Never gets that cold here in
England (-5ºC) especially on the south coast. However our plans are to venture to both the North East and West of the 'States.
As such we have built 4 inches of PU foam all around the
hull above the
cabin sole (we use the space beneath the floors for long term cool
storage and for
water tanks). This meant removing the furniture and rebuilding the lockers that exist behind the seat backs.
The foam used in standard builders PU foam, we went for the "Self Extinguishing fire retardant" stuff. Yes there was a lot of mess, a big suction cleaner is a great help.
For the
cabin trunk side we have opted for a double layer of what looks like "Bubble Wrap" coated in foil this we have glued to the sides and to the under-deck. We have started to cover it with 6mm T&G "V" (makes it all look nice and boaty).
Our
deck hatches are all small (with one exception) and as such do not cause a problem. The one larger
hatch has a 4" cushion that we can clip to the inside to close off that space.
The result of all this is that we have a "Shirt sleeves"
environment all the year round.
Heating is provided by a
Dickinson Adriatic cook-stove running 4 X 1/2 Kw radiators, this may be augmented with a
Dickinson Antarctic
heater (this is also plumbed into the radiator circuit). In total we can pour 22 Kw of very dry heat into the 45 foot
boat length.
We have no
condensation issues at all, the
Diesel stove and
heater provide a marvellous dry heat. Whilst we may get warm in the summer with the cook-stove running 24/7 we can always open a Port hole (there are 8 around the
galley area) in the
winter we just turn the cook-stove up a bit and relax.
Costs? Not that much really, we purchased the foam a few can at a time so did not really notice the cost, the Bubble Wrap was purchased from a leading
DIY chain (B&Q) when on special offer (I think we spent £90.00) the contact
adhesive was more expensive that the
insulation (try Hawke House in Gosport
www.hawkehouse.co.uk).
If I factor my time in to this that yes it is expensive, however I have also gained a valuable knowledge of how the
hull was built and was able to ensure that the chain plates are sound and well bedded and remembered to note the position on a plan of the
interior.
THe Dickinson
Adriatic and the Antarctic were expensive, but not when compared against the cost of similar build standard
Stainless Steel cooker / heaters. I did save some
money by installing the system myself.
Talisman is a big(ish) Concrete Schooner we
live aboard full time, the
insulation has reduced our
fuel costs, reduced the
condensation issue (to zero) and as an unplanned by product made the
interior of Talisman much quieter, there is now little structure borne
noise, the sounds of other boats and people are now muted and distant.
I do not know that this will
work for you but after much
research and testing, it works for us. It was not easy (the foam can be difficult to contain), stripping back to the hull can also be difficult (I still have 3 section to do), working in small tight areas is time consuming when you come to line the hull (I used 9mm
Marine (BS1088) Ply) the stringers need to be bonded to the hull first then the Ply stripes need to be screwed to the battens, then you can inject the foam. Probably 3 days per section. Because you
live aboard each section needs to emptied cleaned worked upon and then replaced prior to the evening meal and period of rest.
Is It Worth it, Hell YES!
Have fun,
Simes
Interested in smart boat technology, networking and all things tech
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