Rich O’Brien pilots his new boat from the boatyard in Barrington to its new slip in Wickford Harbor on Thursday. The first tank of gas, 127 gallons, was free from the boat dealer. The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

NARRAGANSETT

Usually at this time of year, Frank Blount has his Frances Fleet of deep-sea fishing boats running seven days a week. But with some of the best spring cod fishing in a decade beckoning uncommonly close to shore, Blount is canceling trips.

The price of diesel has his boats tied up for two days a week. And more cost-cutting measures may surface if the fish suddenly move farther offshore.

“I figure every time fuel goes up a penny it cost me $1,500,” says Blount.

Special Report: Fuel Shock

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Audio slideshow: The Martin family has cut its spending substantially

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Audio: Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy suggest remedies for the high cost of gas

Avoiding the gas pumps: Providence teachers bike to work

Audio slideshow: Rhode Islanders' solutions to the high cost of gas

Thinking twice before filling up

Fueling concern: Fuel costs are soaking city budgets

Demand overseas will keep oil prices pumped up

Sinking Feeling: Gas prices weigh heavy on some boaters

Audio slideshow: New boat owner fulfills long-held dream despite gas prices

Your turn

The ripple effect of gas prices: Where are you seeing it?

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AAA daily fuel gauge report for Providence metro area

Full report . . .

John Souto, 73, of Cranston, has chased bluefish and striped bass up and down Narragansett Bay for decades from the helm of various boats. With the prospect of paying $4 or more for each gallon of gas this season, he’s planning on drifting with the tide much more often and hoping the lunkers come to him.

And then there are the notable exceptions.

Last Thursday, while Michelle and Patrick Curry, of Pawtucket, where posting their outboard for sale on craigslist –– spooked by the rising price of fuel –– Rich O’Brien, 44, of North Kingstown, launched his $90,000, lifelong dream into the Warren River.

O’Brien’s 25-foot Grady White came with a 127-gallon gas tank brimming with fuel, courtesy of the dealer. When that starts to run dry, O’Brien is considering hitting up the fishing pals he takes out for gas money.

He’ll also be reminding friends to skip the usual birthday cakes for him come June: “A nice Gulf gas card will be gladly accepted.”

Boating is a way of life for thousands in the Ocean State, and O’Brien aside, the soaring price of fuel is forcing many boaters to think twice before heading out on the water.

Last Thursday, as O’Brien motored his boat from Cataumet Boats in Barrington to its new slip in Wickford Harbor, Souto stood on a dock a few miles north at Greenwich Cove Marina watching a blue veil of smoke rise from the stern of his own vessel.

Souto had hoped the day would be the start of his fishing season. Instead an oil leak in the engine of his 24-foot Bayliner, kept a mechanic busy trying to plug the problem.

Boaters who normally gas up at the marina, Souto says, expect to pay at least 50 cents a gallon more than gas bought along the street. And this coming season “I think everyone around here expects to be paying $4 a gallon if not more.”

The price will definitely alter some behaviors, he said.

Some boaters will just stay tied up. “I know it’ll change me from trolling all day long out there. What I’ll do is more bottom fishing. Just throw the anchor out or drift. I’ll still do my fishing, but I’m not going to go so far, I’ll stay close.”

Souto says he normally fills his 106-gallon tank four times a summer — a simple act with, now, expensive implications (probably at least $424). “This year I’m planning on filling it just a couple of times.”

One dock over from Suoto, Jack Dipietro, 64, of East Providence, did some electrical repair aboard his 20-foot Boston Whaler.

Dipietro works for the post office but has been a part-time shellfisherman since 1961. His boat is 35 years old and proudly displays the wear and tear of a working vessel: dried star fish and plastic bottles sprinkling the stern, spare parts crowding the console.

Two years ago Dipietro could fill the gas tank for his 135-horse outboard for $13. “Now it takes $21 and change.” Two weekends ago he made $58 in clams but paid out $20 in gas. “That hurts.”

Dipietro worries the continuing spike is gas prices will also hurt him indirectly.

Most of his money is in littlenecks, which people like as appetizers. “If the price of gas keeps going up, fewer people may go out to eat,” he says, “or if they do, they may pass up that appetizer.” If the demand for littlenecks falls, so will their wholesale price.

“It makes a difference,” Dipietro says. “I’ll have to catch a few more quahogs to catch up.”

Blount, of the Frances Fleet, says “we have had to cancel some trips and modify some others,” because of increasing fuel costs. “And you can’t just pass all of it on” to customers.

For instance, Blount says a few years ago, it would cost him about $750 in fuel to take 40 fishermen out to Georges Bank to fish for groundfish. That same trip today is costing him $4,000 in fuel. To reclaim that fuel cost, Blount would have to add a fuel surcharge of about $90 per fisherman, essentially doubling the trip’s cost for each customer.

Those long-range day trips “may be a thing of the past, which is too bad because people really enjoy them,” says Blount.

The fleet has consolidated its cod fishing to five days a week instead of the usual seven. Luckily the fish have been cooperating, concentrating right now about 15 miles offshore; often at this time of year Blount must steam at least 25 miles offshore to find the schools.

Blount hopes the whales will be as cooperative.

The fleet hosts regular whale-watching ventures in summer, burning four gallons of diesel for every mile covered. The whales can be found anywhere between 15 and 35 miles off shore.

Currently, they, too, are in close, Blount says. If they decide to move off, “whale watching will be very tough this summer.”

Not just fishermen are feeling the pinch.

Ferry riders to Block Island are currently paying a fuel charge of $1.15 for a one-way ticket. And representatives for Interstate Navigation, which runs the ferry, might ask the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission next month to set a higher surcharge to offset their costs.

Al Oddessi, owner of South Attleboro Marine, worries the news about the increasing fuel prices is having ripple effects on his boat business. He calls it the fear factor: “It scares off the guy who doesn’t come in to ask” about getting a boat.

To those who do come through the door, Oddessi has a message: if you really want a boat but are uncomfortable about the expense of gasoline, consider downsizing. Boats in the 18- to 20-foot range can use half the fuel of a 25-footer, he says.

Actually, Oddessi says, the higher fuel prices don’t really translate into that much of an added expense when you break it down.

“Instead of spending $20, $25 for a weekend,” he says, “you might be paying $30, $35, which is not that big a deal.”

Rich O’Brien, a self-described frugal man, sees a bargain and value in his boat purchase.

With three children, he and his wife, Deb, could not afford a vacation home.

Now they can enjoy time as a family on the water.

Still, as his boat salesman showed him the many special features of his new purchase last week, O’Brien, marveled at his own newfound way of rationalizing things.

“Isn’t it funny how I can divorce myself from spending money for gas for a boat,” he said, “and still I run around telling the kids to shut the lights off” in the house?

Tomorrow: High fuel costs strain municipal budgets throughout Rhode Island.

tmooney@projo.com