Heater Options For The Winter.

[FamilyVan]

Candle?

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[Opie91]

Oil filled heaters work great. I have two for my C&C 34 and it will get the interior up to about 60 F in three hours when it is 20 F outside. At 30 F it will get so hot you have to turn the heaters down after a few hours. My boat is covered and that helps keep the drafts out.

Anything below 20 F takes too long to heat up the boat to be useful.

I would not plug it into the boat outlets, they use about 15a each so run a separate heavy gauge extension cord to the marina outlet. That way the heaters will work right and not burn your boat down.

[hsi88]

I use this one on both my boats in the winter. I turn it on its lowest thermostat setting which only turns on around 50 degrees. I run them 24/7 and they only come on when its really cold. They have the side benefit of moving the air, something an oil filled heater does not do. They also heat the boat more quickly, which allows them to turn off more quickly. In much shorter time than an oil heater.

I have retired all of my oil heaters and given them to the Goodwill. To provide the heat I was looking for, I found that I was putting a fan on the oil heater which did not allow the thermostat to do its job. The oil heaters used up LOTS of electricity as a result. This particular heater is also very small and very, very light weight. About 4 pounds vs 20 pounds for the oil heater. And it has tip-over protection. Cost half as much too.

Comfort Zone Ceramic Heater - Walmart.com

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by frozenhawaiian

hey guys, I'm in the midst of a boat refit. she'll be out of the water all winter up here in maine and I'll be doing interior work of various varieties all though the winter. I'm looking for a heater for the boat though the winter. I won't be living aboard but I will be aboard working most days. I don't need the boat to be toasty warm but I would like to get the boat into the 50's. any suggestions? my initial thought was to get one of those electric oil filled fin type heaters. thanks in advance guys.

Oil filled is a safe and reliable. Non flammable oil so even if it leaks the fire risk is very small.

We also have two 15W bar heaters under our main berths. They keep those spaces dry and mildew free. They are AC only.

I wouldnt consider any propane or electric heater at all.

We have a diesel espar which we use on the hook. Its never on unless we are awake. A CO2 sensor is mandatory.

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[a64pilot]

If you want or need a timer, get one for a coffee pot as they can hold the amps, normal timers meant for lamps etc., can't handle the amperage. I used a coffee pot timer to heat the block heater on my Diesel truck for a few years and it worked well for that.
The advice to run the heaters off of extension cords and not the interior receptacles is good advice

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[jreiter190]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

Candle?

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Yes,candle. In 1985,it was the coldest winter on the French Riviera anyone could remember. Snow on the deck, the shoreline looked like Norway! People were wearing parkas. I had a 36' steel Van de Stadt Tulla and we were COLD ! The interior had so much condensation we were pumping the bilge daily, and THALASSA did not leak. I bought a kit that had double sided tape and shrink plastic that we covered all the bronze portholes and the four big dead lights and hit with my wife 's hair dryer.Of course, we had a small electric heater of 800 watts, but during the day, we burned candles and ran around the interior of the boat in T - shirts and shorts. We couldn't believe how much difference it made, and no more condensation.

[rhubstuff]

Big dittos on the oil filled heaters. Two of them kept our 36 ft. trawler cozy in winter. In your boat, I would leave a 60 watt heavy duty trouble light with a severe service incandescent bulb on under the engine all the time. The engine acts as a heat sink and keeps the chill off while you're gone. Be sure to allow enough air flow through the boat to carry moisture away or condensation will rust everything made of steel and you'll get mold in the enclosed spaces.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

I lived aboard full time in Toronto, and used nothing but oil filled electric heaters for a while. They do the trick, they are slow to heat up for the type of work you're talking about, but should do the trick...

Although most space heaters work by convection (the circulation of air in a room), some rely on radiant heating.

Radiant heaters emit infrared radiation that directly heats objects and people within their line of sight, and are a more efficient choice when you will be in a room for only a few hours and can stay within the line of sight of the heater. They can also be more efficient when you will be occupying the boat for a short period, because they save energy by directly heating the occupant of the room and the occupant's immediate surroundings rather than the whole room.

For convection (non-radiant) space heaters, the best types incorporate a heat transfer liquid, such as oil, that is heated by the electric element. The heat transfer fluid provides some heat storage, allowing the heater to cycle less and to provide a more constant heat source.

[jreiter190]

I have a small tower heater with remote that sweeps through an arc and can be regulated. In the Florida winter, for me, it's perfect and my 35' boat. I used to have oil filed heaters but found them bulky and used a lot of current . I also needed to run them constantly. I have one in my cabin on the ranch. It only heats one little corner by the bed. Small comfort.

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Although most space heaters work by convection (the circulation of air in a room), some rely on radiant heating.

Radiant heaters emit infrared radiation that directly heats objects and people within their line of sight, and are a more efficient choice when you will be in a room for only a few hours and can stay within the line of sight of the heater. They can also be more efficient when you will be occupying the boat for a short period, because they save energy by directly heating the occupant of the room and the occupant's immediate surroundings rather than the whole room.

For convection (non-radiant) space heaters, the best types incorporate a heat transfer liquid, such as oil, that is heated by the electric element. The heat transfer fluid provides some heat storage, allowing the heater to cycle less and to provide a more constant heat source.

Wow, you said the exact same thing as me, except that you said it so much better! Nice explanation

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[GILow]

It has probably been mentioned already, but if it has not, one advantage of the oil filled heaters is that they don't "burn" the little dust particles in the air the way some fan heaters with red hot elements do. So aside from the safety advantage they are also kinder on the nose and eyes. We've always used the oil filled column heaters for our caravan and boat and we love them.

Matt


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[UNCIVILIZED]

Given what Winters can be like in Maine, you've Definitely got a challenge on your hands. Especially if you'll be working on projects with epoxy, which needs to be kept above X degrees, for Y number of hours until it cures.

So heater suggestions aside, I'd say that making sure that the boat is WELL insulated is easily half of the battle. To the point of using one of those thermal imagers which you can borrow/rent in order to check the insulation of your house, & the weak points in same.
I'd figure that one would work well on a boat, on a cold & windy day also.

As, once you've got her so that she's not bleeding BTU's, keeping things warm will be a LOT easier.
For instance, my last boat was foam cored, both in the deck, and in her hull. Yet on a blustery, 40 degree day, you could be down below in a flannel/long sleeved shirt, over a T-shirt, sans any heat in the boat, & be plenty warm enough.

So, thinking through an insulation plan, first, particularly before shrink wrapping her, might be wise. Even if you just do something as simple as mummifying things in a layer or two of that Thick bubble pack, first.
And if you could score a pickup truck's worth of off cuts of foil backed, hard foam insulation from a contractor, so much the better. Even if you just duct tape it in place, to the hull & insides of the deck, in the areas that you're not working on, on any given day.

Also, given that you're doing a refit, if you've the $, & inclination, now's as good a time as any, to get some closed cell, soft foam insulation to do the boat's insides with. As long as you're redoing things anyway.
One of my old neighbors @ the marina, did his boat with; this stuff, some automotive liner carpeting, staple on edge trim, & some 3M spray adhesive, in like 3 days. Getting ALL of his 37'er done in one go. And it made a HUGE difference in terms of keeping his boat warm, even when he would Winter over up in Naniamo.

Just my $ 0.02, FWIW. Although Beth Leonard too, definitely became an insulation convert, after she & Evan built Hawk.

[CarinaPDX]

Thumbs up for oil-filled heaters.

Stay away from any heater using an open heating element - it is an ignition source, so fine if there is no sawdust or flammable solvents, but you are doing a refit, right? And if you are going to be using traditional contact cement be extremely careful as its fumes ignite quite easily.

Ceramic heaters work well but I have had mixed experiences with their reliability. One I bought in Sweden worked for several years, had an easily cleaned filter and tip-over switch, and was overall a winner. Both of the well-advertised version I bought in the U.S. (name starts with a "P") failed in a year; I was able to exchange parts to get one functioning heater but needless to say I am not impressed with the reliability.

Shrink-wrapping the boat sounds both expensive and a bit counter-productive. It will trap the moisture inside, so you need to ventilate a LOT to keep the boat dry (and a cool humid interior feels a lot colder than a dry cold interior, not to mention the potential for mildew, and condensation when the heater is off). If you place your folded sails around the cabin top and cover with a tarp you will trap a lot of heat for cheap.

Greg

[frozenhawaiian]

thanks very much for all the info everyone!