hi, long time lurker first time poster.
my buddy and i set up his canvas portable and settled in for an overnight of fishing and “relaxing”. we were using a mr heater and a coleman two mantle both with the 1 lb canisters for warmth and light. things were going good; fishing was slow but we were plenty “relaxed”. as we progressed one or the other heat/light appliances would need a new canister naturally. the process would generally go ok and i had gotten way too relaxed. at some point the heater needed to be changed out and my buddy was closer so he started taking care of that; i really wasn’t paying that close attention but he was not able to get the threads lined up right and kept having to try again. next thing i know the lower half of the portable is filled with…well BURNING FREAKING PROPANE! and this incredible sound. then -and this was in an instant – the entire interior of the portable was filled with aforementioned burning propane.
we both managed to hit the deck and the gas finished burning off. it was now completly dark in the portable and we both were trying to find the zipper and get the heck out. apparantly when enough gas had been released and stratified down to the burning lantern it ignited the gas that was being released each time my buddy tried to reset the threads.
we were both not in condition to go very far but we made it to a resort where the WONDERFUL owners took a look and decided his hands were burned badly enough for a doctor’s care and the WONDERFUL owners got us both to an emergency room. the fishing was over – we got a room for the rest of the night and headed back the next morning. he was out of work for a month and still bears the scars. i had some redness on one hand but escaped anything worse except the mesh cupholders on my camp chair and the flag on my tipup were burned off.
yes lesson learned for sure!