hoopa drives the boat

I bought a 55 gallon drum of yamalube last spring and only have about 10 gallons left. I paid $ 14.25/gallon and called the marina this spring and they quoted me close to $ 20/gallon. I know the price of oil is up but was wondering if anyone else buys bulk and where do you get it.

I found a couple places online for $15/gallon but shipping was outrageous.

__________________
Chris - "hoop"
26' Triton Walk w/ twin 200hpdi
"Here's to swimmin with bowlegged women"

Scup

Hoopa,

Sounds like a bit of a high price to me. The regular price of Premium West Marine oil in a 2.5 gallon container is $34.99 or just under $ 14 per gallon. I know the brand of 2 cycle oil used always turns out to be a preference of the user. I do not know if the "synthetics", "ultra", "premium", "super" or whatever else the manufacturer labels his mixture with, correlates with what boaters really want, long life for their engines. I would ask the question if any of our form members have seen an article done on the subject by an independent testing agency such as "practical sailer". There has to be differences in what is out there but there is no way we can know what is the best product unless some honest independent test facility does an evaluation for us. All of the decent brands seem to carry the same rating of TC-W3. Asking ones buddy about what he likes best just does not hack it for me; none of my buddies know anything, really, about 2 cycle motor oil. For example I have been using the above West Marine product for years in my 25 HP engine without a hitch. However, I could have probably used TC-W2 without a problem too as the requirements for a low horsepower, low performance engine is not as severe as a high performance engine. For what it is worth, the West Marine brands, and other popular brands carried by West Marine as well, almost always go on sale, sooner or later this time of the year. I have never gotten negative feedback about any of the 2 cycle oils we sell. Since you buy in very large quantities, even if what you want is not on sale, talk to the store's manager to see if he can do anything for you; at worse he can only say no. One of the advantages that West Marine has is in shipping. Eighteen wheelers bring products directly to the stores from warehouses which give them a tremendous advantage when it comes to shipping expenses. Do not laugh at this, but when I worked for the navy, and had to get rid of 55 gallon barrel of oil, it cost more to get rid of it than what we had purchased it for. I can understand your concern over high shipping charges on oils should you try to go it alone.

On The Edge

Just thought i would throw this out there for those that may be interested.

Hoop ended up finding bulk yamalube (55 gal drum) local to us for $945.00 including tax. 17.18 a gallon thats a really good deal considering the price of gas and oil and most other prices we found were in the mid to upper 20's per gallon even found some in the 30's edging up towards $40 per gallon.

I know there is is still some debate on the brand of oil you use and why use the high priced manufacturers oil, but without being a chemist, engineer and metalologist to analize all the technical data. It comes down to personal preference and at 17.18 a gallon it is still worth it to use manufacturer oil..

Nice find hoop..

__________________
Catch um up

1999 proline 2202 wa
1999 200 merc

Bob & Mag

I've got my E-TEC's emm programmed for XD-100 synthetic. My little 90 only has a 3 qt oil tank under the cowling. After two years I only used, though expensive, 1 tank each season. I can buy it at bulk prices at the dealer by just bringing in my empty gallon jug. I'll be sticking with it. Last I checked the new jug was $42.99 and refilling your old jug $28.
For me it's piece of mind and getting the stingiest oil setting going.

__________________
Smoke free 8+ Months!