Do you have a heater in your boat?

[SvenH]

Do you have/want a heater in your boat?

I'd like to get a heater in my boat and I'm curious about the percentage of other boat owners that actually (do not) have or (do not) want a heater.

Would you mind sharing your thoughts?

 

[FWB]

I have 2 heaters. A Sigmar 100 for use at anchor, it has a cosy visible flame. Also a Webasto Airtop for instant heat and use underway if necessary. Both Diesel driven.

 

[SteveSarabande]

Eber D2, and a fan heater for marina use

 

[TonyBuckley]

I put one in last summer. Got tired of being damp and cold over summer. Its a 3kw diesel eber or something.

Shes a small boat so didnt run any vents, just drilled a hole in the locker and butted the heat output.

Bought Heater and exhaust off ebay from the UK. And skin fitting from ebay turkey. Didn't take long to fit.

And the results are wonderful. Went down there few days ago - ambient 3 degrees but in thirty mins got the cabin upto 25 degrees. Stayed on board for few hours, tidied up, did some planning.

Basically it has made the boat much more accessible and nice to be on - glad I did it.

 

[Kelpie]

We have a Wallas paraffin heater, very compact and uses little electricity. About 1.5kW output, which is just about enough for a relatively small boat.
The inside of our boat has been known to resemble a laundrettes as we have oilies and clothing strung up from every available grab rail and handle.

For cruises lasting more than a weekend, we would really miss the heater. You need some way of drying gloves, socks, oilies, etc.

I suppose if we didn't live on the West Coast of Scotland it would be a bit different

 

[philip_stevens]

Eber Hydronic, connected to two radiators, a fan matrix - and the calorifier. I also have a small fan heater for marina use - rarely used as rarely visit a marina!

The Hydronic is on a timer, so can come on in the morning to give hot water as well as warming the boat - British summers are not that warm!!

 

[NornaBiron]

Refleks diesel, used every winter. Provides us with hot water too.

 

[charles_reed]

Can't understand anyone who spends any time on their boat being able to survive without a heater.

I used to have an Eberspacher - appalled at its unreliability and costs I tore it out and am now very happy with an electric fan-heater. The latter has kept we warm in ambient external
temperatures of -8C.

But now in the Med, so am tucked away with available shorepower when weather turns cold enough to demand heating.

 

[davidej]

Have an ebby -no probs

Don't use it much but lovely when you do want some warmth.

 

[oceanpilgrim]

have a Eberspacher for quick blast and a taylors 049d diesel heater for night use of when it is very cold

 

[Cardo]

We have an Eber for when we're away from a marina. We also have a frost heater and a fan heater for when shore power is available.

 

[Haven't-a-Clue]

600W oil filled rad with thermostat and a 1kW/2kW fan heater, obviously primarily for marina use, but with a 1kW inverter I can use either on low settings when motoring.....and I have when it's been particularly chilly. Leave the cabin doors open and with a cockpit tent, can make winter boating quite bearable. Oh and I got a 60W 'leccy blanket for Xmas. Now THAT really is nice with a sleeping bag, I would guess an overnight at anchor would be quite bearable! Would love an ebersplutter thingy but at those prices.......

 

[pvb]

Eberspacher D3L on mine. 22 years old and still works wonderfully well!

Also have a 2kW fan heater for occasional marina use.

 

[LadyInBed]

The boat came equipped with:
1 Propex gas heater
3 electric fan heaters (one in each cabin)
2 electric 'frost watch' (one in engine bay t'other in saloon)

All very well and good, but I am on a riverside mooring so no mains available except when I run the generator or am along side with mains available, so I try to go onto a pontoon with mains for a couple of days in early April and run the heaters to dry the boat out.
The Propex / generator gets used if I spend any winter nights onboard.

 

[All_at_Sea]

Eber D4 and fan heater, twin hot plates and kettle for when plugged in.

 

[Sandyman]

Can't understand anyone who spends any time on their boat being able to survive without a heater.

I used to have an Eberspacher - appalled at its unreliability and costs I tore it out and am now very happy with an electric fan-heater.

Unreliable ??? Guess you dont do you own servicing then. Absolutely nothing wrong with Spachers if you look after them they look after you. I have a D1L 1800w in situ for ready use plus another one services and ready to install should situ one go duff.
Bought two defective ones on fleabay cheapo just to build up a stock of spares.
Use lecky fan heaters in marina only if it works out lecky cheaper than using dieso in the Spacher.
Failing that we have a propane bulkhead mounted catalytic gas heater in the saloon and a blower which runs off the donk
should all else fail. Should we ever have to run the donk for heating then it would also feed a rad in the forepeak and one in our aft cabin.
I dont believe in being cold

 

[Searush]

I have a Thermx catalytic wall heater which can singe your face off, but I only use it when it falls below freezing. It's nice when sitting around in the cabin at night, for getting into bed & getting up in the morning. If I crane out for the winter (which I do every few years or so for maintenance) it hardly gets used at all.

I have no access to shore power but don't find it a great loss - certainly not worth the extra couple of thousand quid a Marina berth would cost.

 

[No Regrets]

Eber 4kw, lovely thing if a little clicky at night, but has a timer....

Three tube heaters spread around for when we have shore power, but only in the Winter, as the Eber heats every bit of the boat, and uses minimal diesel.

Previous boats had LPG powered Propex heaters, both worked very well indeed!

Wouldn't be without something...

 

[KellysEye]

We used a 1.5 KW oil heater when the boat was on the hard. If you heat the boat then you also need dehumidifier which fed into the sink with a hose from the back of the unit.

 

[FullCircle]

We have a Webasto AirTop 3500. It works well, but to be honest, output is a bit weedy with 5 outlets.
If we change it, we would go to the Hydronic system, and up output to 5 kw.

We also have a small 1.2Kw oscillating fan halogen heater with blower. Best £17.99 we spent.

Hot water is calorifier run off the engine.

We had it installed by Jeanneau during the build, so no problems with fitment.
It is reliable if you fire it up once a month.
I fitted the 7 day programmer which is also good.

We also have one outlet going into the oiles wet locker, so nice warm oilies to put on.