Where do you fill up your propane tanks?

[sailcub]

Originally Posted by Xavierp

great looper here
Struggling, actually more than struggling finding a place to fill up my tanks.
U-Haul is my go to place. But 60 miles from where I am
Looking at RV places but nothing close by

How do you handle the situation living aboard and cruising?

Thx

So, no internet access at your location that you could Google where propane stations closest to you are?... Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, most Ace hardware, etc....wh do cruisers continue to use this platform as a hand-holding place?

[capn ken]

Originally Posted by Xavierp

great looper here
Struggling, actually more than struggling finding a place to fill up my tanks.
U-Haul is my go to place. But 60 miles from where I am
Looking at RV places but nothing close by

How do you handle the situation living aboard and cruising?

Thx

Try any major truckstop in America

[Cheechako]

Having two BBQ standard size tanks is good. Each lasted us maybe 6 weeks. When 1 is empty you start looking for a fill opportunity. It can be hard down island sometimes, but a taxi guy can help you out.

Florida was a bit hard for me for some reason. In Ft Pierce I had to get a Taxi out of town to get propane surprisingly.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by sailcub

So, no internet access at your location that you could Google where propane stations closest to you are?... Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, most Ace hardware, etc....wh do cruisers continue to use this platform as a hand-holding place?

Easy there. With possible rare exceptions the places you list offer exchange services rather than fill services. The exchange services deal in 20 pound tanks. Rarely, ones that serve an RV clientele will also have 30 pounders. The OP has an 11 pound tank and doesn't have room for the 20 pound tanks that the exchange services offer. In my many travels and propane procurement forays I have never seen a 10 or 11 pound tank offered on an exchange basis.

In the USA and worldwide there are fewer and fewer actual fill stations as the industry has largely moved to a tank exchange model.

Newer boat designs recognize this and incorporate a locker that will hold a 20 pound tank (less often, two of them).

[sailingharry]

Off topic, but inspired by the topic...


Wife and I were just talking -- an interesting observation/question came up. When we are aboard, we eat ashore maybe 1-2 meals a month. We cook (well, SHE cooks, and wonderfully I should add) ambitiously, with meals simmered for hours, stuff baked, etc, etc. We are NOT a ready-made, meals ashore, casual cooking boat. Yet, our consumption (about 2-3 months per 10 lb tank) seems a bit lower than some of the numbers mentioned above (and those comments are by serious cruisers whose comments I trust). So why are we so much lower on consumption?


I wonder if the fact that we make coffee and toast on the inverter -- something we do every single day -- has that significant an impact on propane use? While we do it because the galley slave has refused to make another pot of coffee in a French Press, or to toast another bagel in a frying pan, I'm wondering if there is an unseen collateral benefit? Not in cost -- propane is approximately free -- but in logistical benefits?

[VoyagerCT]

While it may not the answer you’re looking for, you could purchase a few 1 lb canisters of propane plus an adapter that you can use in a pinch.
A few words of caution however:
1. Steel canisters rust out within a year, so you should plan to use them and replace them regularly, (I generally store them in a ziplock bag and spray with light oil) and
2. you MUST connect the adapter to the supply line FIRST, then screw on the 1 lb canister. If you do it the other way, the gas will escape like a rocket and all hell will break loose (ask me how I know
Finally some folks will purchase a refilling adapter for small propane canisters to refill from a 20 lb tank. DON’T — they are unsafe.
Maybe all bad advice - I make no warranty — that’s been my experience YMMV.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voyager CT — incurable water bug

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Easy there. With possible rare exceptions the places you list offer exchange services rather than fill services. The exchange services deal in 20 pound tanks. Rarely, ones that serve an RV clientele will also have 30 pounders. The OP has an 11 pound tank and doesn't have room for the 20 pound tanks that the exchange services offer. In my many travels and propane procurement forays I have never seen a 10 or 11 pound tank offered on an exchange basis.


In the USA and worldwide there are fewer and fewer actual fill stations as the industry has largely moved to a tank exchange model.

Jammer,


You are not entirely wrong, as the exchange model is proliferating (and besides having a higher price tag, they only fill to 75% "for your convenience" so the cost and logistical impact is even higher!). However, I have refilled my 10lb tanks at several BJ's, at my local Ace, and at several filling stations. While less common than exchange services, they are readily available (but like pump out stations, "readily available" may not translate to "easy for a transient to find and get to.")

[thinwater]

Best Deal Hardware


Like many, my tanks are not the standard size you can exchange. If I were installing a new propane locker I would design around exchange tanks.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Best Deal Hardware


Like many, my tanks are not the standard size you can exchange. If I were installing a new propane locker I would design around exchange tanks.

Exchange is convenient, and certainly a real bonus when cruising. But here at home, with 20lb tanks for the grill (that even have Blue Rhino labels on them...), I'm too damn frugal to pay nearly double the price per gallon for exchange. Filling is just so easy, and saves about $2-$3/gallon (a tank is about 4 gallons). An extra bonus is that you don't pay for gas in the tank -- if you bring in a 1/2 full tank to fill, you only pay for what you get.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

Off topic, but inspired by the topic...

Wife and I were just talking -- an interesting observation/question came up. When we are aboard, we eat ashore maybe 1-2 meals a month. We cook (well, SHE cooks, and wonderfully I should add) ambitiously, with meals simmered for hours, stuff baked, etc, etc. We are NOT a ready-made, meals ashore, casual cooking boat. Yet, our consumption (about 2-3 months per 10 lb tank) seems a bit lower than some of the numbers mentioned above (and those comments are by serious cruisers whose comments I trust). So why are we so much lower on consumption?

I wonder if the fact that we make coffee and toast on the inverter -- something we do every single day -- has that significant an impact on propane use? While we do it because the galley slave has refused to make another pot of coffee in a French Press, or to toast another bagel in a frying pan, I'm wondering if there is an unseen collateral benefit? Not in cost -- propane is approximately free -- but in logistical benefits?

Several years ago we had a thread on propane use that had good participation. Typically most cruisers who cooked aboard used about 10# of propane a month with a few outliers on either side of that. I would imagine that having even a partially electric galley would make a difference, whether a toaster and coffeemaker as in your case or an electric kettle or microwave. But I believe the main driver is the average number of hot meals prepared on the range per day -- you can, after all, prepare all your own meals and still have a breakfast and lunch that are served cold. Whether and to what extent you use the range to heat water (e.g. for dishes) also plays a role.

10# works out to 0.333 pound per day which is around 7,000 BTU. That will operate the largest burner on a typical marine range for one hour on its highest setting, or one of the smaller burners for two hours on its highest setting.

A corollary to this is that you can expect to get about three days out of one of the little 1-pound camping cylinders.

[argonauta1]

Actually propane stoves work fine on butane and North American propane tanks handle butane no problem. Also no problem filling an empty butane tank with propane. Only thing needed is an adaptor to fit the French pattern delivery nozzle. In the Caribbean, proximity of other islands renders a butane fill unnecessary but in the Med one has to be able to do both.

[fox9988]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

Off topic, but inspired by the topic...


Wife and I were just talking -- an interesting observation/question came up. When we are aboard, we eat ashore maybe 1-2 meals a month. We cook (well, SHE cooks, and wonderfully I should add) ambitiously, with meals simmered for hours, stuff baked, etc, etc. We are NOT a ready-made, meals ashore, casual cooking boat. Yet, our consumption (about 2-3 months per 10 lb tank) seems a bit lower than some of the numbers mentioned above (and those comments are by serious cruisers whose comments I trust). So why are we so much lower on consumption?


I wonder if the fact that we make coffee and toast on the inverter -- something we do every single day -- has that significant an impact on propane use? While we do it because the galley slave has refused to make another pot of coffee in a French Press, or to toast another bagel in a frying pan, I'm wondering if there is an unseen collateral benefit? Not in cost -- propane is approximately free -- but in logistical benefits?

Using pre heated water in our percolating coffee pot cuts our propane usage in about half (when we get enough solar to power our electric water heater for this). 11lb tank lasts ~2 months instead of ~1 month. We cook twice per day or eat leftovers usually.

[emilecantin]

Originally Posted by sailcub

So, no internet access at your location that you could Google where propane stations closest to you are?... Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, most Ace hardware, etc....wh do cruisers continue to use this platform as a hand-holding place?

Try searching for "propane" on Google Maps, you'll see it's surprisingly frustrating in some areas. Most results will be big propane "truck" suppliers, closely followed by a gazilion convenience stores that only have an exchange locker up front.


Asking around is usually the best bet; I've found that a lot of hardware stores can fill your bottle. Gas stations are more hit-or-miss. In Georgetown, Bahamas, there's a truck that comes once a week and it's usually announced on the cruisers net in the morning.

[derfy]

Tractor Supply ie TSC


Consistently do a great job of bleeding air and topping the tanks at reasonable prices.


They are in a surprising number of locations in the US.

[Thomas1985]

Check ACE Hardware. I prefer them over U-Haul.