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2 bottles in and sweaty af


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Hi
 
I have a gas locker on the port side stern locker of my widebeam. Fully compliant locker neatly fits up to two 13kg gas bottles etc.
 
The locker has the obligatory hole toward the bottom which opens out onto the side of the boat to let any leaked gas from the locker empty out overboard.
 
Problem with it is it’s sweaty as hell all year long and now needs a proper scrape treat with Fertan locker paint etc which I want to avoid having to do often so am keen to put a vent or 2 on the outside side of the locker (side facing the canal).
 
Can anyone see anything wrong with this? It’s no where near a door or a window and will only aid air flow in the locker and in the case of a gas leak only allow the gas to waft overboard. 
 
I was also thinking of getting something to put on the floor which allows a bit of airflow (like that netting they up upside down glasses on a pub - but more industrial) something that enables air flow and prevents damp build up on the bottom and ensures  the gas bottles aren’t just sat on the steel floor.
 
Any thoughts welcome? Are vents a no no? If so why? Any specific best practice, regs, bss etc dictating this should or shouldn’t be done or should be done in a certain a way.
 
Thanks
Tills
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11 minutes ago, LL 1975 said:

Any thoughts welcome? Are vents a no no? If so why? Any specific best practice, regs, bss etc dictating this should or shouldn’t be done or should be done in a certain a way.

 

I'd suggest reading the BSS requirements (available on the BSS website - I have them but they are too many Mb to post here), once read, phone the BSS and explain your plan and see if they agree, and if so, get them to confirm it in writing as any future examiner is likely to give you a BSS fail.

 

Any other course of action (including taking advice from some random guy on a forum) could result in a BSS failure and the cost of resititution

 

My reading is that apart from the drain hole, the locker must be gas tight up to at least the height of the top of the cylinder 'handle / ring'

Putting stuff in the bottom which could potentially move and block, or partially block, the drain is forbidden.

 

Is your boat post 1998 ?

 

If so then it should have been built with a gas locker to the ISO 10239 "Small Craft Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Systems"  and comply with the following :

 

8.3 Cylinders, pressure regulators and safety devices located below decks or in cockpits shall be mounted in cylinder lockers which, when closed, are vapour-tight to the craft interior and vented at the bottom by a drain of not less than 19 mm inside diameter or the equivalent area if not circular. The cylinder locker shall be openable only from outside the craft interior. Cylinder lockers located in cockpits may be openable from inside the cockpit if the locker can be opened only from the top.

 

8.4 The locker drain shall be run outboard, i.e. to the outside of the craft, and shall be ⎯ without sumps which can retain water; and ⎯ with the outlet at a level lower than the locker bottom and as high as practicable, but not less than 75 mm above the at-rest waterline and above the waterline at a heel angle of 15 degrees when in the fully loaded ready-for-use condition.

 

 

The BSS requirements :

 

The sides of every cylinder locker must extend at least up to the level of the top of the cylinder valves, or other high-pressure components where these are higher.

Up to the level of the top of the cylinder valves, or other high-pressure components where these are higher, the bottom, sides, and seams of every cylinder locker must be free of any:

• holes, e.g. caused by drilling, rust or cutting; or,

• cracks, splits or de-laminations; or, • missing or damaged welds at seams; or,

• other signs of damage or deterioration… …. that can be identified by visual examination to penetrate the locker to the interior of the vessel

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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35 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I'd suggest reading the BSS requirements (available on the BSS website - I have them but they are too many Mb to post here), once read, phone the BSS and explain your plan and see if they agree, and if so, get them to confirm it in writing as any future examiner is likely to give you a BSS fail.

 

Any other course of action (including taking advice from some random guy on a forum) could result in a BSS failure and the cost of resititution

 

My reading is that apart from the drain hole, the locker must be gas tight up to at least the height of the top of the cylinder 'handle / ring'

Putting stuff in the bottom which could potentially move and block, or partially block, the drain is forbidden.

 

Is your boat post 1998 ?

 

If so then it should have been built with a gas locker to the ISO 10239 "Small Craft Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Systems"  and comply with the following :

 

8.3 Cylinders, pressure regulators and safety devices located below decks or in cockpits shall be mounted in cylinder lockers which, when closed, are vapour-tight to the craft interior and vented at the bottom by a drain of not less than 19 mm inside diameter or the equivalent area if not circular. The cylinder locker shall be openable only from outside the craft interior. Cylinder lockers located in cockpits may be openable from inside the cockpit if the locker can be opened only from the top.

 

8.4 The locker drain shall be run outboard, i.e. to the outside of the craft, and shall be ⎯ without sumps which can retain water; and ⎯ with the outlet at a level lower than the locker bottom and as high as practicable, but not less than 75 mm above the at-rest waterline and above the waterline at a heel angle of 15 degrees when in the fully loaded ready-for-use condition.

 

 

The BSS requirements :

 

The sides of every cylinder locker must extend at least up to the level of the top of the cylinder valves, or other high-pressure components where these are higher.

Up to the level of the top of the cylinder valves, or other high-pressure components where these are higher, the bottom, sides, and seams of every cylinder locker must be free of any:

• holes, e.g. caused by drilling, rust or cutting; or,

• cracks, splits or de-laminations; or, • missing or damaged welds at seams; or,

• other signs of damage or deterioration… …. that can be identified by visual examination to penetrate the locker to the interior of the vessel

Thanks Alan,

Appreciate the feedback including getting any changes confirmed by BSS - seems sensible. Aside from that - which i will do, based on the points you have pasted i think i am ok providing the painting of the locker doesn't affect the hole which it wont, anything i place on the bottom of the locker offers no possibility in its design to enable blocking of the drain hole and that any vent sits on the exterior side of the locker. The boat is 2014.

Best

Till

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The BSS specifies a minimum drain size, but I see no reason why it couldn't be much larger. Couple that with vents facing outwards in the side of the locker above the level of the regulator and pipework, and you should get vertical circulation of air which should keep the locker drier and the BSS inspector happy.

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To keep my bottles off the floor I laid to 2 strips of metal (40mm wide and 5mm thick) per gas bottle.  Make them longer than the bottle is wide so the bottle can’t fall off.  Glued them in place with stixall.  The strips being angled to aid any water to drain rather than acting like little dams.  

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I'd be more inclined to look for reasons for it getting wet in there in the first place. None of the gas lockers in any of my boats all my life got sweaty af, so there must be something faintly unusual about yours. Possibly rain ingress.

 

 

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