Gas Lockers

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capricorn

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Just had an insurance survey completed - the surveyor has criticised my gas installation and recommended that the gas bottle (which currently sits on the shelf in the cockpit locker) be stored in an enclosed box with a vent to the outside.

I've seen that Calor make something that looks ideal:

http://www.calormarineshop.co.uk/acatalog/marine_gas_lockers.html

but 160 quid for a fibreglass box seems outrageous.

Can anyone recomend an alternative other than making one myself ?
 
Unless you can find a suitable metal or grp box to use, I would think 160 quid is about what it would cost.
I would DIY.
Is an enclosed box within a locker OK? I would prefer the top of the box to open to outdoors, not the locker. Reason being that you will never know the drain is blocked and the gas would then spill into the boat. I had one boat where the drain tended to collect a little water, making an air lock.
Another possibility is to move the gas bottle to the anchor well, if there is space and it only vents over board, had this on my impala, where the galley was forward. Gaz bottles did rust a lot though!
 
I am in the process of doing exactly the same - and decided to make the box because of the cost.

Yes it is not cheap to make, but nothing like £160 (unless you factor in your own time of course!).

Have yet to get it certified, so hope what I am doing will pass, even if it is not ideal.
 
i managed to find a big cooking oil drum (plastic)that the gas bottle fitted in i had to cut a piece out to form a small box on the top edge so as to fit the regulator in and the used it as a mould to make an air tight gas locker this was about nine years ago if i,de have known that it would sell for even60 quid i would still be making them now,Kieron
 
I had a s/s one made as the box needs to be theoretically
fire resistant. So if you make one yourself it needs to have a minimum fire resistance, so a normal GRP one wont work unless you are using fire resistant materials. However a s/s box cost me £190 with twin lids, drain pipe stubs and gas pipe access holes. Fits two gas bottles and sits inside the cockpit locker. It had to be custom made to suit the specific locker and enable me to change bottles. Somehting the Calor ones would not do.
 
[ QUOTE ]
So if you make one yourself it needs to have a minimum fire resistance, so a normal GRP one wont work unless you are using fire resistant materials.

[/ QUOTE ]I don't suppose you're familiar with the Boat Safety Scheme regulations? Their view is...

"Cylinder lockers must be constructed of materials that are either:
* the same material and thickness of the surrounding hull structure; or,
* metal of minimum thickness of approximately 1mm; or,
* FRP of minimum thickness of approximately 5mm thickness.
Note – a combination of wooden cylinder-lockers lined with FRP of
a lesser thickness than 5mm may be estimated as equivalent."
 
I used a large tub, we buy 15kg tubs of detergent at work, cut 10, 1 inch dia holes around the base to vent. My gas bottle 4kg propane sits easily inside with the pipe and regulator with the lid placed back on top. I siliconed the tub base above deck, piped to the cooker in copper and covered the lot in a blue outboard motor cover. The container is waterproof, vented and sits at the base of the mast. No chance of a leak into the bilge. Works for me!
 
[ QUOTE ]
don't suppose they count self draining cockpit holes as draining overboard?

[/ QUOTE ] Take a look at what the Boat safety scheme says. I think it gets a mention.

It would definitely not be acceptable if the cockpit drain outlets were not always above the water level.
 
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