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Hasbun - 7/1/2019

We never found anywhere in France that would refill foreign bottles. In fact, it appears to that refilling non-national bottles is now forbidden by European rules; this may explain why it is not commonly done in France.  With some work, we found the rare individual that does refill a foreign bottle in Portugal and in Spain. From friends, we learned there are a handful of places in Italy that will do it as well, though we never did ourselves.

In La Rochelle, Sofomarin sold us a brilliant kit, made in the UK, that allows about 15 different types of national bottles to be connected to a single universal fitting, via adapters. The owner speaks French.

If you buy his adapter, in France, I recommend the Butagaz “Le Cube” bottle, made of fiberglass and soft rubber. Works wonderfully in a sailboat, provided it fits in your gas locker.  Available all over France, including in Corsica, it can be had in a blue label butane or red label propane version. We used it with butane in the Med but exchanged it for free for a propane version before sailing for Scotland, as propane is better under lower temperatures.

Map to Sofomarin:
https://her.is/2J22Dzh

Sofomarin:
52 Rue de la Trinquette, 17000 La Rochelle, Francia

http://www.sofomarin.com