2017 Fuel Costs.

Despite the huge expense of being in Hull Marina it was nice to be at the heart of the City and able to have visitors aboard too.

The 'Spider T' and 'HMS Pickle' replica are both owned by Mal Nicholson. 'Spider T' is a 62' Humber Sloop that would have sailed round the East Coats, and further with cargoes from the Humber and inland canal network. HMS Pickle is a 'replica' of the the schooner that brought the news of the victory at Trafalgar in 1805 along with the death of Nelson. It was supposed to be the fastest ship available. It has been found that the original did come and dry dock in Hull and had new cannons fitted.

This picture is included as it shows the red splash of colour of 'Holderness' in the Marina, Humber Street in the new Fruit Market area of the town and is from the roof top bar of the new Humber Street Gallery. Yes I know, a roof top bar in Hull??!! And now, at the end of the year we have three!!

Trinity House School was once located where the picture is taken from. A few years ago it was knocked down, it was off no architectural merit, and the space used as a car park called Zebedee's Yard. No very inspiring a use you may say. But it is often used for shows, festivals etc. In fact it was originaly a buoy yard for the storage of equipment so returned to it's original use almost. It has also freed up this view of Trinity House's Chapel.

Next to the Chapel is this newly created memorial to all the lost fishermen of Hull. It has sounds and is lit at night and is a real wonder. More of the silver bows of vessels can be added as donations come in.

Easter to October there are guided tours of the 'Arctic Corsair' that is the last sidewinder trawler left. It is permanently moored by the Street Life Museum on the River Hull. There are plans to move it into a restored dry dock a little further up the River Hull where it will be dried out and hopefully less corrosion. You can see that a real mud bank has grown round the ship so once removed it will hopefully erode away again and allow faster drainage to help prevent flooding in the Hull valley.

Across the river from the 'Arctic Corsair' is the Listed Trinity House buoy shed that was built in 1901. It also has a very rare tubular crane that is also listed. The lovely plaque on the building is the Trinity House coat of arms with the arm holding an oar at the top.  The motto ' Spes Super Syders' means 'Hope Beyond the Stars'

Here is another version of the Coat of Arms that is often missed as it is high above 'Whitefriargate; or 'Whitef'rgate' in the vernacular. This side of the street is all owned by the House and this was once a very high end coaching in where everybody came to do their shipping business, the Neptune Hotel.

FUEL COSTS.

                                     2017       2016      2015      2014

Diesel                        426-34     584-30   730-36    985-79

Electricity                   15-12       83-22      24-74     51-75

Coal                            17-00                      20-00      34-94

Gas                              28-00       54-40      50-04      74-18

TOTAL                     566-51     721-92    824-94  1146-66

Engine hours             307.2        517.6      560.5        686.5

Hurricane hours          67.5          44.0        95.0        148.0

Total Diesel Lt          613.87      730.19    964.79     1062.60

Hurricane Diesel Lt    56.7          38.3        79.8         124.3

Engine Diesel Lt       557.17      699.1      884.79       944.8

Av. Lt/hr                      1.81         1.35         1.58         1.38

Least expensive          56p                           55p          76p     

Most expensive           73p                           99p         100p

Total diesel £'s          426.34       584.30   730.36      985.79

Total diesel Lt           613.87       738.19   964.79    1062.60

av price /Lt                 69.5p         79.2p      75.7p       92.8p

The first thing to notice is the low number of engine hours. We knew this would be so due to us coming home so often. It will also be interesting to see how we 'recover' this year as I expect most people go like a bat out of hell in their first year, and then calm down and be more discerning and take more time over journeys. It certainly seems that way from our figures anyway. 

I am a little surprised to see the increase in the average litre per hour. We did have to put in a couple of high rev. passages, but also we were cruising with the tide astern for much of the tidal passages. We were fitted with a new propeller over last winter so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. It is good to see the cost per hour for diesel has come down over the period.

A reduction in the number of hours on the Hurricane heater seems to have a correlation with an increase in the costs of the coal, gas and electricity.