Cooking Gas on a Long Voyage

In this video I show how you can get cooking gas anywhere in the world but you need to take a few things with you that you won't be able to buy away from your home country.

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[SailThePaleBlueDot]

Thanks Clark. You and Emily always have a lot of good information. This time you put several of my propane concerns to rest.

Please remember that even though (probably) most people don't take the time to comment, your information is always appreciated and has a positive impact on others!

[gefginn]

Great post my friend. I appreciate all the hints, tricks and tips you are sharing here. 🌞⛵🌴

[antonditt]

I just love your technical vids!
A German cruiser I talked to had far less sophisticated solution for the problem. European tanks 2x 11kg he said last him for many month. When they are done he throws them away, buys local tanks and hires s.o. to install local fittings. More expensive then your technique but I can see the convenience aspect.🙂

[MultiBmorgan]

Awesome Clark. Funny, helpful and real.

[mgkleym]

Imo you have a very good point about the reliability of propane. I like induction because it produces much less waste heat and is often "free". That said i haven't ripped the gas stove out of my rv. I just set a portable induction cooktop onto my stove cover. People treat this as an all or nothing thing when really you can have both with minimal extra gear.

Gases like propane have fairly narrow ranges they are explosive in and flammable gas alarms are cheap and readily available. They are widly used for a reason.

[DanBlair-pu]

Hi Clark, searching for some information to set up my system to use both Propane and Butane and came across your Chanel. You sailed with Jeanne and I to Hawaii 25 years ago and it was great to see you on youtube! Looks like you have a lot of great content and I am sure I will be searching more topics. Glad to see you are still out enjoying the cursing life style! Jeanne and I are back in Mexico heading south this season on the Pacific Side. It would be fun to cross paths again in the future. Enjoy!

[bjswope]

25:04 “signs of a good boat, it doesn’t have big holes in the bottom”. 😂☠️

[julianbatcheler]

I know Dick Beaumont… legendary cruiser and maker of Kraken yachts… as one of his commandments of safety does not fit gas bottles to his boats.

I used to have an RV and negotiated a considerable reduction in insurance when I told them I did not carry bottled gas for cooking and heating.

[julianbatcheler]

By the way… in my part of Europe it is not just butane we get propane as well… and the commonest used size is 30KG… you can get bigger or smaller.

Have seen American sailors say they ‘couldn’t get it refilled in UK’.

That’s because of one safety and two how it’s sold. We can get it at nearly all petrol stations… you pay extra the first time you ever buy one… after that it is an exchange system. You take the empty, pay the cashier (less than you did originally) and simply take a freshly filled one. You never own the bottle as such and they are refilled and checked back at the company depot.

The size you showed is a small camping size. A lot of restaurants use the big ones here for gas cooking rather than be attached to mains gas.

[Mesailing]

Great information as always Mr. Kent! Although you forgot your glasses 😅

[neilfromclearwaterfl]

The vaporization point of butane is around 31 degrees Fahrenheit while propane starts vaporizing at -43 degrees Fahrenheit so in the Tropics since it rarely gets below freezing they use the cheaper butane while up North where it does get below freezing they use mostly propane. As a compromise they also have what is called All-Season gas which is a mixture of butane and propane so its keeps flowing when its dips moderately below freezing and will be less like to trigger the emergency pressure release if it gets too hot where straight propane's pressure can get to 200+ PSI.

The bigger issue for some though is that they can taste when butane is used to cook their food especially in an barbecue or oven and they find it extremely put offish making the meal unpalatable and perhaps inedible.

That said the health risks from having gas appliances inside your living space are not to be ignored either. Too many develop lung disorders over time such a COPD ending up needing oxygen tanks/concentrators to breath which does put a damper on recreational activities. They are finding that even systems that pass safety tests and don't trigger your gas alarm still leach out unhealthy levels of hydrocarbons from the gas into your living space even while sitting idle due to all the shaft seals and gaskets in the appliances themselves. It was not much fun being one of the witnesses when they fulfilled a friends (who had be so impacted) living will and they pulled the plug on him when he was otherwise healthy and alert but had reached the point of having to live sedated most of the time on a lung machine. A decade later I can still hear and feel the unsettling silence in the room from when he was switched off.

In the here and now my inclination is to use gas for outdoor/cockpit cooking/barbecuing and electric indoors preferably convection for its better temperature control and ability to heat the cookware without heating up an already hot galley/cabin on your boat. In the home I'm noticing lower cooling bills since we're not throwing all that waste heat into the kitchen, etc plus energy costs are going down since convection uses less energy to heat your cookware/food than gas or electric resistance burners. Oh and being able to select the exact 140 degrees for a simmer or set the percolator at just below the boiling point so it perks your coffee without burning it is simply wonderful. Having it sense you accidentally turned it on without cookware and automatically turn itself off or time itself out because you got distracted responding to an interruption is great too. Turned out that all of my existing camp/boat stacking pots are already induction ready and basic removable handle stacking sets of induction cookware that can easily fit in a draw can be had for less than $50. For bigger cooking Walmart for example has a induction capable 8 quart stainless steel pot with two steamer baskets and a glass lid for very reasonable $21.98. You can also find entry level two element 1800 Watt (15 Amp) induction cooktops at Walmart On-Line that will automatically load balance between the two elements to function on a 120 Volt 20 amp outlet at a starting cost of around $89 with free shipping from a US based distributor. You can manually set the wattage to as low as 400 on a single burner to limit your current draw when on an inverter and not at the dock to lower the stress on your inverter when you have a marginal system.

This is coming from a former Gas Appliance Hard Liner who use to say: "Your not Cooking if your aren't Cooking with Gas!"

Best!

[MistaEmPe]

Thank you Clark - I love to watch your cruising hacks! ❤

[johnpaquet]

The overfill protection device, OPD on the tank valve is a requirement of NFPA 58. It was not intended solely (or at all?) as a safety to prevent the entrance of liquid propane into the line, it is to allow sufficient expansion space inside the tank to prevent the overpressurization of the tank from expansion of the liquid in the tank (hydrolock, liquid propane expands a lot with temperature change). A very good safety protection for us cruisers using tanks in a salt air and sunny, hot environments. Look at the history of NFPA codes, you will find the term "tombstone legislation" applies to nearly every sentence in the NFPA code library. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of tombstones behind this one.

[jasonmcintosh]

Wow, I learned a lot from this video and going through your amazon favorite list. Thank you so much!

[cyber_surfer]

Great tutorial (as usual). In the past i've taken an older propane tank (but with recent certification, by a major supplier) and within 2-weeks a leak developed around the valve stem (Caution)

[TheCornucopiaProject-bdjk]

I didn’t see your gadget on your Amazon list? Did I miss it?

I use both butane and propane in my camper. Yea, butane doesn’t work in winter.

While I don’t know the bulk pricing for butane, my local camping store carries those little bottles. And it’s expensive compared to 1 lb propane bottles.
Walmart has ac4-pack butane for $7.99, each bottle lasts me 6 days. The propane comes in a 2-bottle pack for $9.99 and each bottle lasts me 25 days. Butane is more convenient to use, propane is cheaper.

[WaterTrails]

I wish there were a 'worldwide' adapter nozzle, with different inputs so any connection will fill it. Maybe someone could make that their next commercial product development ? hint 😉 Thanks for another very useful video, your refrigerant videos have really helped a lot! I have a working refrig aboard because of them.

[brownnoise]

Hi Guys. Great video. 👍 I've been cooking with Propane since the mid 1970's and it is the best thing to cook with since Town Gas, as it burns a bit hotter than Butane - sometimes Butzne won't even boil water. Its really great for cooking in ab oven especially, and to save gas, on my next boat, I'm going to add a portable induction hob, to get things upto Cooking Temperarure, before transferring them to the moist cooking in the oven. tbh, the only things I like cooking with electric for, are Slow Cookers, Toasted Sandwich makers, bread makers, George Foreman Grills for making Pannini hot Rolls - they cooking both sides, and food processors - oh and a pop up toaster is nice. Maybe adda microwave to that, but though fish are made to microwave and microwaves kill all the nasty parasites in Fish - I'm still not sure they are Real
y worth the space on board tbh. 🤔 Best Wishes. Bob. 👍🌟🌟🌟❤️.

[dreupen]

While I am happy with propane cooking on my Landfall 38, With 600 AH of DIY LiFePO4 battery it made total sense to get a single burner induction cooktop. They are affordable ($50-$100), a great backup, and nice option for cabin cooking in the heat of the summer(especially in foul hot weather). S/V Johanna Rose

[lesliehunter]

Re overfill. It is possible if you rely on auto shut off. Only fill by WEIGHT. They overfilled my new Costco tank by 13 lbs. It was very scary.