[C320-list] PROPANE VENT HOSE

[JJ Morrison]

Jeff;Indeed food for thought. I'm going to have to think about what to do now. I had never considered a leaking drain hose inside the boat. As you say if the propane locker did fill up the gas would just flow out the locker and down the swim platform.ThanksJohnM1999#574

> From: catalina at thehares.com
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 09:30:56 -0400
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] PROPANE VENT HOSE
> 
> 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
> > 
> > 
>  		 	   		  =
>