Not very exciting, but I wanted to let you know about the kinds of projects we are involved in. Our propane gas control system that came with the boat was made by Xintex, and had two propane (LP) sensors, one placed below the propane heater, and one below the gas stove. The sensors began to fail years ago; we bought one eight or nine years ago, and then when another failed, we had to override the sensor to get the gas to work. How this system worked is, if propane was sensed in the air, the system would not allow propane to enter into the cabin. Gas was shut off by a solenoid at the tank in a separate compartment in the lazarette in the cockpit. Our spare propane is in a tank outside in the cockpit.
The sensors were failing regularly and we knew we needed to do something to get the stove to work when we needed it. So we ordered a simple LP gas control switch from West Marine when we were in the States this spring. It came to over $100 with shipping. We carried it back to the boat in our luggage, and I took out the old, failing unit and its sensors and installed the new switch. I turned on the gas at the electrical panel - and it promptly blew the 5 amp circuit breaker. No gas from the stove until we figured it out. We had a friend who is an electrical engineer over to help understand it - and as we were learning, all we really needed is the circuit breaker and the solenoid, to be able to shut off all gas in the cabin easily.
So, after much investigating, trials, and telephone calls over Skype to the company (Trident Marine) we found we did not need this expensive switch - it really is only an on/off switch. The problem - how to return it from Venezuela? Just then a friend in the marina had a father who died unexpectedly. I made some hurried phone calls to West Marine, and they honored the return, some FOUR MONTHS later, with a prepaid Fed Ex sticker. I gave the switch with a copy of our invoice and packaging to my friend to deposit with FedEx back in the States.
The bottom line - West Marine refunded my credit card, with no problems, and was wonderful to deal with. I did not need the replacement part. Trident Marine, which does sell some great LP sensor systems, sells this little "LP Gas Control System" which is no more than an expensive on/off switch. To their credit, the folks at Trident Marine were very knowledgable on the phone.
Just one week out of many in our exciting life with boat projects!