chinita
Well-known member
I suppose not much has changed in a thirteen year old thread.
oldbilbo
...
'Zackly! Having a similar boat with a very deep keel-bilge-sump, it was evident there was no easy/reliable way to exhaust any gas which might accumulate there. It was also evident that there was no way known to man for the prevention of a stoopid mistake or omission on my part, or an unknowing omission by someone else, that could put us all at risk.
I've used on-board gas for decades.... and I've grown steadily more uneasy about the unwitting risks. What's the point of lying awake worrying about it, when the solution is easy and cheap.
I've given my gas cooker to a mate, who probably now thinks I have little regard for the safety of his little pink bod. Tough!!
AngusMcDoon
Well-known member
Price of meths has gone up quite a bit in the last dozen years or so.
Seashoreman
Well-known member
Try Restexpress for meths. £41 for 20 litres, that should boil a few kettles?
Coaster
Active member
John Penny - £7.50 per 5l when buying 40l or more, plus VAT & delivery.
http://www.jpennyltd.co.uk/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=154
Laurie
Member
Love the Origo meths cookers (there is a cheaper copy.....Cookmate....) and replaced the gas cooker on my old J27 with an Cookmate. Would have done the same with my current boat except a/ the cost of an Origo Oven and b/ the fact that a new gas cooker and oven had been fitted. Very uneasy with gas.............They (Origo and the cheaper but identical Cookmate) are expensive though, especially when you realise how simple they are?
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sarabande
Well-known member
if ever one reached a place where meths were not available, a quick distillation of a few potatoes woued generate some fuel for you.
I know a yacht named Moonshine, BTW.
I know a yacht named Moonshine, BTW.
rotrax
Well-known member
Interesting that you have gas on board as well-there is a canister stove on the right!
charles_reed
Active member
;2841 said:
Exactly my findings and sentiments. In fact I suspect I wrote it !!!
oldbilbo
...
Some of the above reminds me of a 'shake down' passage I made in a new replica boat a couple of years ago, where the owner/builder - besotted with things traditional - had installed a heavy two-burner paraffin range. Neither he nor his young companions had the slightest experience of paraffin stoves, so I watched with interest the first attempts they made to light it, as we meandered up the Celtic Sea.
Of course, they didn't know of the need to 'preheat' the vaporiser thoroughly, and of what must be done to prevent expanding liquid fuel spilling out of the burner-cup and, now burning, down across the fuel tank below.
They failed to think ahead and, watching from the safe distance of 'on deck', I was treated to the sight down below of a 4-foot wall of flame - and three sooty-faced young sailors scrambling in something close to panic up out of the saloon.
"Would you like me to put it out for you?" I innocently inquired. "Yes, please. And bluddi hurry up......"
Not a major difficulty to someone with an teenage apprenticeship served in Scottish bothies, in the 60s, where Primus/Optimus stoves were 'de rigeur' and every mode of operation - including 'temporary failure to light' - was commonplace.
I even made them some 'hot sweet tea'...... :encouragement:
Of course, they didn't know of the need to 'preheat' the vaporiser thoroughly, and of what must be done to prevent expanding liquid fuel spilling out of the burner-cup and, now burning, down across the fuel tank below.
They failed to think ahead and, watching from the safe distance of 'on deck', I was treated to the sight down below of a 4-foot wall of flame - and three sooty-faced young sailors scrambling in something close to panic up out of the saloon.
"Would you like me to put it out for you?" I innocently inquired. "Yes, please. And bluddi hurry up......"
Not a major difficulty to someone with an teenage apprenticeship served in Scottish bothies, in the 60s, where Primus/Optimus stoves were 'de rigeur' and every mode of operation - including 'temporary failure to light' - was commonplace.
I even made them some 'hot sweet tea'...... :encouragement:
rotrax
Well-known member
Interesting thread, all been said before of course, and some of it relevant.
The true facts are, however, different.
Gas bottles, in a deck locker with an overboard drain, adjacent to the galley so the shortest run of pipe possible can be used, fitted with a good regulator, a bubble leak tester and a good shut off tap and connected to a cooker with flame failure devices is about as safe as an alcahol stove.
The above is qualified by stating that the system must be used correctly, and tested frequently.
Some millions of boats world wide use gas, most in totally unregulated situations and the incidence of gas fires/explosions is small.
The benifits of a good gas system outweigh the potential for explosion.
IMHO, of course.
The true facts are, however, different.
Gas bottles, in a deck locker with an overboard drain, adjacent to the galley so the shortest run of pipe possible can be used, fitted with a good regulator, a bubble leak tester and a good shut off tap and connected to a cooker with flame failure devices is about as safe as an alcahol stove.
The above is qualified by stating that the system must be used correctly, and tested frequently.
Some millions of boats world wide use gas, most in totally unregulated situations and the incidence of gas fires/explosions is small.
The benifits of a good gas system outweigh the potential for explosion.
IMHO, of course.
Laurie
Member
Sounds like making a good case for unpressurised spirit stoves!!:encouragement:
Colvic Watson
Well-known member
It's almost a tribal, spirit users acting all superior because they can't get blown up, gas users calling them primitive and unsophisticated
Easticks28
Well-known member
+1
vyv_cox
Well-known member
Until perhaps the late 80s very few boats had anything like the sophistication that rotrax describes. My first boat, along with thousands of other French boats and no doubt many more, had a Camping Gaz 907 bottle screwed under the stove and gimballing with it. I don't suppose many of these blew up, otherwise they would have been banned. It seems to me that the infinitesimally small number of gas explosions worldwide are mostly the result of poor or no maintenance and stupidity. A friend was badly burned while smoking a cigarette when changing a small gas bottle on a stove . Does this make camping stoves unsafe?
oldbilbo
...
It's almost a tribal, spirit users acting all superior because they can't get blown up, gas users calling them primitive and unsophisticated
I s'pose I'm primitive and unsophisticated, then. I can live with that.... having done so for a wheen o' years already. I spent my teens wandering all over the Scottish hills, burning paraffin for heat and light every weekend, then spent the next couple of decades burning paraffin every weekday while poking holes in the sky all over Europe etc..... Yes, it's dirty and smelly. Yes, I don't give a tinkers, 'cos it washes off.
I find myself peering at that metre-deep keel-hole under the floors on't boat, knowing I cannot get rid of any heavier-then-air gas that gets down in there, and very mindful indeed of the explosion in HMSTY Lord Trenchard.... where I'd spent several weeks of my young and impressionable yottie apprenticeship.
I decided I didn't want that quiet nagging voice in my head ( that's why I go sailing ) and so the decision was made NOT to retro-fit a whole new gas supply system and a rigorous 'every-day-before-doing-anything' regime.
It's probably OK if one can guarantee 100% compliance with the Pre-Start Checklist. I can't.... and I won't impose my nagging on others.
So. Origo 3000. That's it.
rotrax
Well-known member
You surprise me.
You are obviously an intelligent person and must have read in previous threads that the explosion on the Trenchard was caused by a sub-standard system and mostly by a crewmember not tightening the regulator or feed pipe to the bottle correctly, allowing it into the bilge.
With our system-much as I described earlier-I turn on the bottle valve on reaching the boat, press the bubble leak tester button and watch the bowl. No bubbles-no gas flow. I then switch on the remote solenoid and test again. When the cooker-the only gas user on board- is in use I will press the button again and look at the bowl, just to ensure that I get bubbles when gas should be flowing.
This is done only once. If the test shows its good, why should my well maintained system fail? If you use gas at home you dont test for leaks.
I repeat the test when I change the bottle, or if the bottle is turned off for any reason.
It is certainly not a daily, or more frequent ritual.
And my grub does not taste of paraffin.................................
ballyabroad
Member
Was going to do a boil the kettle speed test (yep I was bored)! However it was too cold to get the butane to fire up properly. Tried again later whilst warming the water up for an Oxalic acid hull clean...too cold for that stuff to work with just tap water. No doubt gas is quicker, but in no rush!
BruceDanforth
Well-known member
My boat came with an origo and it works so that is they way it will stay. It works fine and I've cooked some nice meals on it. A smallish pressure cooker helps speed things along.
Coaster
Active member
Is this a tongue-in-cheek comment or do paraffin stoves really impart an odd flavour?
Our cooking with meths over the past ten years or so has never resulted in strange tastes. I find the slight odour in the galley and saloon atmosphere that results from burning the fuel is rather comforting. It's rather like smelling woodsmoke from a solid fuel stove when at home. We usually have one or more hatches or portlights open when using the cooker, which also reduces condensation.
Ours is an Origo 6000 which I fitted 5 years ago as there was a single burner Origo on our previous smaller boat that performed admirably. The decision to remove a former gas installation has not been regretted. Toast cooks well on a small stovetop device so the absence of a grill is not a problem.