I know this has been raised before but I thought I would remind everyone to make sure the hose for the propane locker runs downhill to the transom thru-hull without any dips.
Sometime ago I had a fellow do some work on one of the plywood gussets that support the rudder shaft tube. Yesterday I was in the cockpit locker to measure the transom thru-hulls, as I am planning to replace them. I thought after 38 years they may have been damaged by the sun. I looked at the propane locker drain hose and it appeared to have a dip in it. I pulled the hose off of the thru-hull and sure enough water came out. If there had been a propane leak in the locker the propane would not have drained. An unsafe condition and an unanticipated consequence having work done on the gusset. I manged to move the hose clamp so that most of the dip was removed but it is going to take more work to do a proper job. Starting a screw in fiberglass without a pilot hole is not easy.
At the time the work was done I was too busy to do it myself and apparently too busy to check and make sure the job was done correctly. I will start following some advice I was once given. Periodically when you are washing the cockpit, run a little water down the propane locker drain an make sure it comes out the other end.
Good point, Mark. This was mentioned many years ago when I first got my boat and I took action on it.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
That point was mentioned in one of the first boating magazine reviews of Nonsuch boats in the late seventies. I read the review shortly after I bought Sandpiper and sure enough after 35 yrs it was still unchanged and functionally useless. I wonder how many surveyors have missed this over the years, even just on my boat!
Not sure anything but visual inspection is a sure test.
If the hose has a dip, then it will function like the trap in a sink drain, collecting water that prevents gases from venting through. Running a little water down the drain will displace the old water, but replace it with the new. Unless you can tell that all the water going in at the drain is coming out the other end, and that what’s coming out is all the water there was, this test wouldn’t assure you the line is clear.
Thanks for pointing out this issue. I’m definitely going to do a visual inspection on my propane drain line after reading this thread.
You are right, a careful visual inspection and pulling the hose is really the only way to let you know if the line is trapping water. Running water down the hose will not answer that question. After the drain hose has been properly set up, periodically running a little water down the hose will let you know if it is still draining properly and that nothing is blocking it. The propane locker drain is not as prone to clogging as the cockpit drains, however on other boats that I have inspected that have a similar propane locker design, I have come across drains that have been plugged.
Paul,
Your first photo does not show a factory set up. The factory was using a different type of hose. It looks like a refit by someone who thought changing out the old hose would be a good idea.
The steering quadrant on La Reina is flipped over compared to Sandpiper’s so that the large clamp is on the top. As a result there is not much room to bring the hose out of the lock and run down hill to the thru-hull without hitting the quadrant. Plus the wheel stops are right in the way. Some head scratching is in order.
