The Voyage of the Swan
Outfitting: Stove
I don’t like propane on a long distance cruising boat for these reasons:
• It’s heavier than air. If it leaks, your boat can blow up.
• It’s hard to carry more than a couple month’s supply.
• It can be hard to find in remote places.
• Fittings vary all over the world.
On the other hand, they say propane is easy to use and burns hot. However, the ease of use seems to be only on the front end. Lugging 20 lb. propane tanks around in tropical heat looking for a vendor isn’t my idea of easy.
On the last cruise, I used kerosene (paraffin) and loved it. Why?
• It burns hot.
• It’s easy to find.
• It only takes 0.85 gallons of kerosene to produce 100,000 BTU’s. It takes 1.57 gallons of propane to do the same (almost twice). Price per Btu is about the same.
• It’s safer than propane. Kerosene vaporizes (flash point) at 110 degrees F, so it is not explosive below that temperature.
• It takes up less space with less weight (no metal tanks) and since it produces about twice the BTU’s per gallon, we can carry more than a year’s supply in a 15 gallon fuel tank.
Some say kerosene smokes, blackens pans and smells. I have never found this to be the case provided the burner is properly pre-heated, and clean “odorless” kerosene is used. It does require preheating with alcohol. I go through about a gallon of alcohol per year.
Swan came with a propane stove. I removed it and sold it at the Sea Chest in San Diego, a great used marine goods store. When we got to Ventura, I installed a Taylors paraffin (kerosene) stove. Works great.