Off the dock heating

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Fatbob

What about one of the Kerosene Heater like you use in a house to take the chill off. We had on that we used in the basement and it worked great.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/KeroHeat-Ra...ter/1003237170

Taylors make a kero bulkhead heater that is vented. They can help with cool days but do not out out a lit of heat and kind of need some tending.

We have one on our 33’ boat and use it sometimes to take the chill of in the evening. But for deal heat I installed an Espar D4.

I also have one in the aft cabin of our big boat. It can heat that confined space pretty well. But again, we have an Espar D4 and the bulkhead heater is there more for emergency should the main heater go out.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by feudalkaos

Not sure if this is the right section to post this in but it said HVAC so I am going to give it a try.

We have been living aboard at the dock for a while now and are preparing to get away from docks. This means no more (or much less often) shore power. We have relied on our reverse cycle ACs to provide heat when it gets cold.

We are currently in north eastern Florida so it doesn't get that cold that often but we do get some pretty uncomfortable cold snaps. We have easily seen in the 30s some nights in the winter.

I understands the traditional wisdom of going south in the winter to stay warmer and we would like to do that but it is not something we can do quickly or easily based on land requirements (jobs).

My question is, what are other people doing to keep their boat warm? We have a 41' boat for reference.

I have seen several different heaters (diesel, solid fuel, electric) that are available.

The electric does not seem possible because of energy usage. We are in the process of changing our batteries to a 400 amp hour lithium. I still do not see how we could run electric heaters for any useful period of time.

The other types that require a somewhat large hole in the deck to exhaust the fumes seems like overkill for a handful of weeks out of the year.

I have also seen the Wabasto Air Top heater (like the semi cabin heaters) that burn diesel. These seem like an awesome unit and would work well but they cost ~$2k or more. Again doesn't seem to make sense for a few weeks out of the year.

Anyone have any input or thoughts?

Thank you for your feedback!

One year, cruising solo on my previous 28' sailboat up in British Columbia, the weather was so bad that even the Canadians were complaining. At night while anchored I used the old trick of putting a clay flower pot over a lit galley stove burner to get heat. I also warmed up some large rocks on the galley stove (just like Spock did on Star Trek) and placed them in shallow bilge of the boat. And yes, I carried the flower pot and selected beach rocks for this very purpose.

Now with my current boat I installed a REAL 5014 Hydronic Heater to answer my wife's concern for voyaging to Alaska. It runs off the diesel coolant system and does a very good job of heating the salon when under engine power...she is happy with it.

It also helps to bake some muffins in the morning as the oven heat helps as well.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Fatbob]

Originally Posted by manitu

No no no.

Open burner which dumps the exhaust into the living space . You could use it to heat up the boat at arrival, until your smaller closed heater can cope.
But it should not be run without ample ventilation, and not when you sleep.

.manitu

Agreed. I would use it during the day to warm things up....so you don't have to wear a parka in the boat. Turn the heater off at night and then simply jump under a few covers in the bunk. Personally, I prefer it to be a bit cooler when I sleep. Obviously, this is an inexpensive solution for somewhere like FL where it never really gets a sustained cold snap...not something I would recommend for cruising the northern latitudes.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Fatbob

What about one of the Kerosene Heater like you use in a house to take the chill off. We had on that we used in the basement and it worked great.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/KeroHeat-Ra...ter/1003237170

For a bit more you can have a proper installed forced air diesel furnace that can be run 24 hours a day and doesn't take up valuable real estate in the boat.
Not to mention a lot safer than an open flame waiting to be tipped over with a freighter wake.

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by stormalong

The one caveat about these heaters is that they go through propane very quickly. At full output they will empty a 5 gallon propane tank in about three days.

^^^^^^READ THIS^^^^^^

It's a really important piece of data likely lost in all the other extraneous information in this thread. At about 91,000 BTU per gallon, propane tanks empty really fast... A 5000 BTU burner will go through a gallon of propane in 18 hours...

If you are a place where cold is a very infrequent, and short lived thing you might not care, but otherwise... Exactly how often do you want to haul those tanks to the filling station????

To heat our 52 foot monohull in Charleston SC with low temperatures about 45F or so takes about 87,000 BTU in 24 hours. In other words, Stormalong's warning about propane usage as a primary heating fuel in right on the money...