Insulation

[Wardy]

Have just payed the deposit on my first live-aboard, a Colvic Watson 28'6":

Living aboard overwinter, especially in the Northern Hemisphere (Inverrrrrness); Do you try and insulate your craft at all, or do you just turn the heating up and bugger the expense?

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[Trevethan]

Insulate all the cold areas --- the hull etc, but keep ventilation.

Best ventilation I have found is a big diesel heater -- My Dickinsons sucks up the wet air, burns its, spits it out the chimney and leaves me nice and warm and dry

Condensation will be your biggest enemy over winter so start preparing now.

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[Wardy]

What sort of insulation do you use, polystyrene or expanded foam (like on tank lagging) or glass fibre (Like the roof stuff)?
How do you disguise the insulation in areas like the forward cabin where the hull sides are obvious, without taking up too much of the available space?
Cheers

Steve

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[ashley]

personally, I used 1inch thick polystyrene style construction boards - not the sort where the balls come off anbd fly about!
These cost me 4 euros for about 2 square metre sheets and they bend just enough to put between the headlining and the deck.
If you're short of space, you could shell out on nice high tech materials such as plasticised foil films with alternate rockwool and foam fillings totalling about 10mm thickness. This was over 100 pounds for 15 metre roll but it was supposed to be better than three inches of foam.

Remember that, like a house, you are trying to cut down the aggregate losses of your boat as it's not practical to totally insulate after build.
so for example if you can't do one inch of insulation on everything, do two inches on half of it and you come out even.

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[boatmike]

Polystyrene is horribly combustable. try chucking even a very small piece on a bonfire and see just how much choking black smoke is produced in less than a minute..... The materials used for small boat construction are combustable enough without adding a material this volatile. Yes it's cheap but so is rockwool. Approved shipbuilding practice is to use a specialised non organic material (firemaster etc) which gives insulation and fire protection. Rockwool used for loft insulation is cheaper and OK and can be held in place with "bighead fasteners" attached to the hull with epoxy or sikaflex. This will actually improve the fire risk to an extent as well as insulating but it has a tendancy to wick up moisture so keep it above the bilges. If your boat is otherwise free of leaks it should be OK. There is also an insulation board used in cavity wall buildings that is a mineral product with an aluminium facing on one side. This could be a good option too as it is supposed to be a closed cell construction to resist damp but please not polystyrene if you value your life!

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[boatmike]

Further thoughts. Check the construction of your Colvic and you will probably find the deckhead is a foam cored construction anyway. If it is it should be pretty good and you should only need to insulate single skin hull sides. Either way don't close off all ventilation or you will make condensation worse. Think especially about your galley as this produces loads of moisture and needs oxygen for combustion...

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[pragmatist]

Absolutely agree - one of our best buys ever - makes winter boating like sitting in front of the log fire ! And the glass window so you can see the flames makes it even more comforting - except the dog tries to hog that bit !

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[Trevethan]

I've used different things in different places... fire-retartdent expando foam (be careful though I squirteed some up behind some tongue and groove which then popped off as the foam swelled.

I have also used laminate floor underlay -- the thick pinkish stuff which is fire retartdent.


The only part of the boat that hasn't been treated is the forward heads and I an thinking about thinsulate which is thin and safe.

The forward heads is wet and cold and totally unlike the rest of the boat. Last year we used it as a sail locler and dumping ground, but this winter it will become our mains heads so I need to sort it out.


bext regards,

Nick

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