Heating a small wooden boat

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PatLatham

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Hello everyone and please excuse me if the question has been asked before, I am getting used to forum ways but I am hopeless at searching for things, so here goes, please be gentle.
I have recently moved from a motorboat based on the river, with a wonky Eberspacher heater, to a small wooden sail boat with no heating and only an outboard so there is no possibility of using that for heat. I would like to have year round use but my wife insists that at our age we must have some form of heating, so could somebody please suggest an appropriate method please. One specification being that it does not cost too much.
 
Hi Pat

There have been quite a few postings on this in the year or so I've been around. You could have a look here or you could send a message to gordonmc who had a small stove made, if I recall the post.

I keep meaning to get a heater made too, so I'll watch this post with interest!

Welcome.

Shuggy
 
Spars, please forgive me if I have taken your reply in the wrong way because I believe it to be an unhelpful and sarcastic reply, especially as I am of an age where thermal underwear are essential during the winter months. But why do you feel the need to make such sarcastic comments at all ?. Are you possibly compensating for having an underdeveloped penis ?.


Shuggy, thank you very very much, I believe the comments by the bearded gentleman may well prove to be my solution, and it is certainly good to know that there are people of a similar age group here. I do hope there are some other ideas though, a little heat is most welcome but the warmer the better as far as my wife is concerned.
 
At the moment I've got the parrafin flame going, 2 bars of the electric fire on, oh thermals and shrivelled p----s PS Just putting water bottle in sleeping bag /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Oakum, it sounds rather toasty warm to me, I do have sleeping bags from my son who gets his from the Army surplus store, very cosy they are too. I do not think I shall be in a position to be able to have an electric fire going unless I install a small generator, but that will be a matter for further enquiries when money permits. The parrafin heater idea though, do they not produce poisonous fumes ?.
 
From my own investigations into this, the simple solutions aren't very safe, but do work if careful. I went to the Camping Shop in Maldon High Street, and first of all bought a "Coleman" heater, about £20 I think, plus cartridge. This gave very quick heat for my Anderson 22, but there were dangers over, or falling asleep in a sealed room with dangerous gasses. Then I bought the Gaming Gaz version, a "Blue Cat". Much more stable, less quick heat, but a certain gassy smell, £30 plus cartridge. They also had another heater which runs on the gas cartridges which work with the cookers "in a suitcase", this had a device to cut out if dangerous fumes detected, and was £69. Also got a "Four Seasons" sleeping bag, extremely warm.

regards

IanC
 
Pat - parraffin cooker one ring burning below mushroom vent to take any nasties out, electric 240 plugged into mains on pontoon as is hot air heater if needed - all turned off when turning in hence hot water bottle - sleeping bag thermals and tonight maybe blanket - bit taters out there
 
Hi Pat. You don't say what size "small" is.

Chill out a bit. Apart from getting lots of helpful and interesting replies part of the YBW ethos is that jokes are part and parcel of the experience.
 
Hi, Pat. A couple of Ideas for heating are a small wood burner, depending on how much you want to chop up your "small sailor" Two suppliers are Windy Smithy in Devon or e-mail "canvasandcast" who make a nice little multi-fuel mounted on a tray. If you don't want to cut a hole in your cabin roof, try a gas heater that fits on a 907 camping gas cylinder. Pics are available under the camping section on ebay and your local camping supply shop will get you one. Gas is O.K so long as you have plenty of ventilation and you remove it before your B.S.S examination!! I use a gas heater in our tent, when we go camping and It really warms it up. I have a wood-burning "Pot-belly" on "Tini" and sometimes it's too hot!! But boy! is it nice when I wake up in the morning and the cabin is still warm! (No thermals!!). Hope this helps.
Marc.
 
It is absolutely essential to check installation of any heater, back in the early summer our thermals weren't quite enough so we put the wood burner on only to wake up with carbon monoxide poisoning from a leak somewhere and a beautiful sunny sunday was spent in hospital!!! In fact, we were clearly lucky not to die in what is a common cause of poisoning. So please be careful.
In fact, the simple and cheapest solutions are often the least problematic all round, wouldn't you agree? So thermals does make good sense as a starting point even if it was meant to be a cheeky joke.
 
There has been mention here in the past of using a simple terra-cotta flowerpot inverted over one of the burners on your stove. I'm given to believe that it radiates heat quite nicely, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I don't have any personal experience of having to heat a boat through lack of need.
Peter.
 
If you are spending nights onboard then some sort of solid fuel heater is best so that you can let in burn whilst you are alseep (with hatch slightly open). I am a proponent of the Pansey Atkey charcoal heater - but of you want it to work whilst sailing the flu must come out slightly forward of the mast in the "slot" - if not you will be a down drafts.
 
It partly depends on the circumstances. What might be just about safe on a calm sheltered mooring would be the opposite if you wanted to heat the boat in a rough sea.

When I sometimes slept aboard in winter while hauled ashore at Beccles, I kept the cabin warm with a cheap valor stove from a junk shop. I left the kettle on top to boil, and then ventured out to do some more scraping underneath. When my hands became numb with cold, the kettle was boiling and it was time for a welcome tea break inside.
The arrangement was OK afloat on a river, if attended, but it would have been highly risky to have a parafin stove sliding around on the floor in any kind of waves.
 
I would suggest your best bet is a second hand Pansy Atkey stove (charcoal) or a secondhand Taylors diesel or parafin heater. All these have been up for sale recently either on ebay or at boat jumbles. Woodburners i had heard were no nos on sailing boats from insurers but I could be wrong on that one.
 
I had a number of heaters on my old wooden boat and nothing, but nothing was better than the old coal burning pot belly stove for radiating heat. Added to this is t when lit, all the musty smells and damp corners that are characteristic of a wooden boat in winter disappeared up the chimney. I spent many happy winters nights in the UK on my boat with a good book and a cosy fire - pure bliss.
 
Jezjez, my boat is actually of plywood hull construction, so I am not sure if the same would apply.

Castletine, I am afraid my little boat would be too small to allow room for such a large fitting as that, but thank you anyway.

Sequoiah1, I feel the same may apply to your suggestion, but I am not overly sure, perhaps somebody could show me what one looks like ?.

Clifford_Pope, I feel very much the same and would not wish to risk having any kind of naked flame alight whilst I was on the move, it is more of a night time warmth whilst at anchor or in some sheltered mooring that I was thinking of.

Roach1948, another suggestion that I use the pansey atkey, perhaps someone would be able to tell me more about this, it most certainly sounds like a good possibility.

Peterduck, I am afraid my wife would not be overly happy if I tried that idea, she is a little bit of a safety first type and would worry about too many possible disasters happening if I tried that method. I see you are from Australia, how nice, however I am most surprised that warmth on a boat is even thought about over there, such a nice country.

marc1957, that does sound like a rather toasty warm idea, though I do note the comments made by jezjez on this, but I am afraid that I do not purchase anything from e bay, I prefer to shop locally so I shall have a look in my local camping store.

LakeSailor, I do apologise for not mentioning the size, I believe my boat to be a little over twenty feet in length. Regarding your comments, I have watched silently for a day or two and I am starting to understand what you mean about humourous comments, though I believed mine to be relatively amusing at the time of writing.

oakum, yes that does sound like a rather toasty warm combination, and with all naked flames being extinguished before turning in that could possibly satisfy even my wife.

ARCMarineEveryman, that also sounds very cosy so I now have some good possible solutions to suggest to my wife.

Thank you everyone, and should somebody be able to show me what the pansey atkey looks like I would be very grateful.
 
Pat

The stove you are thinking of is a Pascall Atkey, made by the well known chandler in Cowes High Street. Not been made for years and years. I think it was called the Pansy.

The nearest modern equivalent is the Force 10 Cozy Diesel or Kerosene heater from Canada. This is imported by Navimo UK and is available from mail order chandlers. Gael Force www.gaelforcemarine.co.uk have it in their catalogue under galley then heaters for £395, but you also need a pressure tank such as that used by Taylors. You can get more details on www.force10.com
Taylors heaters are also available, but are too big for your boat and about £1000. also available from Gael Force among others. You could, however, kill two birds with one stone and install a Taylors 028 cooker. That has a cast iron hotplate and can serve as a heater as well. For more info go to www.blakes-lavac-taylors.co.uk
However, if you can find one, the ideal heater for you is a Victory. This is brass and stainless and uses a Primus with integral tank. I have one in my boat, mounted on the main bulkhead with a flue through the coachroof. It is very effective. Has not been made for at least 15 years, but you might find one secondhand.

Hope this helps
 
Au contraire, Pascall Atkey's Pansey Mk VIII is still being made and spares are no problem either, just bought mine a month ago. They are very robust stainless charcoal heaters and well worth the money. Nothing to ever go wrong with them really. Said to produce 1.5Kw dry heat. PA now have a website up and running with online store: www.islandchandlery.co.uk.
 
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