Well there goes propane! The reason behind the idea was not finacial, but thanks for your concern. My ideas for propane were two fold. One it's almost a zero emission fuel. Two it's primarily a domestic product. If I could do my little part to decrease dependency on foreign oil and cut down on emissions all while enjoying my boat well yeehaa!
On Nov 6, 6:27 pm, waterguy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Nov 6, 2:06 pm, kinnardw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Den WOW! This is great information! That G503.com looks interesting. > * * * > > Let's pretend that this is a project that makes it off the ground. I > > would use my 318's (rebuilt) wit a possible propane conversion and run > > some type of jet drive system. I would run be able to run in 2' of > > William: > > Don't take me the wrong way or anything, but I'm glad you're in the > Sacramento Delta and not gonna be mooring anywhere near me. Anybody > else here see a problem with a couple of hundreds of gallons of > liquefied petroleum gas in steel tanks in the enclosed spaces of a > boat? Anyone? > > Seriously, what are you thinking? Why on earth would you want to do a > propane conversion on a boat? There's nowhere to fuel it, and I > seriously doubt that any delivery truck is going to be willing to run > a hose down a dock. To say nothing of the fact that the minute your > marina finds out you're propane-fueled, or sees a propane truck > unreeling a hose on the dock, you're going to be out on your keister. > > It can't be for better mileage; in vehicles propane/LPG fuel results > in lower economy (propane has only about 73% of the heat energy of an > equivalent volume of gasoline). The only reason I can think of is due > to propane not having highway taxes. I don't know about California, > but in Washington, if you buy gas for a boat you can submit your > receipt(s) for up to 6 months with a form requesting a refund of the > highway taxes, so at least for us, that's not a reason. And once you > back the taxes out, the difference in price is made up by the lower > fuel economy. > > Frankly, if you're thinking of going propane to save 30 or 40 cents a > gallon, may I respectfully submit that boating is not a hobby you want > to get into? Please don't take me wrong, but you're too cheap. If > your boat goes 1 nautical mile per gallon of gasoline (your 31 should > do at least 1.5 or 2 nmpg at planing speed, much more at hull > (trawler) speed. But assume 1 nautical mile per gallon. It would > take you around 25,000 gallons of gasoline to circle the Earth at the > equator. Saving 30 cents a gallon would result in a net savings of > $7,500 on a complete circumnavigation. You'll never take your boat > that far in a lifetime of cruising the Delta, so your savings will be > proportionately smaller. > > [I just wrote several paragraphs of more-or-less scientific reasons > propane is a bad idea, but I decided to keep this short, so I deleted > them] > > I can't even begin to state clearly how bad an idea I think this is. > Certainly, propane may have a limited place on a boat: cooking and > heating. But as the principal means of fuel? Never. Ever. There's > a reason that ocean-going LPG tanker docks are dozens of miles from > anything else. > > Another thing: the Coast Guard has rigid requirements about propane > tanks: They must be above-decks, not connected to living spaces, not > open to engine spaces and if enclosed in a locker, the locker must be > vented overboard. I can't think of where you're going to put propane > tanks on your boat that will meet these requirements; and if you > ignore them and get boarded, your boat will be immediately impounded. > > Oh, this is so not a good idea. > > And it just occurred to me what an insurance underwriter would have to > say about the whole idea . . . > > However, it also occurs to me that there might be one reason: you'll > have the first Uniflite to reach Alpha Centauri. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
