Large Older MY's, Cheap to Buy, But....

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

Yup, we are shooting for cape may today and hoping we don't get stuck again. Seems everyday is long now. I imagine boating is much more fun when your not pressed for time. I hated leaving Annapolis. I'll be glad when the day comes when my time is all my own

Yep, you can't see everything in downtown Annapolis in one night, and schedules can often add some stress on trips, anyway. Take a deep breath when you get home, chill for a while, eventually start planning your next season's trip. Could be you have the helm, next time you're in Ego Alley,

-Chris

[deckofficer]

GG,

If you will have 50 amp service at your marina in Boston, just use $20 space heaters in the areas you want heated. Each space heater on high takes 12 amps, so budget their use with other loads.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

GG,



If you will have 50 amp service at your marina in Boston, just use $20 space heaters in the areas you want heated. Each space heater on high takes 12 amps, so budget their use with other loads.

I know some people use space heaters but I hate to be cold and it gets very very cold in Boston. I would need a heater in every room and I don't think I could carry all that load.


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[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

I know some people use space heaters but I hate to be cold and it gets very very cold in Boston. I would need a heater in every room and I don't think I could carry all that load.


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It's your call. You have to consider whatever temps you dealt with inland in Boston will be moderated with the massive heat sink of the water. Just a suggestion, use either electric blankets or better yet a bunk heating pad (heat rises) and you will be quite comfortable while you sleep. Have an alarm clock that can handle switching on the load of the heater in your head so that it is toasty when you get out of bed.

Either way, if your plans is to keep the entire boat toasty all the time it will consume a lot of diesel or electricity. Zone heating and cooling is the way to go.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

I know some people use space heaters but I hate to be cold and it gets very very cold in Boston. I would need a heater in every room and I don't think I could carry all that load.


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Maybe your right I should think about it more. If it can handle all this a/c load then it should be able to handle electric heat load. I should be back hopefully in about 3 days. I'm going to take a ride over to Constitution they have about 100 winter liveaboards and see what those guys are doing about heat. I know that 2 of the boats in MA that I looked at were both live aboard and both were using space heaters.


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[deckofficer]

Average winter month lows for Boston are mid 20's but my bet is at the marina it would be mid 30's.

During record lows it would be nice to have a diesel fueled furnace to supplement the space heaters.

Webasto has a 17,000 btu diesel heater for $3300. It has a low setting of 5100 btu that sips diesel at 0.04 gal per hour. At full output 0.15 gal per hour. This and dock power should see you through the cold snaps and if power goes out you still have your gen set so your better off than folks living in homes.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Average winter month lows for Boston are mid 20's but my bet is at the marina it would be mid 30's.

During record lows it would be nice to have a diesel fueled furnace to supplement the space heaters.

Last year was brutal. We had many days with temperatures single digits. Cold as hel*



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[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

Last year was brutal. We had many days with temperatures single digits. Cold as hel*



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As it stands now you have no diesel fired heaters? If your A/Cs are heat pumps your only going to get whatever 50 amp service will give you as far as heat and when it gets really cold the heat pumps don't work too good without a heating strip. Might be wise to have a least one diesel fired heater.

[deckofficer]

The above Webasto 17,000 btu is ducted, here is a 16,250 btu freestanding that would be good for the main cabin at $800. That is over 33,000 btu w/o using the electric space heaters.

Dickinson Marine Alaska Boat Heater

[ranger58sb]

I see here

Perfect Temperature Indoors | Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating

that some of the new style ductless heat pump systems are advertised as "100% efficient" at down to 5°F and there's apparently some kind of augmentation that makes the things viable down to -13°F. (These would be "real" residential and commercial grade heat pumps, not the reverse cycle marina A/C and heating units... which of course use the same principle but with water as the source.)

No clue about costs, though -- acquisition, installation or operating -- compared to diesel. There's a nifty calculator tool elsewhere on that site, but it wants volumetric input...

-Chris

[chrisjs]

Do not under estimate the need for heat!!!
Easy for somebody who has not lived through the Boston Winter to make light of it. A good friend lived 3 seasons on a 45ft sailboat at Constitution with a propane heater (roof vent). It was quite comfortable when it was running but not safe to leave on when not aboard so boat got really cold. It will be really miserable living on a boat with 5 kids in the cold. Get the diesel installed - it really is the only way to go - just like an oil furnace. Since you are running late anyway, you might consider taking boat to an installer on your way up to Boston.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by chrisjs

Do not under estimate the need for heat!!!
Easy for somebody who has not lived through the Boston Winter to make light of it. A good friend lived 3 seasons on a 45ft sailboat at Constitution with a propane heater (roof vent). It was quite comfortable when it was running but not safe to leave on when not aboard so boat got really cold. It will be really miserable living on a boat with 5 kids in the cold. Get the diesel installed - it really is the only way to go - just like an oil furnace. Since you are running late anyway, you might consider taking boat to an installer on your way up to Boston.

I hear you on that Chris. My risers took longer than expected in Miami and ate up my time. I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to get it done before this winter. It will be difficult for me to sort out leaving the boat for so long in Rhode Island, I was initially planning on stopping there while the work is done, but out of time and I really don't want to let anyone open my boat up without me watching.
Boston Boatworks would have been a good solution but they gAve me a ridiculous price.
I'm going to have OceanOptions come up and price the job when I arrive there. Ed already gave a reasonable verbal estimate. Hopefully he doesn't wonder too far from that. Then I can figure out what to do.
Guess I was thinking that if I could possibly get through this winter with the space heaters than next summer I can get to Rhode Island and have the real heat installed.




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[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

I'm going to take a ride over to Constitution they have about 100 winter liveaboards and see what those guys are doing about heat. I know that 2 of the boats in MA that I looked at were both live aboard and both were using space heaters.


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I don't know anything about winter living on a big ole boat, but what you said here I think is smart, before you do anything, find out what others are doing and what works and what doesn't.

[minaret]

A hydronic system is much better than forced air, especially for someone in your situation, as it will also make unlimited hot water. The numbers discussed here so far, BTU wise, are laughable. I run an OL 60 on my 52' sailboat in Seattle. That's 90k BTU worth of fan heaters pushed by a 60k BTU boiler. Most hydronic installs in your size range are much larger. A neighbor recently installed the OL 120 in a boat smaller than yours. That's 120k BTU. Space heaters are unsafe and unwise, just look at the percentage of boat fires which were caused by them. I reverse cycle my AC system as long as it's not too cold out, then run the hydronics. Blows forced air out of the water for efficiency. Look at systems by Olympic from Sure Marine. They are 110 systems instead of 12V, so you need a good inverter and battery bank/charging system to run them overnight away from the dock. But they are also much more robust than 12V systems, with far fewer service calls. Much better than Webasto.