Solid Fuel Heating and Cooking

[whiskerstay]

Having spent many freezing nights aboard an unheated Crystal, I am now highly in favour of fitting this little(!) beauty, sourced for me by Mirelle.

The First Mate likes the idea of having a baby aga on board (even if the oven door is adorned with a suitably stroppy looking Halibut) and it will solve the heating problem no end - a little primus will then suffice for making tea during the summer. I'm just a bit concerned about the weight - 160 lbs - which is about 11 stone (weighs almost as much as me).

On a 30ft cruiser, displacing about 5 tons, is this a little excessive? It might sort out the list to starboard she currently has, but will probably slow us down a bit too.

Full details on the stove are <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.marinestove.com/futurestoves.htm>here</A>.


<hr width=100% size=1>"Stop mucking about, darling, and get the bloody mud weight over."

 

[Gordonmc]

Whiskerstay,

I thought about one of these, or at least the Sardine last year, but on the grounds of lack of space went for a bulkhead cabin heater instead.
Reason: bu**eration factor in getting the thing lit each time you want a brew, plus the hassle of importing from the US.
I wish now I had looked more closely as the alcohol drop-in burner would solve the problem of a stove top heat in short order and the Halibut would let me get rid of my ailing gas oven/hob.
In practice the bulkhead burner (paraffin) is as much a bind to get going and doesn't heat the whole boat very well.
My boat has a lot of pig iron trim ballast which I could move about or dump to compensate for the additional weight. (30' Hillyard)
What about importing from the States? Have you found a UK dealer? If so I would be interested.
Have you looked at the Faversham (Colin Frake)?
Let us know how you get on.

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[sailorman]

looks ideal for cooking fish

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[sailorman]

r u the "Flap" built for Sqd Ldr ( & Gentleman) Ken Gatwood Legon de Honour from Walton-on-Naze.
i knew Ken from 1973/4 onwards he spent a number of weeks on the Deben each year & sailed singlehanded to Neiwpoort each year to meet-up with "old friends".
i also have a copy of his Obituary from the Telegraph somewhere


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[Peterduck]

Before I bought my present boat "Swallow", I designed a 27ft canoe yawl for myself. As part of the calculations, I worked out that to lower the boat in the water one inch, I would have to increase the ballast by 700lbs. I don't think that Crystal will notice the difference, but you and your beloved almost certainly will. I've been told that a nice dry, warm interior beats a cold, clammy, damp one 9 times out of 10.
Peter.

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[whiskerstay]

Hi Gordon,

Part of the reason for wanting a solid-fuel stove is because it could do the heating AND the cooking at once (not that we cook that much on board). I wanted a bulkhead heater originally, but if would have meant obliterating a rather nice (if somewhat useless) hanging locker, which I couldn't bring myself to do. We have a huge lead-lined tray for a galley, currently fitted with a non-compliant (and slightly dodgy) gas cooker, which, if we fitted the Halibut, would look lovely.

I agree that importing from the US would be a pain - I might well send them an email and ask them if they have a UK agent, hinting at a fair amount of potential on this side of the pond.

Haven't looked at the Faversham - Google produced some odd search results when I tried a look. Do you have a link at all?

Cheers,

/<

<hr width=100% size=1>"Stop mucking about, darling, and get the bloody mud weight over."

 

[whiskerstay]

Icy Crystal

You have been correctly informed. I found it difficult to find anything more miserable than sitting aboard, watching my breath vaporise, in late October. I would go to bed at 8 o'clock just so I'd be warm in my sleeping bag.

Or I'd go to the pub.

But back to the point. Your calculations for your canoe yawl are encouraging - Crystal does have a slight list to starboard, due, I think, to her diesel tanks, being on that side, and I suppose the obvious thing to do is to get all the new gubbins fitted (this includes a sink to replace to current tap-and-plastic-bowl) in the galley, and then mess about with her ballast. I estimate we'll be adding only 200lbs to her displacement.

Cheers,

/<



<hr width=100% size=1>"Stop mucking about, darling, and get the bloody mud weight over."

 

[Skipjack]

Re: Icy Crystal

I have been mulling this one over for my 24' steel Van De Stadt, and I reckon this pot belly stove (http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=090310030&r=2139&g=118) might be the very thing for heating. I suspect the a*se ache of lighting a range for a midsummer cup of tea would be unbearable, so I'm only looking for dry heat.

I am about to buy this Clarke stove, so please, anybody who knows better please talk me out of it quickly! I tried to find the Frake stove on the net with little success, but did find some articles in CB backnumbers.



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[Gordonmc]

Hi,

I have Emailed the Halibut's daddy asking if there is any distribution in the UK or an agent. So far no reply. My guess is they are not producing this model in any great number until they establish the market. Hence the absence of any pricing.

I don't believe Colin Frake has a web presence. I wrote off for his catalogue: Colin Frake, Standard Quay, Faversham, Kent. ME13 7BS. Tel: 01795 531493.
The stove is "The Faversham" which is 300mm x 200mmx 390mm high. Burns wood and coal but not charcoal.

Like you I thought the bonus of the Halibut was the oven which would let me get rid of the gas stove. The Faversham has no oven. Have you looked at the Newport by Dickinson Marine? Again, no oven. www.dickinsonmarine.com. Based British Colombia.

Will send details if I hear anything back from my inquiry to Marinestove.

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[Gordonmc]

Whiskerstay,

I said I would pass on any response to my Email to Marine Stoves in the USA and the substance of the reply overnight follows. Reading between the lines it appears production won't start until there are sufficiant firm orders. I am thinking along the lines of prompting some more interest here which might push things along to a point where Classic Marine becomes more interested or even a batch order is placed on behalf of forumites. Could we get enough orders to fill a container or part container and distribute ourselves? I have brought cars across the pond and it shouldn't put too much on the unit price.

What think you?

The reply:

We have been trying to interest Moray McPhail of Classic Marine to distribute
in the UK. No progress to date. Shipping direct is simple for the two smaller
stoves @ 50-60 lbs. The HALIBUT weighs about 150 and will need to be handled
by a more of a freight company. Will check on FED EX Freight to see what their
maximum weight limit is. HALIBUT prototype is great. I'm working on the
production details currently and will be sending out a letter to prospective
clients regarding the first production run. Our aim is to secure several dozen
stove orders to initiate the first batch of HALIBUT stoves. Will send along
this info to you as well.

Have attached a HALIBUT dimension sheet FYI.

Thanks for the inquiry,

Andrew Moore

Navigator Stove Works,Inc.
509 Double Hill Rd.
Eastsound WA. 98245
USA

www.marinestove.com
360 376 5161 / fax 509 352 1458

HALIBUT Stove Dimensions:

19.75” Wide.
15.625” Deep.
15.5” To top of cook surface with legs.
17.5” to top of bronze sea rail.

Legs are 3” High.
------------------------------------------------

HALIBUT Platform Size Minimums:

26” Wide - Minimum. ( leaves 2” gap between stove & shielding)

18” Deep - Minimum. ( leaves 1” gap between stove & shielding)

{dimensions take L & R and Rear 1” “stand-off” shielding into consideration plus an additional 2” each side to access turnbuckle hold-downs}






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[Mirelle]

Include me in

I have also (as Whisterstay says) been in touch with Andrew Moore at Navigator Stove Works and am also interested. Need to do some platform measuring...

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[whiskerstay]

Halibut Stove

Thanks for this, Gordon - I think it would be great to try and drum up some interest. I don't know where Classic Marine are coming from on this, but if they were to be the official UK distributor, I would be very happy - Classic Marine's shop is a 2 minute walk from my boatyard!! A few of us could make faithful promises to pay to the worthy McPhail...

Failing that, I would imagine we could interest enough people to arrange the import ourselves - a brief email shot to Thames Barge charter companies, large classic boat owners, forumites etc. might drum up enough interest.

Of course, we'd need to know what they plan to charge for the stove. But it all sounds promising - count me in.

Cheers,


/<


<hr width=100% size=1>"Stop mucking about, darling, and get the bloody mud weight over."

 

[RogerH]

The difficulty with a cast iron coal burning stoves of the Halibut size is that it might be a bit hot for the boat. I had a very nice Torgem coal stove on our Harrison Butler 26 footer - it was perfect when there was snow lying on deck but otherwise produced sauna conditions below decks. I changed it for a Pascal Atkey charcoal stove a couple of years ago. Its a much better compromise (and we float higher in the water!) The Torgem found a home on the smack 'Pembeth' where I understand it is still doing good service.

Roger

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[whiskerstay]

I was aboard Pembeth a few weeks ago, and the stove was doing a sterling job - her saloon isn't massive (although still quite enviable!) and the warmth was wonderful.

What do people think about the amount of control you have over the heat, e.g. by opening the flue further, using the airflow grates beneat the coal box etc. Can you simply add less coal?

/<

<hr width=100% size=1>"Stop mucking about, darling, and get the bloody mud weight over."

 

[Neal]

Faversham stove....

'The Cause', my MG designed and Tyrells built Tidewater gaff cutter, is 30 feet on deck, and, by the standards of her day, very roomy.

She has a little Faversham stove. I am delighted with it. It gets the whole boat dry and cosy, even on bitter winter nights (it makes such nights a real joy, in fact). With careful use of the vent, it can be get going all night without attention. It's just the right size to take three peat biquettes, which give a wonderful pong. I put a glass in the main door to give an atmospheric glow.

Anchored at Dandy Hole, stove lit, with a gale howling, snow falling, and all the AWBs laid up, there's nowhere on earth I'd rather be than in the cabin reading 'The Riddle...' for the nth time.

Roll on mid winter!

I can't help thinking the Halibut would be rather too big for us, though it does look wonderful.

I somethimes wonder whether I'd be better off with a diesel stove, to avoid the space and mess of coal and ashes. It can also be difficult keeping the coal store dry.

Any informed views on this oil V solid fuel question?

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[Mirelle]

Re: Faversham stove....

I also get fed up with the mess, and the job of cleaning out the ashes and re-laying the fire, and with the minor irritation of getting back to the mooring with the stove still alight and having to leave the boat with it still alight.

But, on the other hand, from the safety point of view, I have heard of cases of diesel stoves causing spectacular conflagrations, and even loss of life.

I'll be staying with solid fuel.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[ongolo]

Re: Faversham stove....

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have been lurking. Why dont you built your own? I have done it and it was a bit of work, but not overly much.

I had to because in my desert nobody needs a heater, but I am contemplating going far south to the 60's or more.

The goal I set myself was:

a)that it should burn wood which requires an air vent in the burning chamber.

b) that it should burn coal which requires an air vent below the fire grate to keep same cool

c) that it should be able with a drop in to burn old engine oil and diesel or parafine

d) that it could be used as an incinerator to burn rubbish which requires a blower. (computer fan 12 Volt) The latter would also speed up starting a fire with one of the other fuels.

The size and location of the heater was a consideration and the test run outside was a success using Kameeldooring. (one of the African Akazia's)

I think when the item is finished, I may write an article on it. I am not working on it, because it summer here and have lots of other things to do.

I am amongst other things a hobby smith, so the stove will not only work, it will fit in style to my gaff rigged schooner and into the space available.

Only if somebody is serious about building one, I would post pictures, but that is a schlepp because my digital camera is on strike and I am not going to buy another for a long time. Otherwise I could maybe post Acad drawings or sketches with the Window paint program. The latter I have never used, so that is a schlepp too.

Or you design your own, it is fun. We made a chicken casserole on it during the test run. My wife is something else. I though I am a little strange, she beats me.

I have also made gas stoves from scrap, for camping, domestic and for my 55ft 22 ton canoe and she wanted an oven, that has also been tested but not completed yet.

In any case, my boat has so many things, one day I shall describe the building and the boat plus its gadgets. Once when I am rich and idle again or when I find out how much PBO pays for articles.

regards Ongolo

PS, forgive my spelling mistakes, I am not english and rather careless.

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[Skipjack]

Re: Faversham stove....

Welcome, Ongolo. You don't do things by halves, do you?! And as for your spelling, please could you give lessons here, as your spelling is excellent, as is so often the case when English is not one's first language. I would be very interested to see your articles in print.

Anyway, as I challenged the collective wisdom here to dissuade me from buying a non-yachty Clarke pot belly stove (http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=090310030&r=2139&g=118) and noone told me I was a mad fool, I bought and installed the beast this last weekend.

Friday night was abject misery, in damp bedding that had been aboard unaired since February, and the devil's tattoo sounding on the mast from the gale. Saturday morning saw a 5" hole cut in the cabin roof, just to the starb'd side of the companionway, and the flue pipe successfully dropped through on top of the pot belly stove. This was performed in a howling gale with slicing rain, so it was straight down below with a box of firelighters and kindling and tinder scavenged from my suitably woody boatyard, and then............bliss.

Slowly the condensation that had dripped on my head all the night previous dried up, and the boat became as snug as Neal so descriptively illustrates above. All work stopped as I sat and looked out at the cold rainswept marshes from my warm cocoon. Then it got too hot, and I was peeling off layers until I looked like Ace Ventura inside the robot rhino, and I had to have the companionway slides out to cool off!

Saturday night was stark in its contrast to Friday, and the gale had abated and temperature had risen to give way to a beautifully sunny and relatively warm morning, but I still fired up the stove for comfort to listen to the Archers. I cemented the flue into the hole when it cooled down, and made a mental note to buy another 500mm section of flue, and to burn smokeless fuel instead of the smut producing house coal that had covered the cockpit in soot.

In summary, I have an inexpensive (£150 for the full kit, including a £41 cowl) stove that takes up a small unusable area of bench, that doesn't weigh enough (16kgs) to make the ship list, and chucks out more heat (3kw) than I can cope with, with which I am very pleased.

Now where is my copy of 'The Riddle'?

<hr width=100% size=1>Sort out those fenders! Crossplys to port and radials to starboard!

 

[RogerH]

It is indeed possible to maintain some control over heat output, but the range is limited. This is why its important to get roughly the right size of box for the cabin size and conditions in which it will be used. Keeping a small fire in a big box is clearly not as hot as a big fire in a big box, but to maintain it at a low level requires frequent attention. This can become a problem when you want the stove to stay on all night - which of course you do when its cold and drafty outside.

Roger

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[Skipjack]

Cooking

I omitted to mention that I did use the pot boiler to bring a small saucepan of water near to the boil, and so it only needed a matter of seconds on the gas flame. However, the hotplate of the Clarke stove is small, and would suit a square billycan better. Also, any motion would tip an unsecured pan off the stove, so I have to adapt the stove or avoid using it for warm water when the boat is afloat.

What have you opted for, Whiskerstay? I can't imagine that you are still aboard unheated.

<hr width=100% size=1>Sort out those fenders! Crossplys to port and radials to starboard!