Where Do I Put the Tank ?

[Mainebristol]

Okay, I get it. Propane is the way to go. I showed my wife a picture of a Seaward Princess on line. She took one look at the oven, and said, "An oven? Oh, fun!" She makes the best cookies. So the old broken pressure alcohol stove is history. Money is being saved. Domestic bliss on board is ready to be enhanced. But as I go over my ancient and beloved Bristol 32, "Eider," I do not see a place to put a tank. I look in the lazerettte, and it is tiny. Ted Hood gave her a beautiful stern, but not a roomy one. If I but a big hulking box on deck, it will interfere with our view forward in a major way. I could secure a box to the stern rail, I suppose. Is that what people do? Any suggestions? On a related note, where do I find a skinny horizontal tank? The ten pounders that I see are too fat if I do put them in a deck box. Are there any smaller ones? Thanks in advance.

Maine Bristol

[Juniper]

I use 6 Lb'ers on Juinper in a well, but you could hang one off a rail, maybe inside a piece of pvc pipe with caps to close it in and make it look better,
Or you could use the little 1Lb ones, they should run for a few hours per, good for weekends.

[Ziggy]

My lazarette is pretty small also. The boat originally came with a 10 lb horizontal tank that just fit, but when the OPD requirement was introduced I couldn't get it refilled. I am now using a steel Manchester vertical 5 lb tank (12"H X 8"D), which I replace every few years when it starts to get rusty. 5 lbs lasts me a couple of Maine summers, but I don't use the oven much.

[Minggat]

Yes, they do come in smaller sizes. Here's mine (inside the legs of the stern arch). Don't know if the location will be workable for you, but I just wanted to show that not everybody builds a box for them. These have lived in that spot for 7 or 8 years now.

Basically these are the same diameter as the standart BBQ size, just stubby. The standard size will also fit in my setup.

We got about 6 weeks out of these (1 on each side) when we were living aboard and cooking everyday.

The brackets I had made for me.

[Mainebristol]

Thank you very much for your answers. I guess I am trying to re-invent the wheel. What I will probably wind up doing is strapping a skinny ten-pounder to the stern pulpit. I'm just not happy about it. If anybody knows what others have done on B32's, I'm all ears.

[Minggat]

After a while you'll get used to looking at it and your boat will feel naked without it.

[Bergovoy]

they make fiberglass tanks now that are half the weight, and you can actually see how much fuel you have left in the tank... you can mount some tanks on the side, but they need to be made specific for horizontal mounting

[steve_hendry]

I was in your predicament, had a 2 burner Kenyon w/oven in the cellar, but couldn't figure out the propane plumbing to put in on my Irwin 32. Finally bought a bigger boat that already had a propane locker.

The only skinny tank I know of is the 6# aluminum
WORTHINGTON Rust-Free Aluminum LPG Cylinders at West Marine

There's a pre-made locker for the 11# composite tank
TRIDENT RUBBER Fiberglass LPG Tank Locker at West Marine

[barnakiel]

Many will hang their tanks from the stern rail. I think it is a cool and safe way.

Ours are in the lazarette but I am thinking of kickin' em out on the rail - easier to shut off and swap underway.

barnie