[C320-list] PROPANE VENT HOSE

[Jeff Hare]

Hi John,  

I suspect this won't completely solve the problem unless your thru-hull is
placed differently than ours.  It didn't on ours because it seems where our
vent is, the elbow ended up being angled like 45 degrees or so downward
because of the slope of the transom.  Our elbow always had enough water in
the crook to block the vent anyway so I went back to the straight one and
gave the 90 to a friend who needed it.

Here's a little anecdotal food for thought...

We recently (last couple years) had our Propane regulator start leaking
while on a trip.  Of course, the drain spent most of its time being blocked
with water like usual.  We usually just leave our propane tank on when we're
at the boat. (lazy or not successfully convincing Shelly to streak across
the cockpit to turn it on every morning, whatever :).  When the regulator
was leaking, we would get occasional whiffs of propane from time to time
when in the cockpit and that clued us in that we had a leak. If the vent had
really worked, we probably wouldn't have noticed it until we needed to use
the stove and found the tank empty.

Bottom line for us is that it's really unlikely to ever be a real problem
EITHER WAY.  There is so little extra room in the propane locker, you'll
probably never accumulate enough propane in there to be a real danger. A
major leak will put more propane out than the drain would vent, and a minor
leak will vent into the cockpit and roll out the top and be dispersed (or
make the problem itself more detectable).  The real danger seems to be
having lots of propane leak into a larger enclosed space.  So is having a
vent hose traversing an enclosed space *more* risky here than no vent at
all. It might be. So much junk gets tossed into that "black hole" port aft
locker in our boat, there's some non-zero chance of a damaged hose or
cracked fitting there over time.  Especially in cold climates where water
might settle into the elbow and crack the fitting.  Who really knows... :)

But!! Let us know if that solves it for you and what you learn!

Cheers!
-Jeff Hare
#809  Woodbine II



-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of JJ Morrison
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 8:23 AM
To: Catalina List
Subject: Re: [C320-list] PROPANE VENT HOSE

I'm going to try and get a marelon fitting (90degrees) to replace the
straight through one so that the vent hose always has a drain slope to it.
Will do this fall when the boat on the hard.Thanks for your continuing
interest.JohnM1999#574

> From: wupdike at hotmail.com
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
> Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:37:37 -0400
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] PROPANE VENT HOSE
> 
> I saw the same thing on our #62.  I tied a line to the hose and 
> secured to something above the hose sufficient to keep the hose from 
> dropping below the exit fitting.  Seemed to solve the problem.  
> However, there is always some water trapped in the bottom of the 
> propane locker as it is tipped and the exit is in the center of the
locker.  Some off the shelf design.
> 
> Warren & Pattie Updike
> 1994 C320 #62 "Warr De Mar"
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: JJ Morrison [mailto:sail-ability at sympatico.ca]
> Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 10:23 AM
> To: Catalina List
> Subject: [C320-list] PROPANE VENT HOSE
> 
> Just got out of the bowels of my boat and discovered that the propane 
> vent hose was blocked with water and the orientation of the hose is 
> such that the water cannot drain out. This could create a dangerous 
> situation if the propane tank were to leak. It looks as if I'm going 
> to need a 90degree fitting oriented vertically  from the hull so that
water is not trapped.
> Anyone had and solved this issue?CheersJohnM1999#574
> 
> 
 		 	   		  =