Hello All,
Well BoatUS sent me a nice letter today outlining all the things they had issue with from the survey on my "new" 1983 E38, that the surveyor "recommended" be fixed. They are all pretty easy and minor with one exception, the CNG bottle storage. The CNG bottle is in the lazzarette hatch on the starboard side attached to mounts mounted to the hull. Apparently this is not the way its done today as gaseous storage should be in a separate locker, away from the engine and vented to atmosphere.
I am not particularly concerned about CNG since it is lighter than air and will easily find its way out through the many little areas on a boat. If it was propane this would be more of an issue. The boat has two propane lockers at the stern and I suppose converting to propane is a possibility but it scares me a heck of a lot more than CNG.
Problem is BoatUS highlighted the statement the surveyor made. He did not actually recommend the CNG be fixed, he just noted that the storage method did not meet current standards. Current standards state that the bottle has to be stored separately from combustion engines. Since the bottle is in the lazarette hatch and there is a slide in hatch/cover to seal off the engine room from the lazarette area isn't the bottle then separate? To remedy the problem I could build a storage box out of plywood/fiberglass and had it vented to atmosphere but this will take up a lot of room. With a diesel engine I am not concerned about sparks either.
So what to do? Is BoatUS being overly picky? Is there a quick fix for this? Seems a little off the deep end to me....
Thanks, RT
Well BoatUS sent me a nice letter today outlining all the things they had issue with from the survey on my "new" 1983 E38, that the surveyor "recommended" be fixed. They are all pretty easy and minor with one exception, the CNG bottle storage. The CNG bottle is in the lazzarette hatch on the starboard side attached to mounts mounted to the hull. Apparently this is not the way its done today as gaseous storage should be in a separate locker, away from the engine and vented to atmosphere.
I am not particularly concerned about CNG since it is lighter than air and will easily find its way out through the many little areas on a boat. If it was propane this would be more of an issue. The boat has two propane lockers at the stern and I suppose converting to propane is a possibility but it scares me a heck of a lot more than CNG.
Problem is BoatUS highlighted the statement the surveyor made. He did not actually recommend the CNG be fixed, he just noted that the storage method did not meet current standards. Current standards state that the bottle has to be stored separately from combustion engines. Since the bottle is in the lazarette hatch and there is a slide in hatch/cover to seal off the engine room from the lazarette area isn't the bottle then separate? To remedy the problem I could build a storage box out of plywood/fiberglass and had it vented to atmosphere but this will take up a lot of room. With a diesel engine I am not concerned about sparks either.
So what to do? Is BoatUS being overly picky? Is there a quick fix for this? Seems a little off the deep end to me....
Thanks, RT
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