Fuel Consumption

This morning I filled up Pachuca's diesel tanks after making repeated trips to the nearby Pemex service station with my two 10 liter containers.  I did six trips to the station, purchasing a total of 120 liters of diesel at 9 pesos ($0.76) per liter.

At the start of our cruise there were 25.5 engine hours on the clock and the diesel tanks were full.
At the end of the cruise there were 61.4 engine hours on the clock and it took 108 liters to top up the fuel tanks.  This represents a consumption of 3.01 liters per hour.

I looked back at my records, and the SABB engine was remarkably consistent in its fuel consumption of 2.3 liters an hour.  However, Brenda agrees that we tended to drive the SABB a lot easier that we do the new Volvo. 

At that rate Pachuca's 140 liter fuel capacity will provide about 47 hours of running.  However, I would expect at least 50% more hours if we use the engine solely to recharge our batteries (and provide some heat) during our long passage around the Horn.  That means 70 days if we run the engine an average of one hour per day.

Jak and I discussed the possibility of carrying extra fuel on the deck.  I expressed reluctance to do this in order to have a clean deck with minimal windage during heavy weather.  However, maybe we can set off with steel diesel containers on the deck with the intention of jettisoning them as we approach the higher latitudes.  They would in effect be drop tanks.  I wouldn't mind throwing steel overboard but plastic would be a definite no no.