Wood stove on a sailboat?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, degouwb.

[pawpah]

Those Kimberly stoves are WAY expensive. Sure are pretty though

[roland stockham]

I have an 8inch wood stove and the heat is great. You do need to pay attention to installation and to watch where the flue is sighted. Through deck flue is no problem with the right fitting but some form of flue guard needs to be fitted below deck if there is ANY risk of someone falling against it or using it as a handhold. Downdraft caused by sails or deck structures can be a problem depending on flue position. I find that charcoal briquettes are excellent as an easily carried fuel and one charge will stay alight for 4-6hrs. Wood is great at anchor but hard to carry on passage and coal is messy and smelly compared to charcoal and does not seam to work as well on very small stoves. Don't use anthracite briquettes without a special grate, great fuel but burns hot enough to melt cast steel (I speak from experience here).
When sizing a stove for year round live aboard don't be fooled by claims like 'suitable for a 45ft boat' they are often rated for a chilly summer evening not when its sub zero outside. In the UK I used the 1.5-2Kw per cubic meter as a guide. Worked out well, I only need to open the hatch occasionally to let heat out!
Plus points
Very dry heat
Very high output for there size (which is why you need to think about instillation and protecting adjacent surfaces!)
Great 'focus', there is nothing like sitting around a wood stove on a winters night with your fav tipple!
Other than a seasonal coat of blacking they are essentially maintenance free (but need cleaning and tending in use)
Very cheap to run (free if you collect wood)
They smell of wood smoke not Kerosene (very big plus for me) and nobody ever got seasick from smelling wood!!!
Negatives
They need cleaning regularly
They take 15-20 min to get up to full heat and you have to light them not just press a button.

[hsi88]

Bought a 2nd (or 3rd?) hand Tiny Tot. It was installed on a 30 footer for a pretty long time. Owner was moving south. Mentioned he had filled the boat with smoke a few times and burning wood produced some soot on deck. But otherwise enjoyed its use.

Have not installed it on my boat yet, but tried it outside. Burning coal, it lasts 4-5 hours. Wood, 3-4 hours with large pieces lasting substantially longer. This was letting it burn down to coals that could still relight the fire. What I normally do with the home wood stove as well.

Plan to use a barometric damper and will also install a carbon monoxide detector. My experience with the stove inside the boat might be different, but I found keeping the stove closed up tight helped with burn times and kept the stove from creating too much heat. Air leaks provided plenty of air to keep it burning. Look forward to its use!

[Golden Echo]

Originally Posted by Swwly

I'm looking into some heating options, and am finding some really cool woodstoves popping up that are listed as being used in tiny homes and aboard boats.
We just bought a Contest 30 yacht, and live in Northern New England. I'm playing with the idea of getting a heating source to extend our sailing season, and we plan to live aboard at least for Summer and part of Fall.

My main questions:
Does anyone have experience with installing and living with a mini woodstove such as the following on a fiberglass monohull sailboat?
SARDINE STOVE INFO & SPECS.
https://www.tinywoodstove.com/produc...enameled-door/
The Hobbit, Small Multi Fuel Cast Iron Stove

I also see the more standard marine bulkhead heaters are an option, but they're just no where near as cool looking!

What about insurance? Are insurance companies open to stoves aboard? Will this create headaches in being able to get coverage?

Thanks in advance!

Hi SWWLY,

We have been heating our 36' steel sailboat with wood for the past 4 years. It is not messy, it is not dangerous. It is very cozy.

We have a Sardine, that we purchased from Navigator Stoves in Washington state.

We contacted our insurance company and told them we installed it. They had no problem with it. We followed the guidelines from ABYC and the National Fire Council.

We sometimes burn wood purchased at the store or we use wood we find on shore (drift wood). It's the perfect heat when using your boat over the winter. We have spent many winters aboard in Delaware. Incredibly cozy, dry, no condensation like you get from propane or alcohol.

The heat shielding is copper that was formed around 1/2" thick fire proof commercial ceiling tiles. We used 5/8" copper pipe cut to 1" lengths as the stand offs.

It is awsome heat and really makes your boat homey when it's burning.

Highly recommend it.

[Steadman Uhlich]

GAFFERMATE Diane,
I like the way your stove (and galley) looks. Very "homey" and traditional. The tile backsplash and hood looks good too. Everything, including the bread on top of the stove. Nice. And thanks for posting the text description too.

[Jim Cate]

Incredibly cozy, dry, no condensation like you get from propane or alcohol.

folks, can't we get this straight? If the heater is vented to the outside, neither alcohol nor propane introduce moisture to the interior of the boat. And, no one much uses alcohol for space heating on boats for that matter... diesel and propane are the usual alternatives to solid fuel, and have the advantage of not needing either cleaning ashes or frequent topping up of fuel in the heater. The advantages of solid fuel are under discussion in this thread, and are good for some folks.

Jim

[john61ct]

The equivalent of Webasto/Espar (diesel) for propane is Propex, and their HS2211 is designed to burn outside, in a campervan situation usually mounted underneath, or in /near the engine compartment.

Very safe and effective, efficient both of fuel and DC electric.

And yes of course burning propane in your living space produces lots of condensation (1.64 pounds of water vapour per gallon of fuel) and gas that must be vented.

[JPA Cate]

John, I think you need to change your statement to make it accurate. The moisture from propane combustion only comes out into the boat if the burner is not vented to the outside, such as from cooking stoves.

You'll get condensation in a boat when you are in there breathing, and exhaling moisture with your CO2, in spite of the fact that your heater is vented, when the air is moist and there is a large temp difference between the warm interior and the cold outside.

Of course, dry heat is preferable to moist heat in the overall scheme of warming your boat, but eliminating condensation has a whole lot to do with insulating the surfaces that want to drip. Sometimes all you need is an air gap and a moisture barrier. Sometimes, a thin layer of closed cell foam will do the trick. Circulating the warm, dry air also helps.

Ann

[john61ct]

Yes it is the venting that is makes the biggest difference. With the Propex et al, * none * of the combustion air enters the living space, only recirculated through separated heat exchange.