Mexico fuel prices
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gopbroek
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Christi, I agree that fuel is a very large component of the dive operators costs and it may warrent an increase in the basic dive trip pricing. On the other hand Nitrox is only used by some divers and that cost should be broke out and only apply to those individuals. The other factor is Meridiando bills in Peso's while the operators charge in dollars, this has allowed them to greatly increase their profit spread as the Peso's value, in relation to USD's has plummeted.
What is the price of gasoline in Coz right now? Last year it was close to $4US/gallon. Looks to me like it is about $3US right now???? That is a major jump in pesos but a major drop in dollars. Please correct me if I am wrong because I'm not there.
Johnoly
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Also diver's don't always understand that a boat engine has TERRIBLE gas mileage compared to a car.
A typical gasoline outboard 150 HP engine gets only 3 miles per gallon !! So how many miles is it from Centro to Palancar bricks and back plus shore surface interval and it's probably 35+ travel miles for that day of fuel for just one engine. Two engines and that's alot of expensive island gasoline !!!
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gopbroek
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And it ain't very good gas
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Boats are very inefficient.
Cars are rated in gallons per mile(GPM).
Boats are also rated in GPM's
Gallons per minute.
It's a different story with a boat. Since sea conditions vary more widely than road conditions, the time it takes to cover a distance varies more, so fuel consumption is measured in gallons per hour. Also, while many engines have fuel flow readouts, the ability to estimate fuel burn while shopping for a boat or engine is important. You measure fuel efficiency in pounds of fuel used per horsepower developed per hour. The pros call it "brake-specific fuel consumption." This makes it important to know that gasoline weighs about 6.1 pounds per gallon and diesel fuel 7.2 pounds per gallon.
On average, an in-tune four-stroke gasoline engine will burn about 0.50 pounds of fuel per hour for each unit of horsepower. Likewise, a well-maintained diesel engine burns about 0.4 pounds of fuel per hour for each unit of horsepower it produces. These figures don’t take drag of the boat, sea conditions, or efficiency losses through transmissions and bearings into account. But they provide an excellent relative difference between engines when shopping.
Confused yet? Look at the mathematical examples below, and it should become clear.
Formula To Estimate Maximum Engine Fuel Consumption
GPH = (specific fuel consumption x HP)/Fuel Specific Weight
Constants Gas Diesel
SFC .50 lb. per HP .40 lb. per HP
FSW 6.1 lb. per gal. 7.2 lb per gal.
300-hp Diesel Engine Example
GPH = (0.4 x 300)/ 7.2 = 120/7.2 = 16.6 GPH
300-hp Gasoline Engine Example
GPH = (0.50 x 300)/ 6.1 = 150/6.1 = 24.5 GPH
Keep in mind that these formulas apply when the engine is making peak horsepower, which usually is near wide-open throttle. Fuel consumption will be decreased at cruising speeds. Also remember that engines with electronically-managed fuel injection and direct injection will yield higher fuel efficiency.
To apply these formulas to your boat, just plug in its horsepower rating and multiply it by the specific fuel consumption average, then divide the product by the fuel specific weight.
Another way is to take the total engine horsepower and divide it by 10 for gas engines or .06 for diesel engines. As you can see, this formula is simpler to calculate and easier to remember. You don't even need a pencil and paper. It's just not as accurate as the formulas above. The result represents the approximate gallons per hour the engine will burn at wide-open throttle. For example, a 150-horse engine will use about 15 gallons per hour. Though these figures represent averages and can vary from 10 to 20 percent, they'll put you in the ballpark so you can plan a long-distance cruise without fear of running out of gas.
Cars are rated in gallons per mile(GPM).
Boats are also rated in GPM's
Gallons per minute.
It's a different story with a boat. Since sea conditions vary more widely than road conditions, the time it takes to cover a distance varies more, so fuel consumption is measured in gallons per hour. Also, while many engines have fuel flow readouts, the ability to estimate fuel burn while shopping for a boat or engine is important. You measure fuel efficiency in pounds of fuel used per horsepower developed per hour. The pros call it "brake-specific fuel consumption." This makes it important to know that gasoline weighs about 6.1 pounds per gallon and diesel fuel 7.2 pounds per gallon.
On average, an in-tune four-stroke gasoline engine will burn about 0.50 pounds of fuel per hour for each unit of horsepower. Likewise, a well-maintained diesel engine burns about 0.4 pounds of fuel per hour for each unit of horsepower it produces. These figures don’t take drag of the boat, sea conditions, or efficiency losses through transmissions and bearings into account. But they provide an excellent relative difference between engines when shopping.
Confused yet? Look at the mathematical examples below, and it should become clear.
Formula To Estimate Maximum Engine Fuel Consumption
GPH = (specific fuel consumption x HP)/Fuel Specific Weight
Constants Gas Diesel
SFC .50 lb. per HP .40 lb. per HP
FSW 6.1 lb. per gal. 7.2 lb per gal.
300-hp Diesel Engine Example
GPH = (0.4 x 300)/ 7.2 = 120/7.2 = 16.6 GPH
300-hp Gasoline Engine Example
GPH = (0.50 x 300)/ 6.1 = 150/6.1 = 24.5 GPH
Keep in mind that these formulas apply when the engine is making peak horsepower, which usually is near wide-open throttle. Fuel consumption will be decreased at cruising speeds. Also remember that engines with electronically-managed fuel injection and direct injection will yield higher fuel efficiency.
To apply these formulas to your boat, just plug in its horsepower rating and multiply it by the specific fuel consumption average, then divide the product by the fuel specific weight.
Another way is to take the total engine horsepower and divide it by 10 for gas engines or .06 for diesel engines. As you can see, this formula is simpler to calculate and easier to remember. You don't even need a pencil and paper. It's just not as accurate as the formulas above. The result represents the approximate gallons per hour the engine will burn at wide-open throttle. For example, a 150-horse engine will use about 15 gallons per hour. Though these figures represent averages and can vary from 10 to 20 percent, they'll put you in the ballpark so you can plan a long-distance cruise without fear of running out of gas.
DFDubb
Contributor
I've spent most of my life wakeboarding and have owned countless inboard, gasoline wakeboats. Typically outfitted with a 350 - 450 HP motor. We typically run about 4k lbs of ballast (to make the wake bigger) at 23 mph, that has an average RPM at about 3500 - 4000. Over the last 20 years (since I've tracked this sort of thing), we average 5-7 gallons per hour of riding. Back when gas was 4-5 bucks a gallon, this was a huge expense for me and my crew. At 10-15 gallons per hour, we'd have given the sport up long ago and likely never gotten into it in the first place. As somebody who has logged several thousand engine hours behind my boats, you're numbers aren't even close. They might come close talking WOT, but nobody operates a boat like that so the formula is pretty worthless.
I respect Scubaboard and am grateful for this place to share ideas and information with (mostly) like minded adults. I am grateful for the business that has come from here, my customers that participate here, for the friends I have gained from this forum (even if they don't dive with my shop), and for the information that even I learn here on occasion. I was a part of this community even before my dream of owning my own dive business materialized. I stayed on after starting my shop to give back and to provide accurate information about our island to my fellow travelers. Now, I am going to get vulnerable here and be very honest a the risk of "offending" some - but the truth is myself and many other dive operators are "offended" and astonished at how some of you feel the need and entitlement to decide what we are "allowed" to charge for certain things in comparison to our actual expenses and in relation to what the USD or CD is doing in relation to the MXP. (I'm not only speaking for myself - and yes, most of us speak and talk about what's going on on Scubaboard when there are sensitive topics)
For those who have found themselves engaging in that behavior, let me ask you:
Do you walk into a restaurant and ask to see how much they are actually paying for the ingredients for your meal?
Into a mechanics shop and ask how much their materials and tools to do their jobs are?
or into ANY business in the world and scrutinize their actual costs to retail price
Let me turn that around, especially to those of you who own your own businesses, particularly small businesses. How would YOU feel if a customer walked in and asked to see your actual costs and expenses in relation to what you are charging them - then proceeded to tell you how much you should charge or worse, accuse you of ripping them off and getting rich by usurious pricing?
I submit that unless you have actually owned and operated and been directly involved in running a LEGAL dive shop with your OWN boats HERE, in COZUMEL (not elsewhere) then you sincerely haven't got the slightest idea of what it actually costs to run a PROPER and LEGAL dive business here in Cozumel, MX, no matter who your "friends" in the biz are - let alone keep it going over the years (in my case it will be 15 years in April). And I am not talking about a "shop" that is really just a DM that has gone off on his own, taken a handful of customers, thrown up a website, has no employees, pays no taxes, carries no insurance, takes cash only, rents space on others boats etc etc and calls himself a dive shop - don't even get me started on that! But I can ASSURE you that each of us know what it costs us to run our businesses and to provide the services and accommodations we do and to realize a small profit - that IS why we are in business right. to make a living? I don't think any of you work or provide your services or resources or products for free do you?
I will repeat - I respect Scubaboard and am grateful for this place to share ideas and information with (mostly) like minded adults. I am grateful for the business that has come from here, my customers that participate here, for the friends I have gained from this forum (even if they don't dive with my shop), and for the information that even I learn here on occasion. I was a part of this community even before my dream of owning my own dive business materialized. I stayed on after starting my shop to give back and to provide accurate information about our island to my fellow travelers.
I am now asking those of you who don't, to respect the hard working business owners of Cozumel and have faith that we are just working hard to make an honest living and to provide the best services and products possible for you to enjoy your favorite hobby and vacation. Enjoy your vacation and planning for it and set aside everything you THINK you know about how much it costs a dive op to provide the services to you.
For those who have found themselves engaging in that behavior, let me ask you:
Do you walk into a restaurant and ask to see how much they are actually paying for the ingredients for your meal?
Into a mechanics shop and ask how much their materials and tools to do their jobs are?
or into ANY business in the world and scrutinize their actual costs to retail price
Let me turn that around, especially to those of you who own your own businesses, particularly small businesses. How would YOU feel if a customer walked in and asked to see your actual costs and expenses in relation to what you are charging them - then proceeded to tell you how much you should charge or worse, accuse you of ripping them off and getting rich by usurious pricing?
I submit that unless you have actually owned and operated and been directly involved in running a LEGAL dive shop with your OWN boats HERE, in COZUMEL (not elsewhere) then you sincerely haven't got the slightest idea of what it actually costs to run a PROPER and LEGAL dive business here in Cozumel, MX, no matter who your "friends" in the biz are - let alone keep it going over the years (in my case it will be 15 years in April). And I am not talking about a "shop" that is really just a DM that has gone off on his own, taken a handful of customers, thrown up a website, has no employees, pays no taxes, carries no insurance, takes cash only, rents space on others boats etc etc and calls himself a dive shop - don't even get me started on that! But I can ASSURE you that each of us know what it costs us to run our businesses and to provide the services and accommodations we do and to realize a small profit - that IS why we are in business right. to make a living? I don't think any of you work or provide your services or resources or products for free do you?
I will repeat - I respect Scubaboard and am grateful for this place to share ideas and information with (mostly) like minded adults. I am grateful for the business that has come from here, my customers that participate here, for the friends I have gained from this forum (even if they don't dive with my shop), and for the information that even I learn here on occasion. I was a part of this community even before my dream of owning my own dive business materialized. I stayed on after starting my shop to give back and to provide accurate information about our island to my fellow travelers.
I am now asking those of you who don't, to respect the hard working business owners of Cozumel and have faith that we are just working hard to make an honest living and to provide the best services and products possible for you to enjoy your favorite hobby and vacation. Enjoy your vacation and planning for it and set aside everything you THINK you know about how much it costs a dive op to provide the services to you.
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