[captain58sailin]

Hi wolfenzee,
I have used diesel, wood & propane for heat. On my small aluminum commercial fishing boat, I have both a diesel stove/oven and a 1 burner propane stove top. When I am fishing the diesel stove stays on all the time and keeps the boat toasty, I keep a tea pot on the stove top, so when I get up in the morning, it only takes a quick shot on the propane burner to bring the water to a boil for coffee. I usually take some boneless pork ribs and spice them up and wrap them in foil in a biscuit pan and put in the small oven side of the diesel stove at about 1000 and by 1400, I have a nice piping hot lunch. The main thing you have to watch with the diesel stoves are the carburetors, they have a small needle valve in them and if they get stuck the stove can run away. I have a shut off valve at the tank to prevent this, the other solution is a small drip valve with a sight glass on it, and you can manually regulate the drip rate. If you are going to the trouble of putting a suction line to your tank to feed the engine, you might consider putting a bypass on your return so that you can fill the stove tank when your engine is running. I have not used wood on a boat for a heat source, only in my house, and for the mess it generates, I don't know if I would want it on my boat, and there is the danger to the sails. Maybe charcoal or wood pellets would work better. If I worked in a boat yard and I had access to lots of small bits of kiln dried wood, I might consider it.