How to heat a little 26 footer!

Looks good, the 1.1m minimum flu height could be a problem in my boat though - don't laugh :rolleyes: It only has 4.8" max headroom and pretty well nowhere to put it as it reduces to nothing :D Will look into it further though!
 
After a lot of googling i knocked up a flowerpot heater, simply three 'nesting' pots fitted one inside the other with bolts nuts and washers (as spacers) in between each pot. Copied the idea from an American website called Kandle Heeter. Whole lot sits on one burner of my Origo cooker and is held safe with the pan holders. Have, but not yet fitted an adjustable mushroom vent above the cooker. Expect very little, if any condensation or smell as hot air + gasses exits through said vent, we have leaky three part 1980's washboards so fresh air suppy not a problem, read on an earlier thread an idea of fabricating a copper flue if vent proves inadequate. Uses tiny amount of meths as flame is turned down to little more than candle size. Heats my W21 (Warwick) very well with a dry radiated heat, with the vent fitted I expect even less condensation. When tested a few weeks ago it was -5 outside and warm enough for T-shirt inside!
 
Sophie19 said:
After a lot of googling i knocked up a flowerpot heater, simply three 'nesting' pots fitted one inside the other with bolts nuts and washers (as spacers) in between each pot. Copied the idea from an American website called Kandle Heeter. Whole lot sits on one burner of my Origo cooker and is held safe with the pan holders. Have, but not yet fitted an adjustable mushroom vent above the cooker. Expect very little, if any condensation or smell as hot air + gasses exits through said vent, we have leaky three part 1980's washboards so fresh air suppy not a problem, read on an earlier thread an idea of fabricating a copper flue if vent proves inadequate. Uses tiny amount of meths as flame is turned down to little more than candle size. Heats my W21 (Warwick) very well with a dry radiated heat, with the vent fitted I expect even less condensation. When tested a few weeks ago it was -5 outside and warm enough for T-shirt inside!
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Brilliant

I have tried a single flower pot, mine eventually cracked: the three nesting pots look really clever.

Still not sure how to get the warmth down to foot level, maybe a "heatstick"

I'd still be a bit concerned about the water vapour though, my Origo does create a bit of condensation even when turned down low. I like the idea of some sort of simple ducting out through an adapted washboard.

How would you capture the water vapour and what would duct it?
 
Zagato said:
Looks good, the 1.1m minimum flu height could be a problem in my boat though - don't laugh :rolleyes: It only has 4.8" max headroom and pretty well nowhere to put it as it reduces to nothing :D Will look into it further though!
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Flue height is not a problem if you are only going to use the heater when moored for the night. All you need is a an extra length of flue pipe that simply plugs in to the deck-fitting above the deck, with the cowling on top of that. In the morning you just take it down and sail off.
 
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Of course! I have two mushroom vents, one directly above the cooker which would take a few fumes away if I went with a portable heater for quick short blasts.
 
Zagato said:
I would like some heat for those very occasional cold nights aboard. I have a two burner cooker that runs on meths or paraffin - would that do if I kept it well ventilated. It would only be to warm it up and not kept on over night. I only have head room to sit, so it's not a big area or have you any other cheap alternatives?
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don't use cooking equipement for heating, buy a heater, either 2nd hand or new. A mukumi heater is cheap and will heat your boat well and keep it dry,
 
Cor, it goes on, and on.
Any fixed heater on your boat would drive you bonkers; any portable heater for that matter. Try the plant pot wheeze or just put the kettle on.
 
I heat my massive 26 footer with a Wallas1800 paraffin heater, maybe a bit dear for limited use but I think it's worth it.

The only other option I would consider would be a catalytic heater, but I didn't want to introduce gas to a gas free boat.
 
mrjemm said:
Take your laptop and put it on your lap. These things create lots of heat. Not very practical or romantic, but will keep your core toasty while you hunt better answers; perhaps taking comfort that other Folksongers are on the same track- http://billwhateley.wordpress.com/2007/05/13/a-warm-dry-boat/
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You will need a pair of decent batteries & a fair bit of charging (engine use, solar or wind gen) to keep them up to snuff if you are using a laptop for any amount of time.
 
Admittedly true if they are so inefficient as to pump out enough heat to warm you, but I guess many single-handers and passage-makers must use them judging by all the blogs and forum entries.
 
Thanks Mrjemm for the Folksong blog link, I had forgotten about Bills blog and that he keeps his in over winter. Bill has currently no ventilation and is suffering deck fitting leaks which must make conditions miserable.

I have one leak around the step going into the cabin but have 2" thick insulation EVERYWHERE covered by a nice lining and two ventilation systems one permanently open mushroom type covered with a right angled funnel and a mushroom fan one which I have left closed over the winter - no probs with condensation on the hard, will see what it's like in the drink next year...

Reading the books of Francis Chichester/ Robin Knox Johnston and the like they seem to all keep warm by drinking brandy or whiskey. Complete piss heads lol Sorry Robin but would you really take so many cases of beer on an attempt to sail the world single handed these days....lol
 
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Been re-reading the old nutter Tristan Jones' "One Hand...", and he uses a stove and insulation- preferably tin foil! More relevantly though, he comments on covering ports and hatches in cold climes as much heat is lost this way. And of course the booze.
 
Sack time

Zagato said:
Reading the books of Francis Chichester/ Robin Knox Johnston and the like they seem to all keep warm by drinking brandy or whiskey. Complete piss heads lol Sorry Robin but would you really take so many cases of beer on an attempt to sail the world single handed these days....lol
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From what I remember of their books they also spent a fair bit of time in their bunks. I think RKJ records a 10 hour kip once. None of this getting up every 20 minutes for them!
 
Searush said:
Not much point in the Southern Ocean or off the shipping lanes is there? Different matter in the Channel.
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I was thinking of their laid-back approach to circumnavigating compared with that taken by modern yachtsmen/women, e.g.

'Claudio Stampi, a psychologist, monitored MacArthur's sleep through a microcomputer attached to her wrist, and tailored a sleep program. MacArthur learnt to sleep in 20-minute bursts, and to survive on less than five hours a day. On her first night on shore, she slept for three hours, her longest stretch in 94 days.' (from http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/i-love-ellen-said-one-onlooker-691590.html)

Eric Hiscock, in 'Wandering Under Sail', tells how he turned in from midnight until 6am when single-handed and becalmed just South of the Little Russell; knowing the tide would set him southward into open water for several hours and there was little likelihood of shipping in the area. He says he did have a habit of "waking every hour to have a look round".
 
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