advice on heating my boat please

Burnham Bob

Burnham Bob

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We're going to be sailing through the winter. The boat is a Trapper 500. I can't afford (or justify) a permanent heating arrangement like an eberspacher. Old remedies like a flower pot on the cooker seem a little unsafe/ineffective. Small gas fired heaters look ideal (the ones that use a gas cartridge) but of course the danger is carbon monoxide (and I am told condensation). Has anyone ever used one? Or what about the spirit heaters like the Origo?

We have shore power so if I go into a marina I can use a small fan heater. But if we wanted to be adventurous and anchor overnight what does the forum recommend. Naturally we wouldn't leave it on overnight and SWMBO would expect tea in the morning with me switching the heat on before she gets up.

All serious suggestions considered!
 
Burnham Bob said:
We're going to be sailing through the winter. The boat is a Trapper 500. I can't afford (or justify) a permanent heating arrangement like an eberspacher. Old remedies like a flower pot on the cooker seem a little unsafe/ineffective. Small gas fired heaters look ideal (the ones that use a gas cartridge) but of course the danger is carbon monoxide (and I am told condensation). Has anyone ever used one? Or what about the spirit heaters like the Origo?

We have shore power so if I go into a marina I can use a small fan heater. But if we wanted to be adventurous and anchor overnight what does the forum recommend. Naturally we wouldn't leave it on overnight and SWMBO would expect tea in the morning with me switching the heat on before she gets up.

All serious suggestions considered!
Click to expand...

don't knock the pot until you have tried it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brHqBcZqNzE
 
for every litre of hydrocarbon fuel (or very roughly 1kg of candle) you burn, you generate approx the same amount of water into the air.


Then you have to ask yourself what happens to all the invisible little nano-particles of carbon that the flame produces ? Well, you breathe them in, and your lungs act as very efficient filters to collect those particles. These little chaps are so fine that they can pass directly into your bloodstream.

The only safe, healthy-safe, heating is that which exhausts to the air outside (though passing moths and birds, and the watch on deck may not thank you) with a shroud to produce heat by radiation, and convection. The number of water-based heating systems on boats is limited...

Ho hum.
 
My wife got a small hot water bottle from The Range which makes the foot of the bed cosy.
I considered those gas heaters and decided they are too dangerous on a boat, even in a cockpit and certainly lethal indoors. People have been killed using them in a tent.
 
sorry, yes, I saw a number of wet heating systems on the Thames when I lived aboard there, particularly on NBs, but I should have said 'yachts'.
 
sarabande said:
for every litre of hydrocarbon fuel (or very roughly 1kg of candle) you burn, you generate approx the same amount of water into the air.


Then you have to ask yourself what happens to all the invisible little nano-particles of carbon that the flame produces ? Well, you breathe them in, and your lungs act as very efficient filters to collect those particles. These little chaps are so fine that they can pass directly into your bloodstream.

The only safe, healthy-safe, heating is that which exhausts to the air outside (though passing moths and birds, and the watch on deck may not thank you) with a shroud to produce heat by radiation, and convection. The number of water-based heating systems on boats is limited...

Ho hum.
Click to expand...
Indeed.
I think it's generally more than 1:1 water to fuel burned, but let's not split hairs.
Options that work are
eberbasto
Solid fuel stove with chimney
Shore power and fan heater
blown air gas heater

Don't knock the shore power option, for the price of an eber, you can be a long time in a marina.

Alternatively, a thick duvet on a freezing cold but dry day can be bliss.
There is something to be said for smaller boats where the kettle can be used without leaving said duvet.....

You've left it on the late side, but installing an eber, even if it does not add that much to the value of your boat, it makes it the one to buy?
 
Burnham Bob said:
We're going to be sailing through the winter. The boat is a Trapper 500. I can't afford (or justify) a permanent heating arrangement like an eberspacher. Old remedies like a flower pot on the cooker seem a little unsafe/ineffective. Small gas fired heaters look ideal (the ones that use a gas cartridge) but of course the danger is carbon monoxide (and I am told condensation). Has anyone ever used one? Or what about the spirit heaters like the Origo?

We have shore power so if I go into a marina I can use a small fan heater. But if we wanted to be adventurous and anchor overnight what does the forum recommend. Naturally we wouldn't leave it on overnight and SWMBO would expect tea in the morning with me switching the heat on before she gets up.

All serious suggestions considered!
Click to expand...

Pressure lanterns (Tilley & Bialaddin) are just great for heating a boat, but the trouble with most of the forms of heating you're exploring is that they all produce lots of water and thus lots of condensation,
Dry heat is essential on a boat, and ideally @ cabin-sole level - so nothing beats one of the blown air heaters. I swear by a 25 year-old fan heater, made by Glen in Ireland - only 1kw and OK in a 31' boat down to about -4C. An alternative is a Hot-Pot, which burns anything, or one of those diesel drip heaters like the Refleks or Dickenson. Both the latter serious money but better than any space heater.
When I anchor and it's cold outside I light the gas oven (burn with plenty of ventilation) and close up and let the unlit stove act as a storage heater.
The warmest and cosiest boat I've been in had an Eberspacher oil-boiler and forced air heat-exchangers all round saloon and sleeping cabins.
 
I have a Coleman petrol lamp which throws out enormous heat but I've always been a little worried about using it in the saloon as - like the gas cartridge heaters - its receommended you use it outside only. I do have a monoxide alarm - maybe the answer is to try the lamp with the alarm on and see if it goes off before the cabin is warm.
 
IMHO there is little point in a heating system that doesn't have an external flue. All you do is make your boat damper.
The cheapest and easiest vented heating system would, I think, be a Propex gas fired heater. Somewhat cheaper than an eber, still provides blown hot air and can be tucked away in a locker. More expensive to run than a diesel heater, but whether that is an issue depends on how often you will use it.
Solid fuel is potentially quite cheap to buy, but sensitive to installation location. You can't just stick it anywhere, the flue must exit somewhere that allows it to draw. So this depends on your boat.
I used to have a Wallas paraffin fuelled heater which was quite a nice bit of kit- about £700 new, only needs a 1" flue so can be installed pretty much anywhere.
 
I have a 44 gallon drum in the cockpit sitting on 4 house bricks to keep it off the fibreglass deck that i burn timber and/or coals in to keep warm.
 
Burnham Bob said:
We're going to be sailing through the winter. The boat is a Trapper 500. I can't afford (or justify) a permanent heating arrangement like an eberspacher. Old remedies like a flower pot on the cooker seem a little unsafe/ineffective. Small gas fired heaters look ideal (the ones that use a gas cartridge) but of course the danger is carbon monoxide (and I am told condensation). Has anyone ever used one? Or what about the spirit heaters like the Origo?

We have shore power so if I go into a marina I can use a small fan heater. But if we wanted to be adventurous and anchor overnight what does the forum recommend. Naturally we wouldn't leave it on overnight and SWMBO would expect tea in the morning with me switching the heat on before she gets up.

All serious suggestions considered!
Click to expand...
Dave2452 of this parish supplies & fits these dry air heaters(Eberspacher/Mykoni/Websato) if you do not want to.
I got my eberspacher(D1LC) off a bloke who removes them from ex-BT vehicles.
It is turned on full blast & warms up my Westerly Regatta290 a treat.
You will need good batteries and make good connections.
 
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