methaphorical punching bag for all things bad about government involvement in general and and the auto bailout in particular.

John K.

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Hey Guys,

Actually,I have operated throughout my Career
some equipments that are powered by Hydro Carbon Fuels.
"Natural Gas" AND Propane.
The propane will be compressed to a liquid state and the NCG will be safely compressed to 3000LBS/SQ" and safely combusted in a regular engine.
At the push of a toggle switch one can use one or the other fuel depending on discretion.
There is an over abundance of these Tapped and un tapped Natural Gas resources.
To be burned in our internal combustion engines would only take minimum adjustments and would be much more economical..
And this unless the same providers would yet again crank up the price to maximize their immediate profits...
If time is allowed,
Take a view of these articles depicting a once flourishing urban electrical transportation system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_...conspiracy
After all it is a mater of record as to the "When ,Where,What and Whos".

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I'm a little confused as to whether this is a serious discussion or just kicking the can down the road; either way, the reality is that this is what oil and refined products are selling for as a result of world wide supply and demand. It's easy to think that gasoline should be cheaper based upon past history. Being in the oil business, I could never understand how oil used to be so cheap! Throughout the 80's and into the mid 90's, refining margins were so low that most refineries were barely able to stay in business.

But there was no doubt in my mind that gas prices were going to skyrocket, so in '96 I bought a diesel VW Passat that got over 40 mpg. I still drive that car, with a 20 gal tank it has a cruise range of over 800 miles! It is pretty simple technology. It can burn damn near anything you can put in it: peanut oil, bio-fuel, old technology high sulpher diesel. If I was in the new car market, there is no way that I would consider a hybrid. It is difficult enough to maintain one powerplant. I shudder to think of eventual long term problems of dual powerplants and combining them into one transmission system like the current hybrids.

Owning a boat is a luxury and it will no longer be cheap to run a boat. Dreams of an electric, LNG or other technology outboard are ludicrous; R&D costs will drive cost out of the consumer price point. However, advances in 4 cycle outboard technology has minimized fuel consumption and made the cost of running a small boat minimal.

But have you checked new outboard prices lately? Those %&#@ outboard manufacturers are in a conspiracy and ripping everyone off!!! :^D

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I believe the next alternative fuel will be natural gas not electric power. I think what they need to do to make this work on boats would be to find some way of making a lighter weight tank to hold the natural gas. Some people claim that we only have 2% of the world's oil, How would we know if were not allowed to drill anymore. And by the way the little bit of drilling that we did do in the Gulf Coast found this vast amount of natural gas. My point is, without drilling were never going to know how much we do have. Drill baby drill

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I don't know why you think companies aren't allowed to drill. There are more rigs pumping than at any point during the last eight years. A lot of actual data on oil production here: http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/data.cfmm/data.cfm

In any case, we could drill everywhere possible offshore and it would have no more than a 2-3% effect on the price of gasoline in the U.S. Largely, as noted, because it's a world market. Too, as already pointed out, we are exporting more petroleum products every day: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/deta...fm?id=5290

Of course, we could pass a law that all petroleum products produced in the U.S. have to be used in the U.S., but I doubt such a law would get very far.

We need alternative strategies.

John K.

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After reading articles from various main stream and a few industry sources, it is important to note that the gasoline pricing model has dramatically changed.

5 or more years ago prices were determined by supply and demand, refinery production, inventory levels and a bit of speculation. If a major producer raised production, prices would fall a bit. If a refinery went down for maintenance or was damaged, prices would rise.

US demand for gasoline has fallen considerably since 2006. Even with the economy improving, gasoline demand has not rebounded. People are driving a significant amount less.

The recent uptick in prices has to do with traders, not supply and demand. Some says "IRAN" and the traders flip out. Has anything changed on the supply or demand side? NO.

Gasoline is produced from a certain type of crude (e.g. Brent Sea) and not West Texas Intermediate). Most crude that is refined into gasoline is imported.

While using less gasoline is a worthy cause, I agree, it will not affect the prices like it once did.

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What is the point? It is what it is. You nor I can do anything about it. Yes it sucks, I agree. Now what? We are all at the Governments mercy.

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In June 2008 I was selling Diesel for 5.019 a gallon and gasoline for 4.449

Six months later December 08, I was selling Diesel for 2.299 and gasoline for 1.759

John

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In January 2009, I paid $1.25 a gallon.

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Until the "People" find it trendy and the "Inn thing" to abstain in paying excessive fuel prices
The surveys from these mega interests will keep pressing the grapes to float mega dollars.
Until then it is all men for themselves
Diezel power will be a good start.
Nat Gaz usage will be another.
Less driving,less boating and minimum capital spent on fuel be a majority of users will have an impact on pricing.
I think that a LOT of us are already there.
I would be curious to have a disclosure on all patents reducing percentage of consumption for ICE(s)
Hydrogen taken from water could also be an economical alternative to pricy fuels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen...rogen_fuel

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I paid 28 cents a liter in June, 2011, for regular, In Bahrain, and $7.17 a gallon for diesel in Anchorage in September, 2008. But I paid 20 bucks a gallon in the native village of Grayling, on the Yukon River, in 2003.
So we are lucky and sucky all at the same time. Tighten your belts guys, there aren't enough people fed up, to stand up and demand we drill and deliver the energy America has to Americans.

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Wow. Great thread. Felt like I was back in an ECON class. Price of inputs. Another consideration might be that a considerable portion of retirements savings plans are linked in some way to the petroleum markets. So those that have such plans "make" money when prices rise and lose money when they fall.

The name of the game is to economize and significantly weigh opportunity costs. I am considering storing my boat at the Coast rather than locally to save on towing economy. I have also found that I can do without the Cokes I like to drink if it means more money for fun. I buy store brands or shop at Aldi for groceries. I constantly check insurance prices. Little things like tire pressure make a big difference in fuel economy. Are all my filters clean, fittings lubed, fresh oil, etc? Can I make and bring a lunch rather than buy a lunch. All these things play a part.

Being from Baton Rouge and having had experience in the plants I can say that these big energy companies are just passing cost (of everything including past losses) along to us citizens.

The flip side of economizing it to figure a way to pass the cost along to another entity (i.e. tax write off for fuel consumption of small business) or consumer of some good or service you provide. Can you consult in your spare time? Could you do a sunset cruise once in a while for a small fee? Anyway these are things I have begun to ask myself. I am thinking mini-storage because we all have too much!

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It really is tough to get things going most especially if you are going up against a monster problem like this one and though things are practically to get worse in the near future, something and someone has to budge. And with fuel prices continually rising up, we are just one of those who would really get affected when things go southwards and all that.

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Conspiracy theories have their place, I guess, but I hope this board doesn't become one of them. I'd much rather stick to discussing reality, particularly Whalers.

John K.

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You know I see people from both sides of the aisle complain about fuel prices but you get a hand it to our president he did do what he said he was going to do! He said under his administration energy costs would skyrocket and they have just a little faster than he would've liked. You know I really don't know where they get these national averages from but here in California we been over four dollars for quite some time and sometimes 450 I think it's been a be the new norm for everyone as California approaches five dollars in the near future my prediction. Makes me glad I bought this Boston whaler harpoon 5.2 sailboat. I don't think my 4 hp four stroke Yamaha will use much fuel and because it's a sailboat I will be motoring that much. I agree the progressive movement is destroying the country from within and I will leave it at that hoping that this thread does not turn into a battle over politics these are just my opinions and solely my opinions that I'm glad that Joe lets us voice. On the other hand this post may be deleted by moderator time will tell

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Try uk its about 13 bucks a gallon !!!

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There is a sea of thoughts and comments to be advised on this subject
And to think of us "Whaler Owners" just floating down the river without deliberate choices on "Petrol" barter will be seen as a huge part of the problem.
Fleecing.to defraud or charge exorbitantly; swindle.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flee...m/fleecing
Hate to do it Folks..
I have it from reliable sources that Barber Shop services will be soon added to most gas stations facilities in North America.
Spending at the pump will be seen as a normal way to lighten your wallet and associated with a refreshed hair style
And this giving the whole experience a positive feel in having spent the money.
Just like the sheep at spring time, to be fleeced can actually make you feel good.
Bhaaa! Humbug.

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Ritzy,
What is the price of fuel in Canada?

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One Canadian gallon equal 4.55 Liters
And as a round up number of $1.50/L time 4.55= $6.825 per Gal.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/