Butane Stove or Coleman Camping stove?

[Catigale]

Couple more rehashes on propane

We don't use last years propane containers - only new ones. We keep them in the fuel lockers in plastic bags. I take the old ones to my cottage and use them with the grill on land, outside.

Never refill these. LP from the "home grill" sources is wet and will corrode the LP bottles from the inside.

[ronacarme]

We did not know how to light a butane/propane stove without having a little of the gas escape every time, nor how to avoid having these escaped heavier than air gases pool on the cabin floor or in the bilges, nor how to get them out of the boat once there (short of capsizing the boat or risking an electric spark by trying to remove same with a vacuum cleaner).
So our cabin stove is an Origo alcohol fired one.
Ron

[Sumner]

We did not know how to light a butane/propane stove without having a little of the gas escape every time, nor how to avoid having these escaped heavier than air gases pool on the cabin floor or in the bilges, nor how to get them out of the boat once there (short of capsizing the boat or risking an electric spark by trying to remove same with a vacuum cleaner).
So our cabin stove is an Origo alcohol fired one.
Ron

Hi Ron, we have been in the boat around 30 continuous days and haven't noticed any of the the above problems, and used the stove every day morning and evening.

I just have a match lit and turn on the burner. There might be some minute amount of gas that doesn't burn then, but I can't see it accumulating. At least that has been our experience. I don't have anything against an alcohol stove, we just didn't go that route,

Sum

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[kmclemore]

You should always be VERY careful with any fumes from propane, gasoline, butane or any other gaseous fuel. It's been discussed many times here in the forum, and you have no idea how many boats have ignited or even exploded in a massive ball of flame, never to be seen again. I've been warned many times, particularly as I have a below-deck fuel tank *and* a propane stove.

Now, you don't have to take this as advice, but here's what I do... just to be safe, I just make sure I always have a fire burning at the lowest point in my boat, so that in the off-chance some stray fumes should escape, they are immediately burned off in a safe and properly managed fashion. I suggest the same for all of you. I figure if prudent measures like that are good enough for safety-conscious British Petroleum, Gulf Oil and Exxon, it's certainly good enough for me.

[Russ]

We did not know how to light a butane/propane stove without having a little of the gas escape every time, nor how to avoid having these escaped heavier than air gases pool on the cabin floor or in the bilges, nor how to get them out of the boat once there (short of capsizing the boat or risking an electric spark by trying to remove same with a vacuum cleaner).
So our cabin stove is an Origo alcohol fired one.
Ron

I have experienced gas leakage when lighting and installing the butane canister. We also keep hatches open when using the thing and the breeze seems to be enough to vent it out. However, I would still use my nose and drop to the floor and give a wiff just in case.



--Russ

[Gypsy]

Our original plan was to go with propane , but I let this forum talk me out of it. I had planned on using a propane tank and stowing in the cabin , under the sink.

We are using our Origo alcohol stove that we have been using for many years , and very happy with it .
Its safe , cooks well , and gets hot enough to cook french fries (deep fried) .
No complaints and we are happy with our decision.

I am getting tired of the cops following me home , when I come out of the hardware store with two gallons of alcohol !

We do plan to heat with the Coleman catalictic heater , that uses the disposable bottles

[Sumner]

Our original plan was to go with propane , but I let this forum talk me out of it. I had planned on using a propane tank and stowing in the cabin , under the sink....

Yep, I would never use a tank and lines, no matter where the tank was located. I don't trust lines/fittings on something that moves around. I'll bet if one did a survey they would find that most of the boats that have gone up in flames were plumbed in this manner.

I'm not advocating in anyway to not be safe when using disposable propane bottles, but feel they are pretty darn safe used right. My bigger fear is CO either real time or accumulative over time and the reason we now have an alarm that can measure that. There again I would never run any kind of stove or heater in the boat and be sleeping in it at the same time. We have lots of ventilation when cooking,

Sum

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[Catigale]

We do plan to heat with the Coleman catalictic heater , that uses the disposable bottles

I dont think these belong on boats, Gypsy.

Unlike cooking, heating is by nature an 'unattended'activity...when I say we attend our stove, I mean there is someone in the crew designated to stand by it while cooking at all times..watching for flareups, blowouts, neutron flux, tachyon emissions, whatever..

..and you are in Alabama...what are you heating for ..????

[Sumner]

We do plan to heat with the Coleman catalictic heater , that uses the disposable bottles

I dont think these belong on boats, Gypsy......

We've been out when water has froze in the cockpit and have thought about one of these heaters and might still get one. Some are better than others.

There again the only time it would be on would be when we get up in the morning to take the chill off as we don the long-johns and maybe in the evening for a few minutes.

Having the small cabin on the S is an advantage here as it doesn't take much time to heat the cabin area. The V-berth is pretty well closed off and we can hang a curtain at the aft berth. This makes the cabin area very small. I don't think we would have to run one of these more than 15-20 minutes and that would be with the hatch above slid back some.

Having one of those is another good reason to have a CO and low oxygen alarm. I'd never sleep with one on,

Sum

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[DaveB]

Gypsy, use the small propane or Butane containers for your cooking, even if they blow up it won't be hard to put the little fire out. I wouldn't be worried about using small 1 lb Butane or Propane in the boat as it won't cause serious flareup
Having a 10-20 lb Propane in a contained locker sealed from interior that will not leak into the cabin is a problem and need Sensors to detect leakage in the lines/fittings from tank to stove.
Useing Butane or Propane is much higher BTU's over alcohol, Throw water over Alcohal and you have a flareup POOF.
Dave

Our original plan was to go with propane , but I let this forum talk me out of it. I had planned on using a propane tank and stowing in the cabin , under the sink.

We are using our Origo alcohol stove that we have been using for many years , and very happy with it .
Its safe , cooks well , and gets hot enough to cook french fries (deep fried) .
No complaints and we are happy with our decision.

I am getting tired of the cops following me home , when I come out of the hardware store with two gallons of alcohol !

We do plan to heat with the Coleman catalictic heater , that uses the disposable bottles

[Catigale]

The problem with the cat heater is it is much more difficult to tell if they go out...and spew propane into your boat. With an attended flame, you know right away. My daughter (who usually is the chef) knows the difference in sound between the lit and unlit burner for example.

[Boblee]

Probably just me but wouldn't have gas (propane) below decks either for cooking or heating even with a catalytic heater, even the genny is completely drained of fuel and left on deck to dry out before going below.
A couple of nasty accidents showed me that there are sometimes no second chances with fumes and while you may be on guard most of the time, like an unloaded firearm it's easy to let your guard down and find it wasn't.

[moondancer]

I have to agree with not having gasses and fumes in cabin. I know detectors do work and two is better to just have a backup in case one isn't working properly but it is hard to runaway from fire when you are 1/4 mile off shore. Past experience of Naval firefighting and crash crew has shown me fire does funny things. You can have a cabin full of fumes and smoke a cigar in it and then climb outside and a spark from your rescue knife sets it off. Conditions change by the second. Talk to your volunteer firemen and see how many of them would keep propane/butane in a boat cabin. 24 gallons of gas on the outside is scary enough. Mike who wants to be sailing Moondancer in the cold

[Sugar Bear]

How do slightly larger blue water sail boats heat their rooms and cook They have to be relitively safe. I am a newbe but before I got my I concidered other models and during my research, I do not recall galley fires or CO2 being a major proublem Yes I am sure there are some accidents. I am wanting to use my boat during late fall and early spring. I am looking at the coleman stove/grill, Big Buddy heater and CO2 detector.

Would not have to run all the time just long enough to take the chill off.

[Sumner]

How do slightly larger blue water sail boats heat their rooms and cook They have to be relitively safe. I am a newbe but before I got my I concidered other models and during my research, I do not recall galley fires or CO2 being a major proublem Yes I am sure there are some accidents. I am wanting to use my boat during late fall and early spring. I am looking at the coleman stove/grill, Big Buddy heater and CO2 detector.

Would not have to run all the time just long enough to take the chill off.

Personally I don't think you will have a problem if you use caution with all of those, but others obviously disagree. Open the hatch, run the CO detector and don't run anything for very long and store the bottles out of the cabin. When you are looking for the detector you want CO and not CO2.

A lot of our problems come from the fact that our boats are so small inside and don't have a large amount of air in there, so anything you add to it will become a larger concentration percentage wise a lot quicker. We also don't have opening portals and other hatches where air is probably entering the boat. The big thing when it comes to heating is that most of the heaters I've seen on larger boats get there combustion air (oxygen) from outside and vent their fumes outside.

Even a good cat heater needs O2 and does put off CO, just not as much as some other heat choices. Use your head and your detector and heat and cook in moderation and I think you will be fine. Read about and heed the signs of CO poisoning.

c ya,

Sum

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