Propane use - How much do you need/use

[Ubifig]

This questions is directed to full time liveaboards with 2 to 3 people living aboard. I am curious of how much natural gas do you carry, what size tanks, how long does it typically last, how readily available globally is it to purchase/re-fill? Do you recommend electric stove or grill over propane?

[Mike OReilly]

We are a couple who cruise (when not locked out by a pandemic) for about six months of each year. When on the boat it is full-time living. We cook all meals on board.

We tend to go through about 25-30 pounds of propane (not natural gas) in a season. There are some boats that run with CNG (compressed natural gas), but those are few, and mostly are found in the Great Lakes or northern eastern seaboard. I wouldn't recommend CNG.

I've not ventured outside of North America, but propane seems pretty ubiquitous. Different countries or regions do have different bottle standards though, so I've read that sometimes it is a challenge matching local bottles to your boat system. But it can be done.

Personally I think propane is superior to electric, only because of the huge energy draw electric requires. But if you can generate enough electricity, as some larger boats do, then electric might be superior.

[Mirage35]

You must be pretty careful with it, Mike. We spend about 50 days per year on the boat and use a teeny bit more than 20 pounds per season.

We have a propane hot water heater in addition to the usual stuff, but it doesn't use much.

[Mike OReilly]

Interesting. We don't really think about our usage. We don't waste it, but use it as needed. When on the boat we're rarely eat elsewhere, so we're cooking three meals a day. We also bake our own bread and use the oven fairly regularly for other things.

We don't have a heater, or any other propane appliance. And our stove/oven is one of the smallest Force-10 versions, so maybe that's the difference?

[NaClyDog]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I've not ventured outside of North America, but propane seems pretty ubiquitous. Different countries or regions do have different bottle standards though, so I've read that sometimes it is a challenge matching local bottles to your boat system. But it can be done.

Slight correction. Many places outside of North America use butane. Both propane and butane (amongst others) are classified as liquid petroleum gas (LPG).


Using butane in propane appliances (if you can get the gas in the bottle) can be problematic.


The ideal for us would be to eliminate the need for propane but that is still a few years off.

[Sparx]

2 skilled cooks on board. Meals often involve multiple pots. Baking daily. Also coffee and tea on demand. Propane use by the oven is significant. We plan for 0.5 lbs per day.

We carry two 10 lb tanks. May add a third. The 10 lb tanks are easy to carry when hoofing it to the refill location.

Propane has been easy to find along the US east coast, although we have been charged an outrageous price to refill in Rockland Maine.

[NewMoon]

I live aboard and cruise the Inside Passage for about five months in the summers. For about half of the cruise there are 2 or 3 of us. We use the propane stove to make coffee, and to cook dinner (sometimes with both stove and propane grill) nearly every day. Sometimes we cook breakfast or lunch.

Our "20 lb" horizontal aluminum propane tank holds about 4.7 gallons. Our typical use is about 1.5 gallons per month.

[Svsumurun]

So technically not a liveaboard yet , but this summer have pretty much been ( since beginning of June) . Other than 1 or 2 nights a week we have lived on the boat, so you can calculate from that .. we are a couple of 2, but have had several weekends with grandkids and kids on board so that adds too!
we gave a force 10 3 burner with oven , a magma that uses the little bombs ( just haven't plumbed that into the main supply yet) and our Dickerson heater is propane .
We cook like we do at home , except for the kettle in the morning for coffee ( at home it's a regular drip machine), so we run the stove everyday . We do use a bread machine and insta pot off the electric - but haven't used the insta pot this summer , those meals are for the fall ! I would estimate our meals not cooked on board since June 1 at less than 5.
Heater hasn't been used yet , and we have went through 14 lbs so far this year including the bombs and the main tank. It will ramp up over the next couple months as it cools off, and the heater comes on at night sometimes, so I would say double it and that would be close for the year - so close to mike . My main tank is 8 lbs and it ran out on Sunday ( so lasted since May) .
Now, double that for a year , or maybe a bit less if you are somewhere warm! So using my super calculated method, when we take off I will need to source propane about every 7-8 weeks or so if we are somewhere cool, or 10-11 weeks if we are somewhere hot( or double if I empty both the main and the spare tank) , so really not a big deal and WAY better than the alcohol we used to have on the last boat.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by Ubifig

This questions is directed to full time liveaboards with 2 to 3 people living aboard. I am curious of how much natural gas do you carry, what size tanks, how long does it typically last, how readily available globally is it to purchase/re-fill? Do you recommend electric stove or grill over propane?

We have been cruising full time for more than 15 years. Often in remote places where there are no places to eat out. So we cook everything with our supply of propane. A 20 lb bottle usually lasts us for planning purposes 2 months. We do not use it for heat or hot water.

We have two tanks connected with a valve so we can quickly switch tanks when one runs out.

Cooking gas is available in 99% of the places we cruise. We are currently running butane for the past 5 years in French Polynesia with no effects on our stove

[Simi 60]

We live onboard full time and carry 4 x 9kg of LPG on board
Galley gets 3 mths
BBQ gets 6mths

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by NaClyDog

Slight correction. Many places outside of North America use butane. Both propane and butane (amongst others) are classified as liquid petroleum gas (LPG).


Using butane in propane appliances (if you can get the gas in the bottle) can be problematic.


The ideal for us would be to eliminate the need for propane but that is still a few years off.

Been using butane for years in our propane force ten stove with no noticeable difference.

[Vasco]

Over twenty years our use has not varied. 2 persons, a ten pound tank of propane lasts from 23 to 28 days. I religiously record propane use as I get a bit paranoid when we're on the second tank. Getting propane is not an easy task sometimes.

[El Pinguino]

How long is a piece of string? I have had 'celebrity chefs' - in their own minds - on board that can get through 4.5 kg in under a fortnight......
Two on board, cold climate, 3 hot meals a day, anchored every night, .. one month plus per 4.5kg cylinder. I carry three so 3 months autonomy.

US/NZ/AU fittings are the same and can also be filled in Falklands, Argentina and Chile although you will run into bottle certification issues in NZ and possibly elsewhere.

They will not touch the f'glass(?) bottles in NZ.

[CarlF]

How much you'll need will depend on the mix between propane and electric cooking. In our current boat we use much less propane than the previous boat where all of our cooking was on propane. We wtill have a 3 burner propane stove and oven but the two 10lb propane tanks last about six months - because:

A convection microwave oven is the primary oven. It bakes and broils far better.

We recently added a $70 induction hotplate that cooks much better than propane (assuming you have the right pan). Induction uses far less electricity than a resistance electric burner. It will boil a large pot of pasta water in about 1/3 the time of propane and keep things perfectly at a simmer

And we have an electric Sous-vide for cooking meat - as do most restaurants. Uses a fraction of the energy and it comes out perfectly every time.

Of course all of this uses electricity - but with solar and a big battery bank electricity is cheaper and easier than propane. We don't start the genset for cooking but just use the inverter.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

You must be pretty careful with it, Mike. We spend about 50 days per year on the boat and use a teeny bit more than 20 pounds per season.

I'm going to re-state my usage. We're on the boat for about six months, and we carry about 30 pounds, but I'm recalling that we usually spend the first month at dock, and then refill before we leave. So we probably go for about four to five months on the 30 pounds. So we're not as far off your rate.