Boat Craft

	Murray Skippers Mark Saving Energy Refuelling Colour Coded Containers		RMBOA Radio Channel Emergency Radio Channels Handling Idiot Radio Callers Radio & TV Stations
	Mooring Departing When You Are Aground Riverboat Registration		Selecting a Dinghy Securing a Handline All About Knots Reporting an Accident
	Cost of Owning a River BoatBackwater Safety

Murray Skippers (Crossover) Mark

This sign can be a bit of a puzzle when you first see it. If you consult the Murray River Pilot, the River Murray Charts and other books, you may have difficulty finding a reference to them. Their purpose isn't mysterious however. These signs are used in pairs, one on either side of the river to indicate where the channel changes from one side of the river to the other.

For example if you are travelling along the river and see a sign, you should be able to look across and along the river to another sign. If you follow the line between the two signs, you should follow the channel.

Saving Energy

When you are on your own vessel for an extended period, saving energy becomes an important issue. Fuel is a significant cost and anything that you can do to save it is the same as money in the bank. The same applies to your domestic battery. It is best not to significantly discharge your domestic battery even if it is a deep cycle battery as this tends to shorten its lifetime. Also remember that your battery will not recharge instantly. For example, if an inverter is used, it may take three hours of running to replace the charge for each hour of use.

The obvious one is to turn off all lights and appliances when they are not in use. This will conserve the charge of your battery.
Having your shower in the morning while you are warming up your engine(s) or under way means that the motors will provide the energy to power the water pumps, rather than discharging the battery.
If you run your generator, make sure that you consider what needs to run from the generator. For example, if you are going to cook using the microwave, perhaps you can recharge your laptop or batteries for the cordless drill. You may even be able to watch television to save using the inverter or running the generator twice.
To save fuel, you need to determine the most cost effective speed to travel. The best way to determine the optimum running speed is to do a series of trips at a range of engine speed. Either use GPS to determine your speed or measure the time taken for the journey and work out the speed. Refill the vessel after the trip and you can determine which speed is best for you. As a rule of thumb, if you are producing a large, noisy wake, then you are not running at the most efficient speed as energy is being wasted making the wake.
If the day is very windy, consider whether you need to travel. Strong headwinds or cross winds will increase fuel consumption as the vessel will either be travelling slower or wandering across the river. While you may start with a tail wind that will help you along, but a couple of corners later, it will probably be a headwind.
Smooth steering reduces the distance that the vessel actually travels and the fewer changes in direction will mean less loss of speed.

Refuelling

Locations

The Voyage Planning Guide provided to members of the RMBOA provides information about refuelling locations (on-river and off-river). Some information about refuelling locations are displayed in the RMBOA River Murray Cruise Calculator on the Calculator web page.

Safety

Liquid fuels such as petrol represent a significant hazard. Fuels such as petrol are volatile and the fumes can be exceptionally explosive. Fuels are petroleum based and also represent an environmental danger if spilt.

Please refer to the South Australian Transport Refuelling Guide. It is primarily aimed at coastal waters, but it does provide good information about best practice and the dangers.

Saving Money

It is tempting to plan your refuelling stops based on the riverside fuel pumps. If convenience is more important than cost, then this is the way to go. However, if cost is a larger driver than convenience, it is best to avoid these pumps as much as possible. Clearly river pumps are targeting a specialist market and will generally have less turnover than a normal petrol station. As such, these costs will be higher to cover the higher operating costs. The price differential between petrol station and riverside pumps can range between ten (10) and twenty (20) cents per litre.

Also remember that many petrol stations now accept shopper dockets that can give you an additional four (4) cents a litre. There is a down side to using petrol stations - you have to carry the fuel to the boat from the petrol station. If you have to take on a few hundred litres, this can be quite a tedious exercise. For this reason, if you plan to carry fuel from petrol stations, it is recommended that you fill up as often as you can. This ensure that each fuel run is kept to a manageable amount. Using a trolley or similar, it is possible to easily carry up to 40 litres per trip. Two trips to the petrol station will give you eighty (80) litres. Any more than two trips starts to get tedious.

Frequent refuelling also increases your safety margin. If a fuel site is out of order, or unexpectedly closed, it should not be problem to wait until the next fuel location. If, however, you are expecting to fully refuel at that point, it may be inconvenient, to say the least.

Colour Coded Liquid Containers

Petrol	Two-Stroke Fuel
Diesel Fuel (also black)	Water (also white)

Modern containers designed for water and fuel come in various colours to reduce the confusion about the contents. To the left are examples of typical colour coding as provided by the Willow company.

The popular sizes are 5 litre and 20 litre containers. The 5 litre containers are ideal for dinghies. The 20 litre container are used where more fuel needed to by transported, but obviously the container is four (4) times heavier. The pourer is often flexible with a channel that allows air to flow into the container as it empties.

If you have "Tips and Tricks" of your own please e-mail (in any digital format) the Webmaster with your contribution.

For anything new on the RMBOA site click here

Disclaimer

Use of the information and data contained on the RMBOA pages is at your own risk. If you rely on the information on the RMBOA site you are responsible for independently ensuring its accuracy, currency or completeness. Some material on this site is contributed by RMBOA members and does not necessarily reflect the policy of the RMBOA. The RMBOA website includes links to other websites these are linked "as is" and the RMBOA:
· Does not necessarily sponsor, endorse or approve of any material on linked websites.
· Does not make offer any guarantees regarding the quality, accuracy, or suitability for any purpose any material on websites linked from or to the RMBOA site.

RMBOA Privacy policy can be viewed by clicking here