Propane Placement Poses A Predicament

[hooligan6a]

Hag, you asked me if I sail much? I have been a cruising/live aboard, since 1983. I have made six trips to Mexico. About 14,000 miles on the East Coast(Bermuda/Bahamas), four solo trips to Hawaii,( in boats under 25 ft.) and like I mentioned, a solo circumnavigation. About 60,000 miles, total.
I am now preparing for another cruise from the East Coast to Hawaii, via
Panama, not the Horn, this time.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Sailor Robius

wow, thanks for all the info everyone. i will definitely look into this more in the coming month as we move onboard and begin to use the LPG more often. i appreciate yours links, designs, and other helpful hints. until next time,

-keep the wind in your sails and the drinks cold. : )

This place cracks my sh#t up... Whoada thought where to put the tanks would have created a crapstorm. See what you did Rob?

Obviously the answer is that lots of people put their tanks on the rail (and it sure pi$$es some other people off - LOL...

There are two choices put them on the rail or in a properly designed and built locker (unless you think it's a good idea to have propane in the cabin or unvented locker - NOT!)

As for me I am putting them on the rail, lettin' my halyards slap and poopin' in the mooring field after I fully digest a big bowl of turtle, Dolphin and shark fin soup...

[hooligan6a]

Yeah, I guess I started it by jumping on all the people with tanks on their rails, saying they looked tacky. It was late at night and I was bored. sorry for the hurt feelings. You can hang your tanks on your rails, with my approval.

[micah719]

Rail-tanks could be handy as emergency anchors...depending on what steel they're made of and how much scope you let out. And, in a pinch, you can open the valve and brandish a cigarette lighter in front of it when dealing with Blackbeard and his crew. Lastly, a well-thrown LPG tank can make a satisfying mess of a low-flying PWC-pilot. Muahahahaha.

Seriously now....it strikes me that because boats are so much more visible to onlookers than houses and yards, they attract much more comment. Personally, I love the practical and individualistic solutions, and "what must the neighbours think" comes a long way last, within reason. One can go too far, but having your bomb on the rail rather than below isn't in that category. Further, since cruisers are less bound to an externally imposed schedule, maintenance such as painting could realistically be fun rather than a chore. Ok, one would rather be sailing than chipping and sanding, but at least it's much nicer to be your own boss working in the fresh air than caught in the daily grind of modern life. My distant memories of boat maintenance are still more appealing than crouching at the top of a stepladder on a wobbly scaffold....where I seem to spend a third of my time nowadays. If I ever get afloat, I'll have kero/alcohol/charcoal for cooking fuel, but an lpg gasring would be handy for shore cookups, in addition to the nifty side benefits listed above, heh heh. I view anything loose on deck to be prone to being washed off or pinched, so a vented locker is on the cards. A weekly freshwater-wipe and oil to keep the rust bugs down isn't the end of the world....just part of the maintenance schedule as I hum contentedly at being somewhat free.

[hooligan6a]

In almost 50 years sailing I have only heard or read of 3 propane explosions and hundreds of gasoline explosions. I was on a Cascade 36 back in 199?, that had blown from propane leak. It blew the owner out thru the companionway into the cockpit and he was ok. The explosion lifted the deck from hull. It was repaired and sailed again. In Honolulu in 1992 I witnessed a gasoline explosion on a Cal 36, it blew that boat to pieces. Killed the owner inside. Check with the Coast Guard, they have records on all this stuff.
Like I have said, if propane lockers were not safe, the major sailboat manufactures would not put them on their boats. Almost every new boat today is equipped with a locker.

[Blue Stocking]

--who ya gonna call--RUST BUSTERS !!

i aint afraid a' no rust!!

[avazquez]

For people that are not cruising and only sailing weekends and a short cruise once a year. Wouldnt it make sense to remove the big propane tank and just fit the stove with one of those small green gas cans? Like the ones used in your MAGMA BBQ. is that allowed by code?

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by avazquez

For people that are not cruising and only sailing weekends and a short cruise once a year. Wouldnt it make sense to remove the big propane tank and just fit the stove with one of those small green gas cans? Like the ones used in your MAGMA BBQ. is that allowed by code?

I used one of these for two years. It rusted out eventually and was probably not cost effective.

The worst part was I bought a box of the disposable cans (about 12) and stuck them in a locker. They were all rusty in a year when and I realized having them in a locker below the galley was not a good idea...

I'd use one again but I would be careful about how much and where I would keep spare fuel on board.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by avazquez

For people that are not cruising and only sailing weekends and a short cruise once a year. Wouldnt it make sense to remove the big propane tank and just fit the stove with one of those small green gas cans? Like the ones used in your MAGMA BBQ. is that allowed by code?

If there is enough propane in the small green cans to cook with, there is plenty to blow up your boat if it should leak into the bilge. Such a leak is indeed possible with the small canisters, and so keeping them below decks is not a good idea.

However, a proper LPG installation has proven to be reasonably safe in the real world. There are countless thousands of boats so fitted, and damn few explosions. I suspect that if one could do retrospective inspections of the blown-up boats a lack of prudent practice and maintenance would be found, but of course that isn't easy to do!

Cheers,

Jim

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

How manY boats have you heard of going boom, because of propane? Many more go boom because of gasoline. If a vented propane locker with a propane gas detector was not safe, I don't think the major boat manufactures would be putting them in their boats.

Actually one or two go boom up here in the PNW a year. Usually in the winter. The determination seems to usually be propane. Usually a powerboat in a marina. Often no one aboard. Go figure....
The small green cans and appliances are recommended for outside use only. There use to be a nice little Butane stove with a special receptacle on the stove for similar tanks but it got taken off the market. If you're going to do that, just go with a tank on the rail. You dont have to have a solenoid etc.... it can be done simply.

[hooligan6a]

Then you must breed dumb sailors up there. They never go boom down here in San Diego. Come to think of it, the one I had heard of, was up in the PNW.
Must have something to do with the cold and the rain up there.

[zeehag]

i surveyed a propane boom--with another surveyor--and was awesome the stupidity factor needed to blow the deck of a yamaha 33......

[Nemo55]

Your just not going to be happy until you have insulted someone right???

As to my aversion to having propane stored below decks, you may be correct most of the time when you mention vessels built with propane lockers, but seeing as propane is a heavier than air fuel when it leaks it will seek the lowest point to pool,,,this is dangerous because you can be standing in the middle of such a pool and not smell it at all.

The automatic bilge pump or pilot light will/can then ignite the fumes with devastating consequences.
I have often touted Propane as a way safer fuel than Gasoline or Diesel, because of its tendency to blow torch (think of a Bic Lighter)instead of conflagration like Gas or Diesel, and i still do.
However,,this is only true when in an outside condition where the fumes can be readily dissipated.

Gasoline is at its most deadly as fumes and in that you are quite correct.

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Then you must breed dumb sailors up there. They never go boom down here in San Diego. Come to think of it, the one I had heard of, was up in the PNW.
Must have something to do with the cold and the rain up there.

[zeehag]

and never say never, hooligan....

btw--you may call me zee. is my name.

[hooligan6a]

OK, Hag