"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...

On Jun 14, 11:01 pm, Wayne B wrote:
On Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:26:59 -0700, wrote:
But he's out cruising the Bahamas so he's doing something right.

Yes, that's laudable, but he also doesn't appear to completely have
his sh*t together either.

Fixing things with what you have on hand and dealing with the
unexpected are all part of international cruising, sometimes a big
part. The big mega yacht cruisers are maintained to a very high
degree of reliability but they generally have an engineer in the crew
and a big supply of spares on hand to keep things working.

Since we bought the trawler 7 years ago I've learned enough new
skills, and acquired the tools, to be a junior tradesman in 3 or 4
different fields.

3% propane in air (by volume) is explosive. Think about that when you
think of the size of your bilge and consider that concentration can
rise quickly becaus eof the density of the propane. Then consider
that when it explodes the gas then takes up 270X the volume of the
previous air/propane mixture and you can see it can make a big
explosion for a small amount of propane. A small leaking cylinder is
a major safety hazard requiring immediate action. Even a few minutes
of a leaking cylinder can turn your boat into a bomb. By volume
propane is more explosive than gasoline and is explosive over a wider
range of concentration so is more dangerous than gasoline vapor.
You may not want to admit I am right but if thinking about it keeps
you from storing a canister on your boat then I am happy.


Reply:
For those who think a 16 oz. container is not much, think how much you can
cook on a 2 burner Coleman stove with just one canister. Or how long a
propane lantern sheds light for with a single cartridge.