Surely they are, right along with all the electrical devices that are not marine rated that you and everyone else installs. My repeated (and as yet unanswered) question is why are all of you making such a big stink about the propane devices when statistics show the electrical devices you are installing are killing far more people?
Consider what statistics are and how boats are modified over the years for electrical vs. propane and you might find your answer. You are trying to use one stat with no qualifications or quantification's to help you justify your decision. You can't really use stats that way unless you want to make a justification. You can't compare apples to oranges.
The vast majority of boats I go on are usually untouched from the factory when it comes LPG installations. These installations were usually built to safety standards at the time of install though some were not if they are old enough. Ours is a 1979 and would meet today's standards for an LPG install of the LPG range as it came from the factory in 1979.
Interestingly enough our boat was flagged during survey due to a Tee for the cabin heater that was not located in the LPG locker, my friend Norm the PO had done this. Before I could get insurance I had to remove the Tee and pipe the LPG heater to meet the current safety standard by going straight from the heater to the LPG locker. I would have done that anyway but our insurance company made us do it, regardless. Even in Maine perhaps only 1 in 12 boats I go on have any sort of added LPG appliances such as a cabin heater which means the systems are largely untouched from the factory install, can;t say the same for electrical.. We do not use our cabin heater because I feel it is an unsafe unit, it is VERY wet, and it is not a sealed combustion device. It will get replaced by an Espar or Webasto diesel unit.
Was just on a neighbors 1979 CD-36 this afternoon with a 100% original LPG installation and the only changes had been to add a propane sniffer and shut off switch in close proximity to the galley, both of these are ELECTRICAL upgrades not propane related in terms of go boom. My neighbor tom who lives behind me has a 1996 Sabre 362 and it too has an untouched, unmodified, factory LPG system. The locker, solenoid location, fittings and stove are all the same, no changes. I see this all the time.
Overlay the largely untouched factory installations of propane systems to electrical systems and you will see a VAST difference in DIY activity!
I can't even recall the last time I was on-board a boat that did not have a DIY touch the wiring or many, many hands touch the wiring over the years. Everything from battery bank modifications to piss poor inverter installs or home made shore power connections out of extension cords, improper grounding, unsupported wire runs etc. etc. etc.. People I find are far more apt to "tap in" to a wire to add a GPS or other electronic device. They'll use a 14Ga wire for a load that should really be 8GA and so on. "Oh it's only low voltage DC", yeah, but with 3000 amps of current behind it!!!!
This is what happens with DC if you are not careful and DO NOT use fuses:
I tend to look beyond basic stats and look at the why and how those stats may be what they are.
I personally saw a Bristol 32 that blew up in Bootbay Harbor due to a DIY LPG modification. Not pretty! It split the hull and deck at the seam of the boat but both people on-board lived. It scared the hell out of me seeing that boat.
Think about what you see in a marine chandlery when you go down the electrical aisle vs. the propane "section"?
There are VERY FEW fittings and pieces to choose from when it comes to propane so mismatches, hose sizing, etc. so hose, solenoid or valving issues are drastically minimized. All the fittings are industry standard but usually can't be mismatched.
With electrical you have hundreds of fuses to choose from, piles of crimp connectors, multiple gauges of wire, alternators, inverters, pumps, etc., etc. etc., on and on. With electrical you have oodles more ways to create a hazardous installation that you do with propane.
In short the stats are likely what they are because more people mess with the DC systems on their vessels than they do with the factory installed LPG systems and LPG systems have less variability in available "parts & pieces" than do electrical options..
It's not as if propane is 100% safe, but it is VERY safe, if the system is installed properly.
Here are just a couple of instances where it was not safe for what ever reason.
"A small sailboat exploded into flames in an apparent propane explosion this afternoon, blackening the sky and crowding downtown with rescue personnel and spectators.
While there were some efforts to extinguish the flames, the boat was eventually towed out into the bay and sunk, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Chief Gordon Pomeroy said.
No one was injured.
The boat’s operator was not aboard when it caught fire and arrived on shore to watch the flames and smoke after the fire started.
Pomeroy said the operator did not own the craft, described by the Coast Guard as a 40-foot Catalina sailboat that was one of several legally anchored in the bay off City Dock.
Pomeroy said they thought the operator lived on the boat “and lost everything.”"
"A 66-year-old New Smyrna Beach man suffered burns over 80 percent of his body Sunday evening when an apparent propane explosion destroyed his sailboat as it was anchored in the Intracoastal Waterway, emergency responders said.
The victim, identified by New Smyrna Beach police as Richard Sweat, was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center's burn unit with life-threatening injuries after the 8:30 p.m. incident.
"He said he was making coffee on the stove and that blew up," U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class John Chandler said.
The force of the explosion lifted the cabin and front deck off the hull of the approximately 36-foot vessel, Chandler said.
Fire officials suspect a problem with the boat's propane system may have caused the blast.
Chandler said residents who lived near the explosion in the 400 block of Quay Assisi, just north of the North Causeway Bridge in New Smyrna Beach, reported the explosion shaking their homes.
Sweat's cat also was on board the vessel and it survived, Chandler said, "Although I don't know how.""
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkCrwm4nV0c
