Warm and Toasty in Baltimore!

[sparklegirl50]

After living aboard for almost two months now, one or two of my concerns have been effectively dealt with.

We ran our forced air heater all night for the first time last night. It was great! Did not even have to use the heated mattress pad. BUT, when hubby got back from his run this morning, he closed the cabin door (I was still sleeping - I'm not getting up at 4 AM, thank you), he turned the heat up because he was cold. When I got up at 6:15, it was a balmy 83 degrees in the cabin. Yikes! (but it's a dry heat LOL!!)

And....no condensation.

Yippee!!

[cdennyb]

Great! I'm interested in how much this will cost, either in Kw's or propane cost to run for a month during these gloomy months of winter. Keep us posted.

[sparklegirl50]

Originally Posted by cdennyb

Great! I'm interested in how much this will cost, either in Kw's or propane cost to run for a month during these gloomy months of winter. Keep us posted.

It ia a Webasto diesel heater, puts out about 17,000 BTUS on maximum. It runs off of 12v, uses between 2 and 7 amps (7 at startup, for about 30 seconds). Once it is running it uses 2-3 amps.

[schoonerdog]

But this isn't even cold! Just wait...

Seriously, we have friends who have lived aboard many years with that same heater and they are always toasty warm in the coldest of times. You should be fine all winter. I am enjoying that (aside from the rain) we can still have hatches open because it's still seasonable outside. And when the weather gets tough, the tough fly away to warmer weather. My son and I are taking a tropical hiatus from the boat to see my dad. Poor husband will be keeping the home fires burning.
After 11 winters aboard, I am ready for a little break.

(schoonerdog's wife)

[sparklegirl50]

Originally Posted by schoonerdog

But this isn't even cold! Just wait...


(schoonerdog's wife)

I know - I can hardly wait.

We have a couple of hatches cracked too, but last night I closed the one in our cabin, to see if it would develop moisture overnight even with the heater running. Got up this morning, hatch is dry. Hubby also installed a solar day/night vent in the hatch over the forward port cabin, and that has helped a lot too. For whatever reason, the port hull (where no one lives) has a tendency to get wet enought to drip.

This morning, the solar vent is not running (go figure, no sun for two days), but even so, the port hull is dry!!

BTW, I'd like to contact you privately at some point to pick your brain about living aboard.....

Stay Warm!

Toni

[schoonerdog]

Originally Posted by sparklegirl50

I know - I can hardly wait.



BTW, I'd like to contact you privately at some point to pick your brain about living aboard.....

Stay Warm!

Toni

Who me? Sure no problem!
We're just down the Bay from you. Drop us a line.

[YOGAO]

Hey SG50,

How has it been going since you last wrote?

Fair Winds,
Mike

[gonesail]

people here will argue that heaters don't reduce humidity but I agree with you that they do reduce condensation which solves a lot of cold weather problems

[sparklegirl50]

Originally Posted by YOGAO

Hey SG50,

How has it been going since you last wrote?

Fair Winds,
Mike

Thanks for asking, Mike. We are still living aboard, still in Baltimore. Boy, this winter has really had a steep learning curve. We had hoped our first winter aboard would be mild, and we would have a chance to iron out any kinks. NOT happening! We had 22 inches of snow in December. I will post some pics after I locate them.

The storm was actually not too bad. However, we did lose our diesel heater, about 5:00 am the day of the storm (started snowing about 11:45 the night before). Woke up to a strange noise coming from the vent. I convinced Steve that something was wrong, he listened, said that's not good. He turned the heater off, then on again after a few minutes, and still got the whining sound. Turned it off again, then it did not come back on. YIKES!! We then turned to using electric heaters, which was not our preferred option, due to the cost, but we needed heat. We tried contacting the company we bought the heater from, but it took a few days for them to get back to us (they couldn't get into their office in Annapolis due to the snow). Got a rep out here the day before Xmas eve, he said it sounded like the fan had water in it. Sure enuf, he poured about 2 cups of water out of the vent hose and fan motor. Apparently, between the light fluffy snow, and the wind, snow had gotten sucked into the fan, melted, then froze, so it froze the fan. Rep got it running again, all's well, we still have our diesel heat.

I have to say, it has been an adventure so far!!

Toni
still aboard in Baltimore!!

[sparklegirl50]

Originally Posted by gonesail

people here will argue that heaters don't reduce humidity but I agree with you that they do reduce condensation which solves a lot of cold weather problems

Well, all I can say, is that when we use our heat pump, MOISTURE!! But, I have to say that it is not as bad as I've heard some people have. We have not yet been "rained" on inside. Moisture has so far been limited to hatches, and under the mattress, even tho' we have that stuff under the mattress that is supposed to eliminate moisture.

Diesel heater, NO moisture, ANYWHERE. The humidity level in our cabin is low enough that is does not register on the weather clock (reads LL). Temp is good, and I don't have to tip the bed up every day.

Life's good on our boat!

[sparklegirl50]

For anyone interested in our December snow storm in Baltimore, I posted a new album under my profile, entitled....ta da....December 09 Snow Storm.

Enjoy!

[YOGAO]

Nice pics - makes me remember our winter (2005 - 2006) "fondly" - NOT!

Glad to hear the diesel heater got worked out, but I am surprised to hear that you don't have condensation. We had it and every morning we would go on "mold patrol".

Fair Winds,
Mike

[sparklegirl50]

Originally Posted by YOGAO

Nice pics - makes me remember our winter (2005 - 2006) "fondly" - NOT!

Glad to hear the diesel heater got worked out, but I am surprised to hear that you don't have condensation. We had it and every morning we would go on "mold patrol".

Fair Winds,
Mike

Like my husband says, someday we will laugh about that storm, but it was not on that day!! That's more snow than we usually have all winter, all in one go.

The heat from the diesel heater is dry, so thankfully the condensation is no longer a problem. Such a difference between that and the heat pump. I dread the day he decides the water has warmed up enough to turn the heat pump back on - then I will be on "mold patrol" too!

[YOGAO]

Originally Posted by sparklegirl50

Like my husband says, someday we will laugh about that storm, but it was not on that day!! That's more snow than we usually have all winter, all in one go.

The heat from the diesel heater is dry, so thankfully the condensation is no longer a problem. Such a difference between that and the heat pump. I dread the day he decides the water has warmed up enough to turn the heat pump back on - then I will be on "mold patrol" too!

We exclusively used diesel heat. Yes, it is definitely dry, but WE aren't, plus we took showers on board adding a lot of moisture to the air. My wife used to dry her hair by turning the diesel heater fan on high and standing in front of the vent - oh the luxury of hot air!

For us, the heat pump never appealed, since it was directly under the bed and LOUD, plus it's just not warm (see above) and we found it to be significantly more expensive.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[sparklegirl50]

Originally Posted by YOGAO

We exclusively used diesel heat. Yes, it is definitely dry, but WE aren't, plus we took showers on board adding a lot of moisture to the air. My wife used to dry her hair by turning the diesel heater fan on high and standing in front of the vent - oh the luxury of hot air!

For us, the heat pump never appealed, since it was directly under the bed and LOUD, plus it's just not warm (see above) and we found it to be significantly more expensive.

Fair Winds,
Mike

I know what you mean about the lack of heat with the heat pump. We are on a cat, and the heat pump is installed under the settee on the port side. Our cabin is on the starboard, so we did not hear noise. Plus, Steve would turn it down at night, his logic being that since we were not up there, it did not need to be on.

But, we had virtually no heat in the hulls. That part, I'm not happy with. The temps would be in the 50's in our cabin, but significantly more comfortable in the salon area where the heat pump resides. Thank goodness for our heated mattress pad, other wise I would jump ship.

As for the showers, no heat at all in the shower stall, and it gets COLD in there!! It is right behind the anchor locker, in the starboard bow. And you are so right about the moisture, so we trek up to the bath house for showers, and laundry.

Sleeting here right now......