Mark - it probably is safe to use the Coleman stove to put heat into your cabin, with both a CO detector and smoke detector on board. The caveat would be that you have to stand over it for the 3-5 minutes that you run it to warm up the cabin.
The downside is it will put a lot of moisture into your cabin that will make you damp, and, well, cold.
Duanes point about propane tank valves sticking is a valid one - Ive used these for 40 years without an incident, then had two stick open on me last year....
Hello,
CNG is available and lighter than air. Only downside, it is not readily available everywhere so you would have to bring enough with you for the whole trip. Not a big deal for us coastal cruisers but availablity is a deal breaker for blue water boats. Safe, hot and somewhat convenient.
Does anyone have experience using everclear (180 proof) ethanol alcohol as a fuel source in the alcohol stoves? It is probably 4 or 5 time the price of regular fuel but would be useful for a disinfectant, antiseptic, and central nervous system depressant. I do like to have multipurpose uses for items.
I bought one of the stoves for $20.00 from kmart a a few years ago.
It wasn't a coleman , just a stove that took a $2.00 gas bottle
I used to put it on a swim platform . we cooked just about every meal on that stove. Its easy to store the bottles ( we used on average 2 a year)
If there is a problem with a flare up etc. one kick sends it into the water ,problem solved.
In bad weather we cooked on an alcohol stove in the cabin.
Were damn lucky we didn't burn the boat to the water line , with that thing.
It was always flaring up and creating problems.
I don't have the boat bucks for a $200. grill. so i've been thinking about a way to hang a coleman off the back somehow. and if a problem starts one kick and its gone.
PO of my had installed fixtures on the top back edge of the transom seat. The were part of the kit for a fish cleaning shelf. I added cookie sheets with a vacuum between the two layers of the sheets to protect the plastic shelf. Here I place my Coleman 2 burner propane stove and Sunbeam portable BBQ grill (later went with the Port transom rail mounted small barrel style Force 10 BBQ). All cooking done at the cockpit's transom area.
All small propane bottles (6) stored in 3 insulated "lunch" bags and placed in Port and Starboard fuel locker areas in the cockpit. All alcohol fuel, acetone, and O/B motor oil and additives stored here as well.
Rarely need heat in cabin, but have used the alcohol Origo Heat Pail set on the cabin deck just before the step up to the forward area of the cabin. Have a CO detector installed in the overhead just above the pail. On the one occasion when we used it, the alarm did go off about 3 AM, and I doused the flame and put the pail out in the cockpit. Have not used it since in the cabin, as extra sleeping bags and watch cap work better for warmth at night.
"The VOYAGE is the goal, NOT the DESTINATION!"
Captain Kimo
96' Mac26X "FOREVER"
Callville Bay, Lake Mead, NV
Second Commodore & Events Coordinator
Las Vegas Bay MacGregor Association http://las-vegas-bay-macgregor-assoc.webs.com
This is a personal thing, but I wouldnt ever use any kind of fuel burning appliance down below while sleeping. Fire just spreads too fast and CO kills you too quickly imho. Strictly for warming the cabin, then shutting off and going to bed in my book.
Here's a tip I read in a book once upon a time. Place a clay flowerpot upside down on your stove burner while you're heating the cabin. The flowerpot will continue to radiate heat after you've shut off the stove.
hart wrote:Here's a tip I read in a book once upon a time. Place a clay flowerpot upside down on your stove burner while you're heating the cabin. The flowerpot will continue to radiate heat after you've shut off the stove.
Is there a way to use CNG in a propane stove that uses the removable canisters? I know on home appliances it is usually a change to the jets. Can you buy CNG in a compatible bottle?
This sounds like it might be a great solution for small portable installations like ours. The heat and flexibility of propane without the heavier than air danger.
Duane Dunn, Allegro wrote:Is there a way to use CNG in a propane stove that uses the removable canisters? I know on home appliances it is usually a change to the jets. Can you buy CNG in a compatible bottle?
This sounds like it might be a great solution for small portable installations like ours. The heat and flexibility of propane without the heavier than air danger.
I know Weber and many others make natural gas barbecues, perhaps you could pick up the burner parts at a hardware/lawn and garden store and swap them out. What would you use for the CNG storage container? If you put an automotive tank in a set up like kmclemore's and also mod'd the outboard.....but then you would have to trailer to fill fueling locations.
tangentair wrote:....If you put an automotive tank in a set up like kmclemore's and also mod'd the outboard.....but then you would have to trailer to fill fueling locations.
Actually, I usually just fill up the boat near the ramp where I launch it, but there's no reason why I couldn't use a couple of 5 gallon gas cans or a wheeled "fuel caddy" to fill it up, either.
Natural gas needs to be compressed much more that propane to reach the liquid stage. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is available in cheap containers, but offers limited run time compared to propane. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is also available, but requires a much more substantial container (read expensive) than propane and is not available in disposable cartridges that I know of.
had installed fixtures on the top back edge of the transom seat. The were part of the kit for a fish cleaning shelf. I added cookie sheets with a vacuum between the two layers of the sheets to protect the plastic shelf. Here I place my Coleman 2 burner propane stove and Sunbeam portable BBQ grill (later went with the Port transom rail mounted small barrel style Force 10 BBQ). All cooking done at the cockpit's transom area.
