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Dear fellow Members
Jean Clair’s gas installation requires updating and am in
the process of planning. I have seen pictures of Nic 38’s with what look like gas bottle containers either side of the mizzen mast but out of curiosity where do members have
their gas bottles stowed and connected to the pipework to the
galley.Regards
Alan & PatWhen we had Rainshadow surveyed, one of the top areas the surveyor focused on was gas storage. The ABYC has lots of rules around this, and the insurance company wanted us to fix all issues related to this – so it makes sense to know the rules in your area.
We have two long propane cylinders, one 5, one 3 US gals. The cylinders lay on their sides, and the valves are located on the top sides of the cylinders.
These are stored in a purpose built locker located in the aft starboard corner of the boat. The locker floor appears to be fiberglass on top of plywood. Access is through the aft deck locker – you get into the propane locker via a door in the side of the aft deck locker. The propane locker is vented at its bottom through the transom (per ABYC) by a small approx 5mm hole. The locker is about 1 m long, and 1/2m wide. The two aftmost chainplates are inside.
Getting the bottles in an out through the door is challenging – it’s a tight fit.
The propane locker contains a manifold with a solenoid and one hose for each bottle. One propane line (copper, approx 5mm OD) and the solenoid wire runs from the manifold, through the locker wall into the region of the steering mechanism/rudder post, then down along the inner wall and down to the limber hole just forward of the rudder post. From there it runs forward along the port side of the bilge into the engine room, where it around the wall on the port side. Then it heads into the galley, entering under the sink. It then T’s off – one way to the stove, the other to the Valiant hot water heater.
To meet the standards we had to:
1. Make the access door gas tight by rebuilding it with a good epdm seal.
2. ABYC standards require a top access into the locker, so we added a 6″ deck plate. Through the plate we can reach both valves and read the gauges.
3. The standards also require separate gas lines to each appliance, with no extra junctions outside of the locker. In other words, each line must start inside the locker, and terminate at the appliance. T’s are not allowed. This is on our list of things to do.I like this arrangement because the bottles are out of the way. The deck access port makes them easy to open and close.
Van
Hi,
Ronar M uses the blue Gaz bottles – not the cheapest but at least universally available in Europe. These were stored in a wooden box in the lazarette when we bought her and a gas leak could easily have found its way out of box (it had no lid, let alone a gas tight one) and into the bilges. There was a drain out through the transom but this would not have coped with a major leak. I built a box from teak which is bolted to the afterdeck to port of the mizzen mast. It holds two gaz bottles, one spare, the other in use and there is also room for a stoptap and a bubble tester (which tests for leaks). In addition we can turn off the gas at the regualtor and under the cooker. A flexible rubber hose leads from the regulator to the stoptap. From there a one piece 8mm copper tube carries the gas to the cooker area stoptap and then changes back to rubber to connect to the stove. I also have a NASA Marine Instruments gas alarm at the chart table with a sensor below the cooker. All this gets Ronar through the very strict commercial coding inspections in the UK.
I have also made another teak box which sits to starboard of the mizzen mast to store petrol for the outboard. Both boxes have holes in their bottoms to allow gas and fumes to vent overboard via the scuppers. The boxes make a very good place to sit when fishing or just staring at the wake. Hope this info helps. Cheers, TrevorVan & Trevor
Thanks for the response, am thinking along the same lines as Ronar M’s fitting. Trevor could you just let me know where you exit
the box with your 8mm gas pipe. I am thinking that it would not be
through the bottom of the box due to possible leak back into the boat??Regards
Alan & PatAm I right in thinking the blue Gaz bottles are butane and not propane? In this case, butane will not collect in the bilge as it is slightly lighter than air, unlike propane. OTOH, at some future point you or a future owner may want to use propane.
I like the idea of keeping your petrol on deck. We should do something like that….
VanHi Alan & Pat, The pipework does go out of the bottom of the box. It was fitted by a friend who is a registered gas engineer and has passed all the tests for commercial coding so I guess its ok. There is a brass bulkhead fitting and the short pipe in the box fixies into this, the longer pipe to the cooker fixes into the underside of it in the after cabin. Not sure if the GAZ is propane or butane – all I know is that it;s the one that freezes when we have a severe frost. Trevor
Camping GAZ in the blue bottles is butane as is the normal Calor Gas and will freeze quite easily. Propane I believe is normally in red bottles and freezes at a much lower temperature but BOTH are heavier than air. Air 1,2, Propane1.8, Dutane2.5. Jeremy Lines.
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