Winter Cruising Question for Island Packet Owners

[kevin_j]

Question for all of you Island Packet owners, how are they in cold weather? Lets assume that the boat has a diesel forced air system and has decent ventilation. I'm interested in air temps around 10F to the 20s. Think Maine in the late fall or inside BC in the dead of winter.

I have do have experience doing this on other FG boats, but given the heavier construction, cored deck, ect I was wondering what other folks may have experienced.

[rotrax]

We keep our Island Packet SP Cruiser in the UK. We use her to stay on for a week at a time alongside in cold weather on our berth in Littlehampton. We have Webasto blown air heating and have shorepower. When sleeping and living aboard in winter we run a compressor dehumidifier - a very quiet one - all night. No condensation in the morning on the windows. If it is below 4 degrees C we have a 1KW oil radiator in our cabin, but set to about half power. Cooking/boiling kettle produces steam hence condensation in cool tempretures.


We stay comfortable enough but some better and quieter form of heating would, IMHO, be better. A diesel fired Dickenson or Wallas type would be my choice.


Without shore power we would not stay aboard in cold weather. Too old and wise to be uncomfortable by choice.