Gas refit dilemma

[brittainboy]

I have recently purchased a 17 year-old Victoria 26. Generally very well maintained, but needs a new gas locker (old one empties contents into bilge in about 10 seconds when filled with water!).

The catch is that on this boat the gas locker completely fills the top of the lazarette locker, which also contains thru-hull fitting for engine exhaust, cockpit drains and bilge pump. I could leave access to these fittings by making the new locker half the width - but then the spare gas bottle will have to be stored in a locker in the saloon or the main cocpit locker (which drains into the engine compartment) - neither of which meets the regs.

Anyone got advice/experience that would guide me on whether to strictly follow the regs and cut off quick emergency access to these thru-hull fittings - or take the apparently common-sense approach that skin fitting problems are more common than leaks from unopened spare gas bottles?

Before you ask, there is no other space large enough to build a locker that will take both bottles without rendering the main cocpit locke unusably small.

Thanks,

Paul.

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[paulrossall]

I have two lazarette lockers, one contains fuel ,the other the live gas bottle in steel box. Gas one was installed to spec just before I bought the boat 4 years ago. Consists of a stainless steel box with SS lid which is a tight fit to sides of lazarette and is screwed to the sides. At bottom of box an exit hose goes out, downwards, through the hull to allow any escaping gas to go overboard. Near top of box another pipe acts as a breather pipe and again goes through hull and overboard.
I keep spare bottle in normal locker and don't think that is against regs. It has the plastic bung screwed in and is turned off and stored upright. I could not fit spare bottle in lazarette. Hope this helps. Paul

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[brittainboy]

Thanks Paul. Unfortuantely the regs do not allow storage of even unopened gas bottles in anything other than a dedicated gas locker with overboard drainage. I believe the logic is that you can still get a catastrophic seal failure even thopugh they are pretty rare.

Hence my dilemma is that meeting the regs seems to run counter to seamanly good sense by forcing me to block access to skin fittings!

Paul.

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[graham]

What about making a gaas locker big enough for one bottle which complies to all regs on gas tightness ,drainage etc.Then construct a stowage box to fit on deck ,usually on the stern or coachroof ,for the spare.

Any leakage would be open to the atmosphere and spill harmlessly over board.

Also do you have a self draining anchor locker?Some people stow the spare bottle in there.Provided the drain isnt blocked and the anchor locker is sealed from the rest of the boat it would be safe even if not strictly to regs.

Just remove the spare for surveys.

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[andyball]

Could the gas locker be made removable? (quick-release fittings enough slack to remove the drain/breather hoses). So it'd be current 2-bottle size but cd be taken away reasonably quickly if access needed to skin fittings....or am I missing something?

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[brittainboy]

That's our current best idea. The issue is that even then removing the locker will take probably ~2 minutes, plus the time to realize there's a problem that needs it to be removed. That could be a lot of water through a broken skin fitting/pipe....but I don't currently see a better plan.

Paul.

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[jbate]

Do you really need gas? Could you use a microwave instead?
My opinion (FWIW): gas and boats don't mix.
good luck.
JB



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