Dehumidifier plus heater.

[ferrispeterchris]

My daughter and her boyfriend are trying out living aboard a 26' boat in a local Marina. Someone recommended getting one of the above. Where do I find out more about them, ie good points and bad points? What do forum members use? Many thanks.

 

[Carmel2]

If they don't have a Webasto or Eber etc, buy both, if leccy is included in the deal all the better.

 

[GrahamM376]

It's a trade off between capital cost and running cost. In a marina, any cheap (safe) electric fire can be plugged in but there's the ongoing cost of electricity if metered. Warm air also holds more moisture which then condenses as the boat cools so will need a dehumidifier as well, also not too expensive for a small portable.

If you go for a small diesel heater, Eberspacher, Mikuni, Webasto etc. you are into large capital cost + installation but maybe lower running costs. The exhaust noise may annoy close neighbours. Advantage is that if it's installed to draw in and heat outside air then damp air is expelled from the boat so maybe no need for a dehumidifier also, running off 12v, it can be used at sea or on anchor.

 

[Treecle]

We have a De'Longhi DEM10 Compact Dehumidifier, which we chose after reading reviews on Amazon. We plug it in and leave the hose running into the sink. It does a good job, but is a bit noisy - we only tend to leave it on when we're out which seems to be plenty.

Heating wise, although we have an eber we also have a fan heater which is what we use the majority of the time - it's only a cheap £15 one but it does a great job. We have an electric blanket on the bed and a frost heater which takes the edge off in the cabin while we sleep.

As the person on our boat who feels the cold most, I advocate judious use of slippers (boat floors are cold!), blankets and hot water bottles for comfort while sitting around. I recently acquired a personal sized electric blanket which is great when only one of you is cold.

 

[seastar777]

We have Webasto Heater, and Meaco junior Dd8 dehumidifier , bought after reading this forum, works fine , its quite compact but I'm not sure if it will be small enough for 26' boat ours 42'. I think its very good combination , for us anyway. Last winter we bought small oil radiator mainly because our webasto heater doesn't heat our fore cabin well enough, and we had guests over xmas, so we used it just for few nights.