Dickinson solid fuel stove or propane

[gulfislandfred]

I lived aboard for close to 30 years in the Salish Sea (Washington and BC). I have used diesel, propane, and wood heaters.
I agree with others about diesel heaters: Stink and soot. I have friends with forced air diesel systems that seem to be better, but they use a fair amount of electric power, and they're noisy.
Propane is OK. MUST be vented.
Wood has been best for me. Free fuel, all over the shoreline, more heat than the other fuels. Solid fuels are messy. You can organize to keep the mess contained. Good tray under the stove, with a lip. Cabin sole in front of the stove well sealed and easy to clean. Keep a little brush and dustpan handy by the stove, and use it often.
The available stoves are small.
I have had a couple of stoves welded up, to my design with a bigger firebox. It's not rocket science. I had good results. The air intake has to be adjustable, and smaller than the vent stack.
Here's the chorus of a song I wrote, in celebration of the liveaboard lifestyle. The stove in that boat was a cast iron Shipmate, with a small oven.



So crank up the wood stove, tune up the fiddle
if you don't know the whole tune, start in the middle
make a batch of brownies, throw 'em in the oven
smoke a little reefer, have some day time lovin'

[ovidiunelu]

Originally Posted by Cachimba

Hi


I was planning to install a Dickinson fuel stove, since Im living in my boat in the south of Portugal, I will use it ocacionally during the nightfall, my boat is a Dufour 358. Want to know your opinion regarding solid fuel stove, is ti worth?, and if you have any experience with this brand.


thanks a lot.

The brand doesn't mater the solid fuel stove is too small to heat a decent cabin.
It heat too much as the pipe glow if you use coal or pallets increasing the danger to set your boat on fire. Then the wood burn too quick and in an hour or two you need to refuel it. I have one of those and I am considering to switch to diesel.

[BluePeter]

I used a solid fuel Dickinson bulkhead heater for 2 months in the Canadian sub-arctic aboard my Nimble Arctic 25 and froze my butt off! In anything with a high cabin you'll need to run a fan. Fuel is always pretty easy to find in ports or on shore--you can also saw down bio bricks and store them easily.

I collected dimension lumber cut-offs from construction sites as well as driftwood. Charcoal, a recommended fuel for this stove, doesn't generate enough heat. also, even after just a few uses, the sheet metal firebox warped from the heat.
This is a nice stove for cool nights in the tropics--not as a serious source of heat in colder climates. As a highly romantic bit of ambiance, it's great. As a practical heater it fails miserably.

[Gingersnap]

We love our Dickinson Mediterranean model. Simple install. If you use the LP, make you check the Lp connecting hose with a bit of soap and water and check for gas leak. The hose must be tight. If it is, you’re good!

We learned that the oven only goes up to 450 degrees. If your recipe calls for 475 degrees, you may have to cook longer. There is a workaround solution if you contact the tech guy to make adjustment on the oven.

[Tillikum]

Originally Posted by JoetheCobbler

I've used a solid fuel heater for 10+ years along the east coast USA from NY to Florida.
I built it out of steel plate and stainless flu and pipe.
It's fashioned after the Dickinson solid fuel, but much heavier Guage steel plate for the firebox.
It has a stainless framed door with glass and a cast iron grate in the bottom of the firebox and stainless steel ash drawer for disposing ash.
I just removed and maintenance and cleaned it up yesterday and reinstalled it.
I'm in upstate NY this winter and will be in the water for the season and the heater will be an inducement to spend More time aboard during the cold weather.
The wood burning is dirty and labor intensive, but the price and availability cannot be beat !

Wisdom.

It's time a stove builder caught on to the need for a marine wood stove with cook-top, proper secondary combustion, a door latch designed to stay shut even when things turn upside down, and water heating coils.

Burning driftwood, especially on or near the ocean will greatly accelerate corrosion due to the salts, but that's more of a problem if a stove is allowed to sit cold for weeks or months, as anyone who's had a beachfront cabin knows.

Were I building my own, I'd put a large propane burner in the bottom of the firebox, so that propane could be used when necessary. Wouldn't be that hard to have a diesel burner ring and valve plumbed in either: just have them under firebrick on the floor of the firebox, so that if needed the brick is removed and tanks connected.

No.1 consideration being make it absolutely air-tight and with the option of internal or external air supply, so one can sleep in peace and be sure of waking up in the morning.

And for the real survivalist, figure out a waste motor oil drip feed!

A small "ready-use" locker for wood above the stove with the stack plumbed through it would be good for a making sure your wood, or at least kindling is bone dry.

[skenn_ie]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

haha. my words are unfortunately not legal yet. Just an opinon.

I used a 50 gallon drum and cut it, then bent it and welded it into stove.

If I was making one, I'd start with a Butane cylinder, or maybe a stainless beer keg, if I could find one. I think most of the are ally.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Cachimba

Hi


I was planning to install a Dickinson fuel stove, since Im living in my boat in the south of Portugal, I will use it ocacionally during the nightfall, my boat is a Dufour 358. Want to know your opinion regarding solid fuel stove, is ti worth?, and if you have any experience with this brand. thanks a lot.

Practical Sailor Magazine just posted a guide for installing a Dickinson P9000 propane stove that might be helpful:

https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/suite

Additionally, like most upgrades, the stove purchase is just the beginning. You will need to spend a sizable amount for everything else just to connect up to the stove safely.

I love my woodstove at home and use abount 5-6 cords of wood each winter just for my studio. I would like to have one on my boat but with all my wood burning experience I know that it just isn't practical.

Hydronic heat for a boat is best and I have a small REAL 5410 unit connected to the diesel but it is obviously only operational when motoring...it makes my wife happy. The stand alone units for the entire boat are just too expensive.

On my previous San Juan 28 (no heating system) I sailed extensively up into British Columbia when the weather was so bad even the Canadians were complaining. I would heat large rocks on the propane stove and then place them in the bilge or place a clay flower pot over the stove burner to displace heat...I survived. I always found baking muffins first thing in the morning in the oven warmed the soul as well as the boat.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[dblk65]

Had a newport diesel heater on my tartan 37...used in the chicago and then the tropics. LOVED it...the soft glow of firelight filling the vessel on a cold chicago night...or the rare wet chilly eve in the tropics swinging at anchor was magical. And NOT having to store solid fuel a major bonus...once that thing got cooking you coudl totally forget it all night or days for that matter. Go diesel for sure!

[MVDarlin]

I have a 2 burner, vented Force 10 propane with dual stack air intake / exhaust "furnace" in my 34 C&C All you get is heat and a warm glow. Safe to operate overnight. Hangs on the bulk head. I recommend it.

[raahell]

Whatever heater you are considering, check with your insurer first. When we bought our boat last year the broker wouldn't insure us with the existing Dickinson propane heater. So we removed it as we had no immediate need for one. This is in Canada and I know of boats with propane heaters but the insurers here must be getting antsy about them. Maybe in other parts of the world they're perfectly acceptable to insurers. I haven't researched it.



If you decide to go with propane I have a perfectly working Dickinson that I'll sell you, plus flue!

[mikk60]

Do solar panels just appear, or is there a dirty factory in China making them?? Geo thermal also involves electricity, which as we know, has to be generated somehow. You “GREEN “ people make me 😂

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by Tillikum

It's time a stove builder caught on to the need for a marine wood stove with cook-top, proper secondary combustion, a door latch designed to stay shut even when things turn upside down, and water heating coils.

"designed for casual use ideal for boats 20-25ft."

The above line is from Dickinsons web site, yes, they are fine for that, the operative word being "Casual",, not for serious heat.
How could it?, it's only a 15lb box, made from sheet metal, and almost all the heat goes up the stack.
Now, to address what Tillikum said; Their is such a device, it doesn't have everything you want, but it's a good start.
But, it's about 50% more bucks than a Dickinson, however, if you want some real heat you got it,, and you can cook on it.
ShipMate Stove Company Inc. - your source for classic solid fuel boat stoves, heaters and sinks.

[ma belle]

Hello from the Baltic Sea,
my boat stays afloat all year round, and I spend a lot of time on board, even in winter. So when my Eberspächer heater gave up, I installed a Dickinson Newport Diesel heater. The cost would have been the same as with a new Eberspächer. What appealed to me most, was the silent operation and to watch the flames... I spent one complete winter on board in my homeport, with ice floes knocking at the hull and a few winter storms. The heater gave a very pleasant and dry warmth, and with the diesel connection to the main tank I had no problem with fuel supply for weeks.

As with solid fuel... neighbors in this port have a wood stove on their cutter. I have seen their enthusiasm waning through the years...
Only drawback so far: You still have to wear two pairs of socks, because the boat is in ice cold water after all

[Tillikum]

Originally Posted by mikk60

Do solar panels just appear, or is there a dirty factory in China making them?? Geo thermal also involves electricity, which as we know, has to be generated somehow. You “GREEN “ people make me 😂

Amen to that!

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

....Now, to address what Tillikum said; Their is such a device, it doesn't have everything you want, but it's a good start.
But, it's about 50% more bucks than a Dickinson, however, if you want some real heat you got it,, and you can cook on it.
ShipMate Stove Company Inc. - your source for classic solid fuel boat stoves, heaters and sinks.

Thanks, that is indeed a typical old boat stove, but in sore need a technological update, and a stylistic one too. Proper secondary combustion not only greatly reduces the consumption of solid fuels, but increases the heat produced and can almost eliminate smoke and particulates.



Another useful feature is "Y" set into the stack with a smaller upward facing leg into which a small electric fan is mounted blowing up the stack to create some draft when lighting the stove. Much preferable to a smokey cabin.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by Tillikum

Another useful feature is "Y" set into the stack with a smaller upward facing leg into which a small electric fan is mounted blowing up the stack to create some draft when lighting the stove. Much preferable to a smokey cabin.

Yes,, IIRC, the feature that you describe is in Donald Street's book, "The Ocean Sailing Yacht", from ~45 years ago.
Though much of the books contents may seem "dated" by todays thinking, their is still a wealth of useful info in it.