Lantern Advice
- Thread starter Skipper J
- Start date
Will do, thanks for pointing that out.@dlochner is in NY. You are on the border of NC and SC... (much warmer) and your boat is smaller. You may find that it will make your cabin warm enough... you could alway get two...
BUT! Please install a CO and CO2 monitor... the alarm is the cheapest insurance you can buy...
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Thanks to everyone. I was not aware that there was a difference between round and flat wicks. I will stick to paraffin oil. I think the Weems and Plath will do for now since my boat is small.
By the way, I recently realized that one can search the whole country for used gear fairly quickly on Craigslist by using the map feature and zooming way out. Search half the country, then slide the map circle to the other coast and search the other. There are probably other ways to do it, but it works for me.
Just a note - lamp oil, or what is being called paraffin, is a purified kerosene, also a paraffin. Kerosene burns brighter than lamp oil but does give off the kerosene odor. If you run your flame correctly you don't get soot with kerosene either - but it's easy to run in the soot range. Lamp oil is a lot easier to use...
dj
dj
I’ve owned and used (barely) the large and small versions of that W&P yacht lantern. They do not yield adequate light for much more than just knowing that there is a lighted lantern in the cabin or cockpit giving low illumination. I’ve often wondered what they were designed to do. The sturdy build suggests use outside as in the foretriangle. An old-timey anchor light? For cabin lightening we use a small globe (chimney) type oil lantern like those pictured where we burn the W&P paraffin oil, which works fine, But still not adequate reading light is produced.
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Good info...
One thing you can say about sailors is we tend to get hung up on the propper use of terms (i.e. rope vs. line etc.) So...., "paraffin oil" is mostly a British term and is a complete oxymoron. The proper term is refined karosene. Paraffin is a solid (a wax) and it is what your grandma used to use to seal her mason jars when canning ...
...and that is why some people also confuse paraffin with sealing wax. Sealing wax was used to seal envelopes, and usually has a dye added and is a little harder than paraffin wax.
and if you want to really get into word salad you can even find kerosen marketed as "liquid candle wax"
I put this one in the same category as "Organic Salt".
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I had one, about 20 years ago, light isn't quiet enough for reading, heat & flame concerned me, with small kids aboard. Any camping store/amazon ect., has these types of rechargeable lanterns, benefits are not having kids discharging engine battery with devices, lights, ect. Also peace of mind falling asleep with light on, also works as anchor light, work light, reading light and such. Either way good luck.
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We have an older version of Lantern aboard. It’s really another version of a hurricane lamp used many years ago, with a flat wick that you roll up and down. Higher the wick, more smoke.
We only use it out in the cockpit area. I hang it from the bottom of the boom when we’re sitting out at night and fill it with citronella oil. It gives off a nice warm glow and repels the bugs. Inside we hang it over the corner wedge of the settee.
Not really confident of using inside the cabin regardless of the fuel. But for atmosphere you can’t beat the look they all give.
We only use it out in the cockpit area. I hang it from the bottom of the boom when we’re sitting out at night and fill it with citronella oil. It gives off a nice warm glow and repels the bugs. Inside we hang it over the corner wedge of the settee.
Not really confident of using inside the cabin regardless of the fuel. But for atmosphere you can’t beat the look they all give.
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You should not burn citronella oil inside the boat.
When you look at the flame, the proper wick height is such that the entire flame is a bright yellow - if you are getting a "fringe" around that flame, your wick is too high. You also need to trim the wick such that the corners have a small radius. If a sharp corner, it will tend to smoke on the edges of the flame more.
You should start a lamp with a low flame to start. The lamp chimney has to heat up. There are air slots along the base of the chimney, different designs for different lamps. But that is the air feed and the chimney gives the updraft producing the airflow into the flame. It's a balance of flame height and available air. To not get smoke, you need to keep the wick the right height as you can't control the airflow in once it's heated up. You've probably also noted that the wick height needs adjustment after first starting, this is due to everything heating up and getting a steady-state burn. A complication is the wick is being consumed so actual steady-state changes as you are burning.
dj
32 comments and so far no one has mentioned the fire danger of liquid fuel, especially with lanterns that are not designed for boats.
Hi Dave. I'll go out on that proverbial limb by saying that all fuels, to some degree, pose a fire danger. Gasoline fits more into the flammable category due to the released vapors and is very dangerous on a boat, but relatively safe if handled properly. Diesel fits more into the combustible category and is far safer than gasoline, but still needs to be treated with respect. Kerosene and candle oil falls more into the Diesel category, being more of a combustible than a flammable. No expert here, by any stretch, but the kerosene that I use in our Aladdin mantle lamp is very safe when handled with care. I always fill the reservoir with the lamp in the unlit and cold state and store the kerosene in a cool dry place.
I have to agree with @Terry Cox . Kero and lamp oils fall in the diesel range of fire hazards. I would fill in the cockpit unless I had a good method of filling inside. I've run gasoline in both stoves and lanterns and the fire hazard there is notably higher. If this conversation had been about gasoline as a fuel, I would have definitely talked fire hazard - of course - one shouldn't diminish that concern.
dj
I bought one of these Coleman lanterns which are rechargeable. Very bright light and lasts a long time.
I would not use a lantern with a wick on our boat.
Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
More than just the flammability, I was thinking of the Chicago experience with Mrs. O'Leary's cow. Some of the alternatives suggested here do not seem particularly immune to being knocked over or otherwise falling (think inconsiderate power boaters) over. With liquid fuel if the the lamp falls over, the fuel can leak out and fire spread rapidly. A properly gimbaled or hung lantern is much safer, though not as save as a battery operated lantern.
While I agree that kerosene is akin to diesel and not gasoline or propane, @dlochner raises a good point about lanterns that are unfit for boats. The W&P lanterns have a sturdy metal tank that does not leak when inverted except via the wick itself. Many lanterns for home use have decorative glass tanks that could break, or have fill holes that will spill oil when tilted too far.
Glass on a boat? Well, OK I guess pointing that out is a good thing to do....
But if folk are not up to that level of knowledge, the expression "you can't fix stupid" comes to mind...
dj