I have been wondering how much the clubs have spent on fuel and maintenance for their groomers this year.
With the winter we have had it has to have added up to a pretty penny or two.

Anybody know, or have any guesses?

pointer

P.S. Just for the record, I trail pass'd two sleds this year and put 0 miles on groomed trails.
Yeah, I know that ain't right. New job and family committments.
I did get a few runs on the rivers here in Southern NB so its not as bad as it might look.

One machine 0 miles this year, the other 150 tops.

Excellent Thread. Hopefully we can get some actual numbers. I think most snowmobilers will be surprised how much it cost to run these machines.

Fundy Trail Riders was at 14000 litres near the end of March and groomed more after that. At 25 litres per hour that is 560 hours.

Fuel @ 1.20 / litre = $16,800

Wages 560 hours = 6,000

Maitenance estimate = 4,000

Total = $27,000


That is for one groomer and not until the end of the season even for it.

In addition we converted a second groomer and bought a drag for it. Another $20,000 or so.

I can not say exactly as the next meeting is not for a week but I think we are well over $50,000 for grooming related expenses not counting any depreciation on 2 recent Lamtracs.

Wow!

Thanks Riceburner. That sure adds up! Any idea on how that impacted your club?

Any other clubs have information?


pointer

The Restigouche Snowmobile Club (just over 200 members) finished the winter with just over $25000 for fuel and repairs. Our operators are all volunteer and the Gilbert which is a 1994 burns on an average of 13.5 litres per hour....

Thanks NBRenegade!

Sure puts the expense of the sport into perspective seeing numbers like that, makes me feel pretty humble when I drop a C note into the truck at the pumps.

Would like to see numbers from the top of the province if anyone has them.

On a side note, I pulled my boat out of storage this past week. 20 years ago, when gas was still under 75 a L at the marina pumps I was number two at the marina for total gas bill at $ 4000. The marina didn't sell Quicksilver oil, so add in another few hundred.
If the peice on the water is 1.65 this summer that would be just under 9 grand.

pointer

Click to view attachment


hi pointer !!!


i groom with a surtrac ( ts 110 ) since the last 8 years part of tq 5 here in the matapedia valley .in the yesteryears it used to cost $$140.00 to $$160.00 of fuel per runs .last season with the raise of fuel ,$$190.00 to $$225.00 even sometimes up to $$240.00....fuel was at $1.35 a liter.my tq 5 run can be from 12 hrs to 16 hrs depending of the condition of the trail.roughness,drifts ,bulldozing snow off the exits or entrances and i like to do extra work .

last season i groomed 19 weeks for $$8000.00 of fuel .average 3 gallons an hr. back in 07 , for 14 weeks $$ 5500.00 if i remember correctly .

i groom tq 5 , 2x a week + 5 local trails.it s 45 to 60 hrs a week.i skip one local trail time to time.low traffic.

club is from 215 to 245 members.

forgot to tell you ,we have a br 160 too .(1994 ).last season br began to groom around christmas ,so about 16 weeks ,for $11 000.00 of fuel and their runs are waaaaaaaaay shorter than mine .

in 8 years i have more hrs of grooming on the surtrac than they have on the br in 14 .

hope this will help you !!!


groomer !!!

i forgot ,they give me a little salary with that .let say when i groom 4 days in a row ,after the second one ,my salary is '' burned '' .

but i still enjoy it !!!


groomer !!!

Does anyone have it calculated what is the costs per hour to run the groomers?? Encluding fuel,wages, groomer dep etc. $40,50,60 an hour.
Thank you
REN06

We have approximately 200km of groomed trails. Groomed once per week, sometimes twice. It takes about 24 hours to groom everything. It costs $2500 each time (as calculated at that time with no "major" repairs). Not sure if the operator is paid or volunteer. We started grooming in December and ended around the first of March.
Not cheap.

This was stated to the members at a club meeting just to put into perspective how much things cost. Unfortunately, the regular 12-20 people that volunteer for the club were present - the other 260 were not.

Also, we run a Lam-trac.

I've got to stop doing this.......... luckily there were no major repairs this season (that I am aware of) as well.

[quote name='REN06' date='May 2 2008, 03:21 PM' post='3951266']
Does anyone have it calculated what is the costs per hour to run the groomers?? Encluding fuel,wages, groomer dep etc. $40,50,60 an hour.

RENO
Groomer costs per Hour: It depends who you talk to. From my perspective you could look at $55 to $70 per hour
1. A diesel run groomer at 175 HP will burn 18 to 24 liters per hour. Round that math to
say 20 l/hr at $1.25/L = $25 even though these prices may vary or even be higher.
2. Figure in maintenance: oil changes, filters, grease, breakdown costs, depending it’s
age breakdowns could vary but give this $5/hr.
3. About 20% of the clubs pay for groomer operators. Average this out to $12/hr
4. Depreciation: often overlooked by snowmobiling public. For example; the club
purchased a new unit in 2000 for $160,000. The most you could get for that unit, and
you would be lucky, would be $60,000. The average grooming hours per club over the
last 5 years in NB was around 250 hours. I’m going to be generous here and give my
example 500 hours. So in 8 years it has depreciated to $60,000. The club is out
$100,000 or $12,500 per year. That works out to $25/hr for the above example.
5. Providing you don’t have any major setbacks. This works out to $67/hr

In summary: 1 = $25. 2 = $5. 3 = $12. 4 = $25 Total $67/hour
Just to put things in perspective you have to figure what your unit burns in fuel, your maintenance costs whether you get your maintenance volunteered or not and how much, did you have any major breakdowns, do you pay your operators, depreciation can vary depending how old your unit is and when figuring it out for hours groomed you would have to consider your own hours over the life of the unit (if you groom less the cost goes up and if you groom more ,the costs goes down . The above is a ball park figure but I'm sure it is close to reality. All clubs should have a professional accountant.

look realistic to me .closer to $$55.00 for me with the surtrac .



groomer !!!

Fundy Trail Riders [Saint John to Fundy Park]


Fuel, $31/hour
Wages etc 11/hour
Repairs & maitenance 8/hour

Total cash cost /hour $50/hour

Depreciation 25/hour

Total cost $75/hour

Not exact as I stated final numbers are due next week but pretty darn close.

Nepisiguit Sport Lodge Bathurst:

Our costs were $75/ hour this winter. We are running two Lamtrac 4000's. The breakdown is as follows:

Labour: $22000
Fuel: $45,000
Repairs and Maintenance: $44,000* Higher than normal this year
Depreciation $40,000 two units

Total Cost $151,000

Total Hours 2000

Cost per hour $75.00

club spent $27,000 more than we received in total revenue not counting $40,000 in depreciation.

We can't run another year like this.

Thanks standardsled, for sharing the numbers and for all the grooming. I sure appreciate the fine trails when I get up your way.
The costs this year had to have been huge, I didn't realize that huge.


How does a club absorb a 60K + hit?

Again, thanks to all who have shared their numbers.

Anybody else reading this wonder how we keep this going so our children can enjoy the sport?

pointer

To all the clubs - please PM me if you are having fundraiser events, if I can help I will.

Groomer, are you a DFO officer by any chance?

pointer

hi pointer !!!


sorry , i have nt seen the post last week .no , im not a d f o .


groomer !!!