Published August 2026. The figures come from a real charter settlement we handled this season on a sailing catamaran in Greece.
Most charter guides will tell you that a sailing catamaran uses very little fuel, on the reasoning that it sails. On paper, that is true. On the settlement, it often is not, because a crewed catamaran at anchor in a Mediterranean summer is also a small floating hotel, and the hotel runs a diesel generator.
On a crewed sub 50ft catamaran in Greece in peak summer 2026, with 8 guests and 2 crew for 7 nights, the boat used roughly 970 litres of diesel for about €2,000, which was 45% of everything spent from the APA. Around 590 of those litres went through the generator rather than the engines. This article explains why that happens, what it means for a sailing yacht compared with a motor yacht, and what a guest can reasonably do about it.
Is fuel included in a yacht charter price?
On a Mediterranean crewed charter it is not. The charter fee covers the yacht, the crew, the insurance and the equipment, and fuel is a running cost paid at cost from the APA, the Advance Provisioning Allowance that the captain holds on the guests' behalf. Every litre appears on the settlement at the end of the week, and whatever has not been spent is returned. The mechanism is explained in full in our APA guide.
The Caribbean works differently. Crewed catamarans there are usually sold all-inclusive under Caribbean Terms, with fuel, food, bar and moorings folded into one weekly price, so the question of fuel never reaches the guest. This article is about the Mediterranean model, where the guest pays for what the boat burns.
How much fuel did a real catamaran charter use in a week?
The captain records engine hours and generator hours at embarkation and again at disembarkation. The difference, multiplied by the boat's consumption rate for each and by the pump price, is the fuel line on the settlement. For the week in question the figures were as follows.
| Hours run | Litres per hour | Litres | Cost at about €2 a litre |
|---|
Engines (both) | about 25 | 15 | 380 | €780 |
Generator | close to 100 | 6 | 590 | €1,200 |
Week total | | | about 970 | about €2,000 |
The hours column is the one to look at. The engines ran for about 25 hours across the whole week, which is under 4 hours a day and typical of a Greek itinerary of short passages between anchorages. The generator ran for close to 100 hours, or about 14 hours a day, and at 6 litres an hour that adds up to more diesel than the engines used. Fuel came to about €285 a day, 13% of the charter fee and 45% of the APA, on a boat that sailed whenever the wind allowed.
Why does the generator burn more than the engines?
A catamaran at anchor has no shore power, so everything electrical on board runs from the batteries and the generator that charges them. In a Greek summer that means the air conditioning through the afternoon and overnight, the fridges and freezers around the clock, the watermaker keeping up with 10 people showering, and the lights, chargers and galley equipment on top. On most charter catamarans of this size the battery bank cannot carry an air-conditioned boat through the night on its own, so the generator runs for as long as the cooling does.
The engines, by contrast, only run while the boat is under way on motor. A Greek itinerary usually means 2 to 4 hours between anchorages, and a sailing catamaran covers some of that under sail, so the engines see 3 or 4 hours in a day while the generator sees 14. The boat spends far more of the week generating electricity than it does moving.
Anchoring is part of the reason, and it is worth being clear about the trade. Anchoring is free and it is where most of the best evenings happen, but at anchor every hour of air conditioning is an hour of generator. Alongside in a marina the boat plugs into shore power and the generator stops, and the guest pays for the berth instead. In Greece the anchorage usually wins on cost and always wins on the evening, but it is the reason the fuel line on a sailing catamaran can look like a motor yacht's.
How much fuel do sailing yachts use compared with motor yachts?
Across the crewed charter settlements we have reviewed over several seasons, fuel is the most variable line on the sheet, and the variation follows the type of boat. On sailing yachts and catamarans, fuel typically takes 10 to 25% of what the APA spends. On motor yachts it routinely takes 35 to 55%, and on a long or fast itinerary it can be the only line that matters. The difference is one of volume rather than price: the two engines on this catamaran burn about 15 litres an hour combined, while an 80-foot motor yacht at cruising speed burns 400 to 500 litres an hour, and both pay the same for diesel.
The week above landed at 45%, well above the usual band for a sailing catamaran, and the generator accounts for the whole of the difference. Engine fuel alone came to about €780, or 18% of the APA, which is exactly where a sailing catamaran is expected to sit. The generator added the rest.
So when a guide says that a catamaran under sail uses almost nothing, it is describing the engines and leaving out the fact that the boat is also accommodation for 10 people. The accommodation is where the fuel goes in summer.
What decides the fuel bill?
On a sailing catamaran in summer the generator hours are the main number, and air conditioning at anchor is the main reason for them. Each hour the generator runs costs about 6 litres on a boat this size, so the difference between cooling the cabins overnight and cooling the whole boat all night is a meaningful one over a week.
Motoring hours come second, and they depend on distance, wind and the itinerary. A route that lets the boat sail costs less than one that motors into a headwind to keep a lunch reservation, which is one reason a good captain plans a Greek week around the Meltemi.
The choice between anchoring and a marina affects both lines at once. On this boat a night of air conditioning from the generator costs roughly €170 in diesel, which is more than a Greek town quay and less than a marina berth with shore power, so the answer depends on the port and is worth a conversation with the captain rather than a rule.
On motor yachts, speed dominates everything else, because fuel consumption is not linear with it. A motor yacht that burns 200 litres an hour at 12 knots can burn more than double that at 22, and a relaxed cruising speed can halve the fuel bill for the week. On a sailing catamaran this barely applies.
Diesel itself cost about €2 a litre in Greece for the week in question. The price moves with the market, but it is the same for every boat, and the litres are what the guest has any influence over.
What a guest can reasonably do about it
The most useful conversation is the one about air conditioning on the first evening. Cooling the cabins overnight with the saloon hatches open lets the generator rest for a few hours in the small hours, while cooling the whole boat all night keeps it running until morning. Neither is wrong, but at about 6 litres for every extra hour the difference over a week is real, and the captain will set the boat up whichever way the guests prefer if they say so.
The second is to let the boat sail when the conditions allow. Guests who are happy to arrive at 4 rather than 2, with the engines off for the afternoon, give the crew room to plan the day around the wind rather than around a clock.
The third is simply to ask for the hours mid-week. The captain reads the meters every day, and a short check on the third day shows whether the week is tracking towards €1,200 of fuel or €2,000, while there is still time to do something about it.
The short version
Fuel is paid at cost from the APA on Mediterranean crewed charters. On a real 46-foot sailing catamaran week in Greece in peak summer, that came to roughly 970 litres and about €2,000, or 45% of the APA, and around 60% of it was the generator keeping the boat cool at anchor rather than the engines moving it. Sailing catamarans normally spend 10 to 25% of the APA on fuel and motor yachts 35 to 55%. On a sailing catamaran the single biggest lever is how many hours the generator runs, and that is a conversation to have with the captain on the first day rather than a surprise on the settlement.
Common questions
Is fuel included in a yacht charter? On a Mediterranean crewed charter it is paid at cost from the APA and itemised on the settlement. On Caribbean all-inclusive crewed catamarans it is normally part of the weekly rate.
How much fuel does a catamaran charter use in a week? The crewed 46-foot catamaran above used roughly 970 litres in a peak-summer week in Greece, about €2,000 at around €2 a litre, or 45% of the APA. Sailing yachts and catamarans typically spend 10 to 25% of the APA on fuel, and motor yachts 35 to 55%; the generator is what pushed this week higher.
Can a guest reduce the fuel bill on a charter? Yes, mainly by deciding how much air conditioning to run overnight, which sets the generator hours, by letting the boat sail when the wind allows, and by asking the captain for the engine and generator hours mid-week so there are no surprises at the end.
About the Author
Maurits is a professional yacht charter broker and founder of Frontier Yachting, based in Belgium. Before moving ashore he worked as a yacht captain, logging engine and generator hours and settling APA accounts across several Mediterranean seasons. He now helps clients budget accurately before they book.
Contact: hello@frontieryachting.com | +32 487 22 08 22
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