How much LPG (Propane/Butane) do cruising yachts carry?

[LeeV]

2 in the propane locker, 1 full sized for the bbq at the stern

[lo2jones]

We carried two 3.5 gal tanks between Tapachula Mexico and Tahiti. We used all of one 3.5 gal between Tapachula and the Marquesas and changed the tanks a few days outside Nuku Hiva, So about 4 gal per month might be a rough guide.

[nofacey]

Carried two 9kg propane bottles around the world…..it was perfect. 2-3 months per bottle depending on how much bread was being baked (had one french crewman who baked fresh bread pretty well every morning from Panama to Marquesas - having lots of gas allowed us to simply enjoy that).
And at every vaguely remote location, there was a local who made money by decanting gas for cruisers. Never went without.

[Hasbeen]

I carried 2 x 20Lb bottles, which gave me 4 months cooking, & a small fridge only lit when I had found butter, or caught something I wanted to keep a while.


In the Pacific islands I often had to sail a few hundred miles to somewhere that gas was reliably available.

[SOLAR SUPPORT]

Hello to everyone,
I usually carry 2 3.7 Kg LPG spare cylinders on my boat. A tube lasts about a month as I am alone on the boat. If I make bread or food in the oven, one tube may not be enough for a month. This year I upgraded the solar power system to 600 Wp power. Using 400 Ah Lifepo4 batteries and my 2kw inverter, I use 600 watt mini electric toaster, 800 watt mini kettle, 1200 watt mini cooker. In this way, I do not consume gas on days when I do not need to use the oven.

[FuzzyFeat]

Full time cruise aboards. Two 20# horizontal aluminum bottles works out just fine for us. Wife uses the oven to make bread and cookies, but we get almost three months out of a bottle. Conservation is our secret.
Soak pasta for a hour cuts the cooking time in half and us of our pressure cooker really reduces the propane use. I also have a adapter so that if we should run out, the couple of 1# bottles we carry would tide us over until a fill up is possible.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SOLAR SUPPORT

Hello to everyone,
I usually carry 2 3.7 Kg LPG spare cylinders on my boat. A tube lasts about a month as I am alone on the boat. If I make bread or food in the oven, one tube may not be enough for a month. This year I upgraded the solar power system to 600 Wp power. Using 400 Ah Lifepo4 batteries and my 2kw inverter, I use 600 watt mini electric toaster, 800 watt mini kettle, 1200 watt mini cooker. In this way, I do not consume gas on days when I do not need to use the oven.

Add a portable induction burner . I have the newwave2 running of lfp and solar . when I have excess production

[skenn_ie]

If I ever get to do much traveling, I will probably get or make an adapter to fill my bottles with LPG from gas stations.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by skenn_ie

If I ever get to do much traveling, I will probably get or make an adapter to fill my bottles with LPG from gas stations.

In the US and apparently Ireland LPG is available at petrol stations.
No so in a lot of the world.

[TedElixirNZ]

After many years of cruising, almost too many to count, I have come to two inescapable conclusions regarding LPG. 1) It will only run out when you are using it! and 2) You will not only be using it at the time time but everything else will conspire to make it an extremely inappropriate and inconvenient time. This is as certain as the sun rises and sets! So your move to two tanks is a fine solution to this challenge. In saying that however I have one suggestion and that is to make your second tank say a 4kg one and wullah! insurance! against such occasions becoming a gastronomic disaster, with only a minute or two to swap tanks. 4kg will last 2 weeks (give or take) full time for two livaboards excluding cabin heating of course, but why go to cold places anyway? Within two weeks you should be able to find a refill and happiness will prevail. Also the extra space in the drainage gas locker could be a good spot for storage of some small bottles of whatever that may be prone to spilling. If you are inexperienced in these things and wish to take a solitary one LPG bottle and resort to topping it up then you will never get use up all that stale LPG that inevitably will build up in the bottom of said one container making your queen cookware go all black! Rest well and keep well fed my friend.

[skenn_ie]

Originally Posted by Adelie

In the US and apparently Ireland LPG is available at petrol stations.
No so in a lot of the world.

But probably more so than one particular domestic gas fitting.

[sv Stella Maris]

Family of 9 full time. Gas for 2/3 meals per day.

(1) 20# cylinder lasts us about 5-6 weeks.

[Lagniappe]

We were worried about that too but in our 7 years cruising the entire Caribbean we found propane readily available everywhere except Martinique and Guadeloupe. Those two French islands only had butane. All the other islands had abundant supplies of propane. Almost everyone in the Caribbean cooks with propane.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Adelie

In the US [...] LPG is available at petrol stations.
No so in a lot of the world.

In the 1970s and 1980s it was fairly common for filling stations ("petrol stations") to offer propane fills but was never universal. Maybe 1 in 5 or 1 in 10, enough that it was fairly easy to find a fill -- and yes, they would fill your bottle, whatever size it might be.

Things have changed and what is usually available now is bottle exchange for 20# bottles (only) which are usually short-filled with only 15# of propane, and these are available at a variety of retailers and are often set up as vending machines with 24 hour service.


Actual LPG fills are harder to find now with U-haul trailer rental dealerships, LPG distributors, and a handful of more traveler-oriented, RV (Caravan)-oriented filling stations, maybe 1 out 100 overall.


The change is due to a combination of fire codes, insurance costs, and labor problems. Many filling stations have only one employee on duty at times and they are unwilling to leave the store unattended for the five minutes it takes to fill LPG. Many filling stations use part-time employees who don't stay on the job long enough for it to be worth training them to perform LPG fills.

[Simi 60]

4 X 9kg for us
1 for stove and 1 for bbq, each with a dedicated vented locker.
Spares live in back corner of well ventilated cockpit
About a years supply.

They never run out in a convenient location
Or when he happen to be doing a reprov.