Heating and winter and cold and brrrrr

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Bolts

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I'm living on a Westerly Discuss (33ft) with shore power but no heating system. I'm loathe to fit a whole system but as this is my first boat and I only got on board in July I'm not sure of the best portable heating options (and of course dehumidifier options). Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
If your shore power is unlimited - not pay as you go, we found a fan heater with thermostat a good option. It is a good dry heat, can be turned down at night and when you are not on board, but gets the place toasty very quickly when turned up- you need to let the air circulate throughout the boat though- We also used a 12v fan at the deckhead occasionally to push the warm air back to the floor rather than having a hot head, cold feet! We also have a solid fuel stove, which is also a dry heat for when we can´t use shore power. Condensation will be your biggest problem, especially if you don´t have good insulation.
 
Likewise found fan heaters good in Pembrokeshire but not adequate further north. I would say if you are noth of a line from Mersey to Wash it may not be enough. Other ones are the oil filled radiators or the traditional box with element in the bottem which are very cheap. Both these are good for sleeping cabins as they are silent wheras a fan heater comming on in a small cabin tends to wake you up. 2/3 small heaters spead out seams to work better than one big one.

If you are looking at permenant live-aboard anywhere around this part of the world I would say heating has to be a very high priority mainly to keep the boat dry otherwise all you cloathes beading etc will be destroyed by mildew even if you keep warm. It must be dry heat, it must curculate effectively all round the boat including lockers and it must be powerfull enought for you to keep a couple of hatches cracked for ventilation most of the time without getting cold. On a Discuss I would think in the region of 5-7kw min. People who make boat heaters will tell you you need 2-3Kw but thats because they are designing system for chilly autem & sping days not to keep you snug through Feb rain and gales!
If you are permenently installing heaters and will always have shore power then the electric oil tube radiator would make a good system with heat distributed through the boat but will need a good 240v system and plenty of shore power. Stuff like the eberspacher (especially the water/radiator system) seem good but complex for service/repaire. My fav is a log burner and radiators if you need them to distribute heat.
 
One of our best ever buys was a Dickinson diesel heater Newport version - keeps our 41 footer wonderfully warm - too much so in spring & autumn but since it's very economical so you can afford to open the hatches and let the boat dry out. Friends with a beamy Moody 42 also swear by it. They whack out at least 5kw I believe and can be gravity fed (we have a small inline pump and feed it from the main fuel tank). We bought ours from Eurospars in Plymouth about 10 years ago - they were most helpful and the guy who sold us ours said he'd sailed to Greenland and kept one going on his boat for 8 months non-stop ! The only down-side is in gusty winds it blows back down the chimney and sometimes has to be turned off - we plan to extend the chimney for harbour this winter.

We also use a electric halogen radiant heater (the desktop small version cost us about £20 and we have one for the office which is floorstanding and cost less than £40 as I recollect). This gives instant heat, is silent, and the radiance is cheering. I should also have said that the Newport has a glass front so you can see flames on that too. Neither is as good as a log fire but they're the next best thing. The radiant heaters are light and we pack ours away in the forecabin when not needed.

Don't be chilly - there's nothing more depressing than a damp chilly boat. Went on a course a few years ago - some of the students were staying on the sailing school boat - unheated - in March. Asked them round for a drink on the Friday night - had the Dickinson going - they were both amazed and envious. Others on the YBW fora use their Dickinsons for brewing coffee and roasting parsnips !!!!

Penny
 
In these days of greenhouse gases and environmental issues perhaps we should go back to basics . Rather than waste heat we should prevent it from escaping . Insualting the boat would be too expensive add weight and one would still have to allow for fresh air unless you wanted to suffocate .

I would therefore recommend that you get good padded underwear . I believe the Chinese are expert at this particulary those from Shanghai where the govenment has decreed that anyone south of a certain line of latitude shall not have central heating . I once worked in an office there and it was minus 7 degrees .

This will be the most practical and you will feel really cosy with this next to your skin night and day . You can even add more insulation on top . Also gloves with the finger ends cut off will keep your hands warm enabling you to carry on with manual tasks. The under wear will also have a back flap for the necessary ablutions etc

As I recollect the human body generates about 40 watts so the more people close to you the better particularly at night . You can also get a good flea powder at the local supermarket .. On particularly cold days you can try your hand at an eightsome reel or strip the willow

I am sure with this formula you will be able to carry on through the winter months where others might falter
 
Well - thermals and minus 7! Not us. Now in Spain but after three winters afloat in the UK, one in Brighton and two in Ipswich (ie if you're a long way North our experience may be too soft for you.) We have an eberspacher which was fitted on the boat already. Good and useful but a bit temperamental and has given us grief occasionally. We have found fan heaters v useful (but they chew power) and also the little radiators you can get in homebase or B&Q. These are great as you can leave them on all night (particularly useful in your sleeping cabin) and they don't use so much power. Homebase also do these tiny dehumidifiers which are great if you're living aboard. (Usweless to leave unattended) They come with transformers which you can cut off and run them directly off the 12v.

On insulation - we did insulate our boat and we swear by it, both in hot and cold. Look up previous threads, but in summary we cleaned off all the old hull ining (20 year fun fur lined with cockroach bodies. Yummy!) Then restuck on 9mm closed cell foam. In future would stick to 6mm. We used a lot and so bought industrial quanitites but for small amounts cheapy camping mats will do. Glue is a whole other story ... It made the boat much warmer in winter and much cooler in the heat - really worth doing.

Also - drill holes in the tops of your lockers; where possible use rattan frames or netting on the front of them. Store clothes in lockers you don't access often inside vaccuum bags. Use ventair or ikea bedslats or similar under your bunk. Anything which keeps air moving in lockers. Come March/April take everything out of every locker and check it over and restow it. (Honest - and you'll get rid of some of it, thus reducing your weight and freeing up space again.) Lift up your mattress once a week (at least) and leave it on edge to air for a day.

HTH
 
Ah well they dont breed them as tough as they used to .

I remember in the 60's up in the bothy in Glencoe after a days skiing, our trousers froze solid over night and we had to hit them with a stone to unstiffen them to put them on again in the morning .
Water in the burn was cold and clear after breaking the ice to mix with oatmeal for breakfast .Those were the days !!
 
I also have a Dickenson heater. It is great. We have a very well insulated boat, using about 1 inch of close cell foam every where. We dont get any damp in lockers even though the heater is only on the main saloon area. You get dry heat and a nice radiant effect so leaving the hatches cracked gives nice ventilation and a warm dry boat. Would not have any other form of heat on my boat. I removed 2 air blown heaters to install this one. It also needs no power to run it.
 
If you are living onboard forget trying to use a dehumidifier. you will be fighting a loosing battle. Use some form of blow air heater and make sure you can draw outside ait into the boat and expel it somewhere. that way the boat will become it's own condenser and you may win in the condensation battle.
 
In winter 2004/5 we lived aboard in Chi Marina, two of us, 24/7 and ran two dehumidifiers which coped brilliantly. We concluded that we would not dream of wintering in the UK living aboard without them. We were bone dry and had to keep the humidistats down a bit to stop over-drying the air. What problems did you have?
 
Not so much problems as wht is the point.

I spent 3 winters onboard in Norway and many in the UK. If you through enough power at it then a dehunidifier will work. the problem is you are creatin moisture by Breathing, using the cooker and opening and closing hatches.

If you heat the boat up wiht dry heat and then blow that air outside (by cracking a hatch) then the boat itself is a dehimidifier and all you need to add is heat and airflow. it a much cheaper option as you still need the heat in the winter.
 
No, the dehumidifier actually gives out heat; nothing is lost to the outside, unlike ventilation. You really ought to try a dehumidifier before declaring it unsuitable on theoretical grounds.
 
Re: Heating and winter and cold and brrrrr - Insulation

Yes crucially important I use 11/2" of teak but if you dont have a wooden boat I would start with this, particularly insulating lockers otherwise evey hull serfice is going to be generating water! The key to comfort in UK is staying dry rather than staying warm and very importantly keeping your gear dry.
 
Re: Heating and winter and cold and brrrrr - Insulation

I have had nearly all types of heaters from solid fuel, blown air systems, fan heaters and diesel heaters.

I would always go for the diesel heaters as they are controlable unlike solid fuel and burn cleanly. Also, if you get a gravity feed one they are silent in operation.

Dickenson are very good and I also like the Reflex heaters, some of the larger ones I have seen been converted to run radiators.

Its all a matter of choice really and I would agree that you really need to look at insulation so the heat you generate does not get wasted.
 
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