Tom Cunliffe talks about the solid fuel stove on his yacht. Anyone have one?

[Adios]

I do love to listen to Mr Cunliffe. Its a great to have him on youtube for the generation that won't read all those old cruising books, the Hiscocks and so many others we'd read at anchor before the internet ruined waiting for tides. I guess people new to sailing will mostly be learning from the bikini yacht channels now.

Anyway I've always fancied one but not got closer than a webasto. Anyone have solid fuel?

 

[JumbleDuck]

I have a Hampshire Heaters charcoal stove. It gives a lovely drying heat on the rare occasions when it can be persuaded to light. Useless bloody thing.

 

[Adios]

I have a Hampshire Heaters charcoal stove. It gives a lovely drying heat on the rare occasions when it can be persuaded to light. Useless bloody thing.

Charcoal doesn't make sense on a boat. It will suck up water. Coal much less so, should burn straight from the bilge (not 100% sure on that though).

Are taylors paraffin heaters any good? I wouldn't want to carry a second fuel when I could have a diesel heater and carry a bit more diesel instead though i supposed the engine could run on a fair % of paraffin mixed in so might be useful. I also remember having to continually prick jets on paraffin cookers as it burned so dirty so assume would be a problem with a heater just as much.

I had a webasto and eberspacher, one was diesel and the other LPG (i foget which was which), the LPG never needed servicing as it was so clean burning but the diesel needed a quite expensive de-coking after a few years heavy use. A coal fire would just need sweeping out I guess.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Charcoal doesn't make sense on a boat. It will suck up water. Coal much less so, should burn straight from the bilge (not 100% sure on that though).

Storing the charcoal isn't a big deal - I have a screw top flare bottle which holds a full standard bag in nice, dry conditions. No, it's persuading the blasted stuff to burn which is the problem. I've tried big lump, small lumps, briquettes, meths (per manufacturer), firelighters, barbecue lighters, barbecue light fluid, wood wool - no combination has more than a 25% chance of ignition and overall I get hotter from my lighting efforts than from the very nice heat it occasionally and reluctantly produces.

My New Year's resolution is to stop deluding myself about things which don't work on my boat. The Hampshire Heater is one. The Sea Feather wind vane is another. Complete wastes of space, both of them, and the only consolation is that someone else fitted the wind vane. The new Nanni N2.14 was in the same category until I spent a rainy day in Largs marina cutting out Nanni's joke of a fuse box and wiring in a real one. It's now on probation again.

And ... relax.

 

[LittleSister]

A friend had a medium sized coal stove on his 38 footer. It was bliss in winter - oodles of dry heat, both radiant and heated air.

I think it was Denny Desoutter who described such a situation with something like (I can't remember exact quote) - 'lounging around the saloon in singlets, as the snow piles up on deck'.

Beautifully quiet, and doesn't depend on or use up your batteries.

it's persuading the blasted stuff to burn which is the problem

I don't know the Hampshire stove, but remember reading of people having trouble lighting the Pansy stove, which has a rather narrow chimney. As I recall it was very slow to get going, and tended to drown in its own smoke until it did so. The solution was to warm the walls of the chimney pipe by a quick blast with a blow torch (or hot air gun, I guess) before trying to light the fire. This gets the air column in the chimney rising, and consequently the fire drawing, from the start. Might be worth a try.

I guess another thing worth trying is placing a firelighter on top of the fuel, as per the recent thread on lighting wood-burners. This might get the air column moving before too much smoke is produced.

I have a charcoal stove (I've forgotten the make, but it's stainless steel, boxy, and also made in Hampshire, IIRC, though that is not its name) in an (as yet unsailed by me) 'project boat'. I've lit that a couple of times by placing a firelighter below the grate in the ash box, and that worked no problem.

 

[atol]

had a wood burner for years but got sick of the dirt from moving logs and coal,constant dust,smelling like a bonfire all the time and yellow ceilings ripped it out and replaced it with a diesel drip feed,uses about 60-80 liters of fuel a month

 

[Gary Fox]

I spent a winter living on board with a Pansy charcoal heater, it was miserable. Everything sooty, I looked like a chimney sweep, the charcoal was expensive, and it didn't even keep the boat warm. Now I use drip feed diesel life is wonderful.

 

[Kukri]

I had, in succession, two Shipmate solid fuel stoves. The first one wore out after twenty years including living on board through a couple of winters. Nice things to have.

I wrote an article about installing and using them for Classic Boat some years ago.

 

[Poignard]

I had a charcoal heater which put out a lot of heat but it was very messy.

I replaced it with a Taylors 065 paraffin heater which is very efficient.

 

[[178529]]

I do love to listen to Mr Cunliffe......... I guess people new to sailing will mostly be learning from the bikini yacht channels now

Interesting point there. I've noticed loads of new YouTube channels pop up from couples who've never really sailed before and want to go round the world. There's one, charming couple, but they suffer seasickness, are stuck this year on the south coast in the UK. You wonder how long before reality hits them.

 

[Gary Fox]

Interesting point there. I've noticed loads of new YouTube channels pop up from couples who've never really sailed before and want to go round the world. There's one, charming couple, but they suffer seasickness, are stuck this year on the south coast in the UK. You wonder how long before reality hits them.

A warts-and-all YT channel, with constant arguments and swearing, projectile vomiting, blocked filters and motoring against a tide in the pouring rain might do quite well

 

[Poignard]

A warts-and-all YT channel, with constant arguments and swearing, projectile vomiting, blocked filters and motoring against a tide in the pouring rain might do quite well

Which reminds me I lent my book of Mike Peyton cartoons to somebody and I haven't had it back.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I don't know the Hampshire stove, but remember reading of people having trouble lighting the Pansy stove, which has a rather narrow chimney. As I recall it was very slow to get going, and tended to drown in its own smoke until it did so. The solution was to warm the walls of the chimney pipe by a quick blast with a blow torch (or hot air gun, I guess) before trying to light the fire. This gets the air column in the chimney rising, and consequently the fire drawing, from the start. Might be worth a try.

Thanks. A forumite suggested a bit of wood wool firelighter up the flue. I've tried that once and the stove did light, but I'm not confident enough to think it will work every time. I'm not going to get rid of the things, yet, so will do some more experiments.

The basic problem seems to be that large pieces of charcoal don't light easily because their surface area : volume ratio is too low and small lumps don't light easily because they restrict the air flow too much.

 

[ashtead]

I haven’t yet watched this one but recal Hirta had a lovely old oven below - I wonder if still afloat though ?

 

[Gary Fox]

I haven’t yet watched this one but recal Hirta had a lovely old oven below - I wonder if still afloat though ?

She is still sailing, under a new name.

 

[ashtead]

Thanks Gary - I am pleased to hear that and hope the new owner has deep pockets.

 

[NormanS]

On our previous boat, we had a multi fuel stove, a Morso Squirrel. Obviously, it was more efficient burning coal, but wood was much more fun. Many a happy hour was spent cutting up logs on remote shores with a chainsaw.

 

[Gerry]

Yes we do. Now in it's 4th season and we love it! It's a Canadian Cubic Grizzly, small but heats our 40foot boat almost too well! We burn logs and occasionally those preformed briquettes. We live aboard full time and are based in the west country. The heat is wonderfully drying and we even have a small unit that sits on top in which we can roast and bake (when I am organised enough). No power useage, low wood consumption, quiet and cheery. It has become the much valued 3rd crew member.

 

[Adios]

The heat is wonderfully drying

Thats no small thing is it. On a boat with no wheelhouse in the UK, coming in and out with wet clothes all the time.

I've always been an all seasons boater which is perfectly doable with some heat. My first little trailer sailer I just had a Tilley lamp for light and remember after a boxing day sail trying and failing to warm my toes in the hot air coming out the the top of it. Hopeless for heating even a tiny boat, the hot air just went out of the neccessary ventilation.

That den haan oil lamp you have over your table reflects a decent amount of heat down though, i find those enough for summer evenings to take the chill off.

To spend significant time on a boat, rather than just going sailing and leaving the boat soon after mooring, it does seem a stove like that makes perfect sense. For a voyage of slowly coast hoping around the UK it must be ideal

 

[rotrax]

We hired an ex working canal boat once, late October - it was very cheap - from Willow Wren. Extemely simple, plywood top with pipe cots and curtain cabin separation. Well, lets be honest, not curtains, dirty tarpaulin...................

Not only did it have a splendid hand start three cylinder air cooled Lister it had a Rayburn in the galley. A solid fuel Rayburn.

It was magic.

Especially after I fell in reaching for some unreachable blackberries!