Wander the West: propane tank - Wander the West

Hello, been lurking for a while. Picked up an 88 grandby for mainly my dog and me, sometimes the wife. The camper needs repairs and I am entering the slippery slope of repairing and modifying. The propane tank storage is tiny. I live in Montana and plan on using it in the fall and winter. I searched but could not find examples of fitting in a standard size propane tank. It needs to be modified for a newer truck and I probably will replace the cabinets and make that nice fold out couch in the major Hawk modifications. Any help would be appreciated.

stone runner, on 18 July 2010 - 07:16 PM, said:

Cant help you on the propane but welcome , im sure somebody has done it esp on this board these guys dont mess around ,D

stone - I have an 82 Grandby and a 20 lb. tank (I assume that's 'standard size') fits (very tightly) in the propane cabinet on the left side rear of the camper. Yours should be very similar. I'm in Montana also - Helena - where are you at?

I am an hour from Montana, that is Billings. I'll see if I can fit a larger cylinder in the compartment. I figured my options were to enlarge the compartment, slide the camper back a foot and plumb the cylinders so they sit in front of the camper, or build a cage on the right rear. Would probably not want to be rear ended with the tanks hanging off the back.

The only way a larger tank will fit is on it's side. I saw some pictures of a large tank on it's side. Is this safe? I plan on enlarging the compartment while I remodel.

stone runner, on 22 July 2010 - 08:39 PM, said:

You need to get a horizontal tank.

Ditto Dog's comment - you can't use an upright tank on its side. Do you have a pic of the side that has the propane locker? I just can't believe that a Grandby that old has anything other than a locker for the vertical 20 lb. propane canister.

Stan - any ideas???

I understand now, I did not realize there were horizontal tanks. Looks like about $180 for a 20#, obviously not mass produced like the vertical tank. The compartment is only 14 inches in height. Thanks for the help.

I'll post this here so it can searched later. Taking apart the cabinets I noticed the water fill tube runs over the propane storage, with about a 4 inch gap between the counter top and propane storage. Plan on moving the fill tube, expanding the propane storage and possibly raising the counter an inch to fit a vertical 20# tank. Will post pictures in a rebuild thread.

I'd also point out, you don't nearly need as much propane as you'd think assuming you aren't running the heat a ton. We ran the fridge straight and cooked in our rig for 2 weeks and only burned through about 8lb I'd say.