I live in New London, Ct, and I just bought my catalina 36 last year. The galley stove, which burns methane, worked great til I ran out of stove gas. I can't find where to get the cylinder refilled. Everybody has propane, but no methane. I like the fact that if the methane leaks, it dissipates upward since it's lighter than air, rather than downward like propane, where it could accumulate in the bilge and blow up the boat. I'd rather not go through the trouble and expense of converting to propane, creating an air tight chamber that drains overboard, replacing or modifying the stove, etc. But I just can't seem to locate anybody who will refill my cylinder. Does anybody know anything?
where to get methane for the stove?
Thu, 10/01/2020 - 15:15
#1
where to get methane for the stove?
Search for a local gas and welding supply store like Praxair.
We had a CNG stove on our C30 and gas supply was always a challenge.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
We have the same question!
Our boat is on the other side of the Sound from you, but for the past 10 years we were able to swap tanks at any Brewers Marina (I think they are now called "Safe Harbor Marinas" or something like that) in the North-East US.
Went through about 1 tank a season, and have a spare tank on board, so we were fine.
But this summer the marina that supplied us with tank exchanges, in Greenport NY, told us that the supplier (I think it was called "Corp Brothers", from Providence, RI) was not delivering anymore.
So the choices at this point seem to be:
1) Get one of those converter gizmos to allow you to do your own refills at filling stations that sell CNG, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7yite0TmXE
or 2) Convert to propane.
We're giving this a good think now, and may go with the latter -- mostly because we have plans to do some long distance cruising in a year or so to areas where CNG will not be available, so we might have to bite the bullet and do it. This will involve constructing a vented locker for the propane and either converting or replacing the stove, so no small thing.
Let us know what you come up with.
Matthew Chachère
s/v ¡Que Chévere!
(Formerly 1985 C36 MKI #466 tall rig fin keel M25)
2006 Catalina Morgan 440 #30.
Homeported in eastern Long Island, NY
I would recommend getting the adapter to go from a CMG filling station to your tank.
I live in Michigan and sail on the Great Lakes. Back when CNG was readily available at our marina as a exchange, I was charged about $35.00 per tank and on one occasion $70.00. We cruise our boat on the Lakes and generally take a 6 week cruise and mostly live on board for the majority of the rest of the sailing season. Going home periodically. When CNG became scarce, At one point I was forced to drive roughly a humdred miles accross the state. There I dropped of my tank and was told, they will call me when they filled it. I had lunch and drove back home. Ten days later I repeated the process to pick up the tank. It cost $45.00. With gas and lunch twice and cost of the tank it was about $100. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I investigated changing to propane. I estimated a cost of $3,000 to make the change. The big cost were adding a designed locker for the tanks (note 2 tanks, we are cruisers), All associated plumbing, valves, and switches. In addition, I would need to replace the stove. The grill that is also plumbed in came with a propane regulator (changed it out for a CNG regulator) so I didn't need to buy that. I thought I would contract the labor to do the work, the labor cost cost were an unknown. Here's my assessment of the decision to buy the adapoter.
Pros:
Cons
I'm happy I stayed with CNG, my wife is not a fan of propane, another story all together.
Lou Bruska
Sojourn
1985 C-36 Mk1, hull #495
Lou Bruska
Sojourn
1985 C-36 Mk-I TR #495
Eldean Shipyard
Lake Macatawa (Holland, MI) Lake Michigan
Rallyback@comcast.net
All very helpful considerations, Lou, thanks!
For us, the big thumb on the scale pushing us towards conversion to propane is the issue of future cruising outside the US; my understanding is that refilling CNG abroad (say, Carribean) is essentially impossible. Would very much like to be proven wrong, as the more I research this the more it looks like conversion is going to require the cost of replacing the existing stove (which works fine) because converting it to propane is more than just changing the jets (even if they were available) but also having thermocouples to shut off the gas if the flame goes out.
Matthew Chachère
s/v ¡Que Chévere!
(Formerly 1985 C36 MKI #466 tall rig fin keel M25)
2006 Catalina Morgan 440 #30.
Homeported in eastern Long Island, NY