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Old 08-04-2013, 05:13   #31
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

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Originally Posted by zeehag View Post
i cook a lot and feed others. sometimes i heat bath water--heck i am in tropix now--dont need hot water too much except to cook with and coffee....i use one 20 pound (? normal sized) bottle of propane over 3-6 months. i keep 2 bottles on board.
i usually run out while mid passage, so is good to have 2 bottles
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Old 08-04-2013, 05:17   #32
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

Of course, it depends so much on your cooking style, but you can add us to the group of fulltime liveaboard cruisers who use a 20-lb bottle in 2-3 months. It lasts longer in the summer than the winter, when hot food seems more appealing, but we make a pot (or two!) of coffee every morning and generally a hot meal in the evening. You can also make it last longer by your choice of cookware - for example, a thin-bottom teakettle heats water faster than a thick bottom pan (and the teakettle is safer on board anyway; contains sloshing hot water); a pressure cooker cooks faster, and therefore uses less fuel, than a regular pot for beans or rice; searing fish on the grill uses less fuel than baking it, etc.
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Old 08-04-2013, 05:44   #33
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

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Originally Posted by sailvayu View Post
I wrote an article for Cruising World awhile back that might prove helpful as you install your system.
Project Boat Zen - Boat and Yacht Repair and Restoration
Thank you for the article reference, a fiberglass tank which makes the amount of fuel visible would save many people from carrying two tanks. There is no mention in the article of "propane sniffers" or carbon monoxide monitors, does that mean they are unnecessary if your maintenance procedures are followed?
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Old 08-04-2013, 06:04   #34
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

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Thank you for the article reference, a fiberglass tank which makes the amount of fuel visible would save many people from carrying two tanks. There is no mention in the article of "propane sniffers" or carbon monoxide monitors, does that mean they are unnecessary if your maintenance procedures are followed?
i can smell propane easily--i found my sniffer inmy smaller boat long ago was defective by using my own nose. asthma helps us, sometimes, to avoid bad air.....

fg tanks do not preclude need for second tank. what do you do for coffee when one tank runs out--until you finally find and obtain propane into the tank, you are at mercy of cold food and no coffee.
\do invest in a second tank, even if it is a small one. you will find it handy when you east expect it.

seeing the propane run out while faar away from a refill station is not cool. i did have an emergency back up stove with lil green bottles for use for emergency coffee..lol..i plan ahead sometimes....and i will be carrying a newly crafted mexistove with a new hose for propane for emergent use when anything happens to my force 10 stove.

no, murphy doesnt sleep on my boat---considering i took a derelict boat to sea, i am doing perfectly awesomely...no major un-do-able problems--so far everything has been addressable while under way. soon to be repaired in golfo de california, so murphy best run to someone else, as he doesnt have a bunk here.....i have had opposite fortune from murphy and his mayhem....if running out of propane was only bad thing in life we would all be so happy we wouldnt have to come here to confer on a forum.....
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Old 08-04-2013, 06:24   #35
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

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I have an electric oven (microwave/convection) - but I have a generator.

I also have an

for those times when I dont want to use the generator.
I think I have used my oven maybe twice since 1995. Though I do cook a lot on the stove. I'm thinking I might go with a large toaster oven since I have a Honda 2000 that I use for charging the electric propulsion batteries. Though this Omni oven might good alternative too. Thanks.
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Old 08-04-2013, 07:29   #36
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

We have a 8 lb. bottle. It lasts 3 or 4 weeks. We are live aboards. I bought an adapter from defender that lets me hook up a 16 oz. cylinder to the house supply line when the 8 lb. bottle runs out. It will last us about 2 or 3 days. We also use the 16 oz. cylinders for the stern rail mounted grill. We only have one small vented locker for our small bottle.
I also made up a short pipe with the proper fittings on it to replace the solinoid valve while waiting for the replacement solinoid valve. When using it one must turn the propane tank on and off manually but it beats not having propane to the stove and oven.
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Old 10-04-2013, 05:24   #37
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I use two twenty pound tanks in 3 months when cruising full time.
You must have a leak
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Old 10-04-2013, 07:09   #38
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

There seems to be a huge difference in the rate of use for propane. We have two 13lb tanks and I usually refill one of them each year. We never use our propane oven and we often cook with electricity while running our diesel generator. We do use a single burner now and then and sometimes two.
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Old 10-04-2013, 07:29   #39
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

It's the oven wot does it. If you do lots of baking or roasting then the propane usage soars.
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Old 10-04-2013, 08:17   #40
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

The 20 lb tank lasts us 3 months like clockwork. 2 adults onboard. We cook at least 2 meals daily and bake a lot. We have a 10 lb tank for back-up. Both fit into the propane locker. Wish that locker could accommodate two 20 lb tanks but we are stuck with the one 20 lb and one 10 lb.

We have filled both tanks with various forms of LPG. In the South Pacific (including Polynesia) all that was available was butane. FWIW, it seemed that the butane did not cook quite as hot as the propane; and the butane left a black residue on bottoms of pans (easily scrubbed off if removed each time pan was used). We did not adjust our stove settings for the different fuels, so possibly that black residue could have been avoided if we had followed stove manufacturer recommendations.

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Old 10-04-2013, 08:35   #41
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

I have two separate propane lockers, one on each side of the transom, both with 10# tanks. One stays hooked to the galley stove, the other stays hooked to the BBQ. Using this system, if we're out and about and the one empties during meal preparation, the other is available.

It helps to keep a spare tank in the dock box. For some reason the propane always wants to run out halfway through the Thanksgiving turkey.
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Old 10-04-2013, 08:59   #42
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

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I have two separate propane lockers, one on each side of the transom, both with 10# tanks. One stays hooked to the galley stove, the other stays hooked to the BBQ. Using this system, if we're out and about and the one empties during meal preparation, the other is available.

It helps to keep a spare tank in the dock box. For some reason the propane always wants to run out halfway through the Thanksgiving turkey.
Okay, mental self-check! That second paragraph above struck me as absolutely hilarious! I'm sure that was not your intent.

We are full-time cruising liveaboards (completing 7th year in a few weeks). And we have NEVER had a dock box. If we were somewhere so 'civilized' that marinas provided dock boxes, there would be no excuse for ever running out of propane. I would check the tank level several days before planning a Thanksgiving turkey to make sure we wouldn't run out on a holiday.

Extra storage in a dock box! Bet most of us out cruising wish at some time or another that we had that extra storage space.

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Old 10-04-2013, 09:07   #43
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

I'm guessing a 10lb bottle about every 6+ weeks in Seattle. If you have a small 5# bottle for the BBQ, then you dont have to worry about carrying another big bottle. Just swap and fill when the b ig one runs out.
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Old 10-04-2013, 09:50   #44
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

Used to pour a little hot water over the tank then felt down the side to where it got cold to determine how much propane was left in the tank. After a while, you just knew you were getting low and did a change over rather than run out (like on Thanksgiving!).
Lived in a rural home in Canada years ago that had a couple of 100 lb tanks that seemed to run forever before they needed filling. The major problem as I recall was getting a propane truck out in winter through 5 feet of snow! Used to get a fill-up every fall. Phil
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Old 10-04-2013, 10:15   #45
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Re: Propane Usage for Liveaboard Couple?

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Originally Posted by zeehag View Post
i can smell propane easily--i found my sniffer inmy smaller boat long ago was defective by using my own nose. asthma helps us, sometimes, to avoid bad air.....

fg tanks do not preclude need for second tank. what do you do for coffee when one tank runs out--until you finally find and obtain propane into the tank, you are at mercy of cold food and no coffee.
\do invest in a second tank, even if it is a small one. you will find it handy when you east expect it.

seeing the propane run out while faar away from a refill station is not cool. i did have an emergency back up stove with lil green bottles for use for emergency coffee..lol..i plan ahead sometimes....and i will be carrying a newly crafted mexistove with a new hose for propane for emergent use when anything happens to my force 10 stove.

no, murphy doesnt sleep on my boat---considering i took a derelict boat to sea, i am doing perfectly awesomely...no major un-do-able problems--so far everything has been addressable while under way. soon to be repaired in golfo de california, so murphy best run to someone else, as he doesnt have a bunk here.....i have had opposite fortune from murphy and his mayhem....if running out of propane was only bad thing in life we would all be so happy we wouldnt have to come here to confer on a forum.....

Them little 1pounder adapters is the ticket for some as backup after running out from the big tank, assuming cooking is the main concern. Many smaller boats simply cant carry 2 tanks.

Also, I'm suprised how many of us are reporting the use of 20lb tanks.

Here is a good read especially for the OP.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ent-86897.html
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