Downeaster Yachts.com - Topic: DE32 Propane locker improvements

Scott Carle on DE32 Propane locker improvements

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 07:59:53 -0400

True they are big but I haven't used anything smaller in many years. The nice thing with them is that one of them will last 4 or 5 months of live aboard time for us. I only want two as it sucks to run out in the middle of dinner and then have to go buy some more. I think that for cruising here in the states 20lb would be doable as you can get them refilled a lot of places and with that long of a time between switching them have plenty of time to find an easy place to fill the empty. The nice thing is I can buy a 20lb tank for 29 dollars. Thats a lot of money saved on tanks. The horizontal I have was almost 200 dollars and the cheapest I have ever seen one at bargain basement prices was 129. I can buy 4 steel vertical tanks for that and even in a salt water environment they will last 6 or 7 years with minimal maintenance. The other gotcha is that they have been tightening up on the tanks having a current hydro so you can look at another 30 bucks or so to get the tank inspected and hydro tested every 5 years. I can buy a new tank for the same price. I have some old perfectly good tanks that some places wont let me fill now unless I do this. Since I'm local and know some of the more good old boy places in the county here, I can get around that if I have the time to go a little out of my way but it would suck to be somewhere where you have limited access to buy or hydro and be stuck at the price a local monopoly wants for a tank or inspection if I have a non standard tank.

Damn, I think you have just about talked me into lowering the floor of the current locker and extending the fore and aft length. I will have to measure how high the propane drain is compared to the floor of the locker to see if it will still drain from 4 or 5 inches lower. Actually now that I think about it if you broke it down into 3 or 4 pieces, you could fabricate them out of fiberglass and epoxy them into place and then build up few layers of thickness from the inside and outside pretty easily. Also could at the same time build in the shape to hold the tanks secure. Hmm I could also build in a place to permanently mount the solenoid into the locker, enlarge the drain to 1 inch so that it doesn't get blocked up by water and maybe even make the lid a bit more water proof than it is. 🙂

Oh well if I get froggy and actually do it I will have a horizontal tank available that fits a standard DE38 that someone could get cheap 🙂

Jonathan Oasis on DE32 Propane locker improvements

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 01:42:00 -0400

Then it's simple - pick the best tank first, and explore the design of a box size to suit it (rather than backwards.. build the box then try to find an exotic tank to fit). Right?

So the most commonly used brand or generic shape of marine, 20 lb aluminum tank is...? (It seems every vendor's propane tanks are slightly different shapes.) 20 lb is pretty awkward and heavy.. Don't forget it will have to be lifted to/from the dinghy and to/from land for filling.. perhaps including carrying it for some small distance (when both empty and full).

Example..

10# DOT Horizontal ACME/OPD Cylinder

10 lb

2.3 gal propane capacity

23.6 gal water capacity

16.4" Length Overall

10.38" Diameter

9.2 lb tare weight

20# DOT Vertical ACME/OPD Cylinder

20 lb

4.6 gal propane capacity

47.6 gal water capacity

20.7" Length Overall

12.28" Diameter

13 lb tare weight

Scott Carle on DE32 Propane locker improvements

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:46:52 -0400

Actually I would love to expand the DE38 propane locker to hold 2 vertical 20lb propane tanks instead of the one horizontal one. It costs a fortune to purchase a new tank as is and we always seem to run out of propane in the middle of cooking breakfast or dinner 🙂

Jonathan Oasis on DE32 Propane locker improvements

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 01:41:53 -0400

I guess no one has enlarged the tiny DE32 propane locker?

After taking repeated looks from inside the engine room, I assume the existing locker could be made 2x the size (expanded towards the transom) and several inches deeper. There is a lot of wasted space in front of the transom, inside the engine room, in the DE32s. Maybe keep the locker lid the same size, since only one tank needs to be accessed at a time.

My locker's drain often gets plugged with debris (bird feathers etc) which is no good, so a screen for the drain is a simple improvement too.

I'm not big on the idea of mounting the tanks on the stern rail because the DE32 cockpit is crowded as it is, in my opinion.

From a separate thread:

I would really like to see 20 lb propane tank placement ideas for a DE32. I have checked measurements for 20 lb and 25 lb fiberglass tanks but do not yet know where they would/could go if I got them.

DE32 propane tank locker has the following measurements

19" L x 9 1/4" W x 14" D

The Lite Cylinder fiberglass tanks (Note; these tanks have been recalled though size is still good approximation) are

10 lb Dia 9.6" Len 17.25"

20 lb Dia 12.4" Len 18.0"

25 lb Dia 12.5" Len 24.0"

Increasing size of the existing locker seems difficult.