Barbeque Propane Hook Up

We were fortunate to pick up a Kuuma barbeque at the winter boat show for a ridiculously cheap price. It wasn’t the insulated, dual-rack Magma Catalina model, but at around $50 I figured if it didn’t work out we could always use it as a spare onshore. The one thing the admiral and I both hated was the need for the little propane cylinders and the storage and disposal of them. I was most disappointed to learn that they were not reusable!

One of our first small projects was to set the BBQ up to the existing onboard propane system. I acquired the necessary hose kit from Holland Marine Products (HMP).

The connector unit fits in between the tank and the existing hose fittings. You need to pick up some Teflon tape from your local hardware store (yellow Teflon tape is for gas). I found that the best location to exit the tank locker was in the aft outer corner. This way I can open the lid and the hose length would not be affected. Just make sure that the hole diameter is large enough to fit the hose’s end fitting through it.

To seal the opening I used a 1/2″ rubber cork (spare cork from our wine making carboy). It was nessesary to drill out the hole larger and cut a groove around the corks perimeter. Then it was nessesary to also cut the cork so it could be slipped over the propane hose.

The spare hose just coils around within the propane locker.

One note of caution: We found that the fibreglass tanks did not have a strong enough neck to support the additional moment placed on it by the extended fittings. It was possibly after a very bumpy sail, but we found that the fibreglass tank had a leak one day, right where the valve was threaded into the tank neck. The banging around in high seas, seemed to have jostled the cantilevered fitting to the extent that the glass gave way. Now we use only metal tanks (One aluminum and one steel).