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

[Goldie]

I’ve heard several times how difficult it is to get a Pansy Stove going and if you follow the manufacturers instructions, I’d agree. However....

Fill with fuel, light the meths soaked wick and open the damper to Max (all as per instructions) but after a short time to give it chance to at least start to fire up, REMOVE the screw in damper completely, place the nozzle of a dinghy foot pump in the ‘ole wher the damper was and then VERY gently, maintain a positive pressure. It’ll roar away in no time and the damper can be screwed back in. Note the need to be very gentle with the pump or you’ll cover the cabin in crud - top of stroke to bottom should be several seconds. This worked every time for us and from discovering the technique, we loved our Pansy and would leave it lit for a week or more at a time (and it does great baked potatoes!).

 

[Deleted member 36384]

...

Just watched it and it's quite funny as well.

 

[Kukri]

I agree with Tom Cunliffe.

Loved the Customs Officer, the drug dog, and her white uniform blouse.

I had one of these until it rusted through, after 20 years:



Replaced it with a better Shipmate which is no longer made.


If you want a coal stove, get one of these:

HALIBUT COOKSTOVE INFO & SPECS.

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[Gary Fox]

I agree with Tom Cunliffe.

If you want a coal stove, get one of these:

HALIBUT COOKSTOVE INFO & SPECS.

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What a beauty! A bargain at $4500

 

[lustyd]

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.

That's presumably CaDoHa? I think they're doing a smashing job of showing their journey in what has been a very tough year. They said up front that they knew nothing, but they've done more sailing this year than most of this forum, and produced some excellent and enjoyable content along the way. I'm pretty sure TC started off as a bumbling beginner and I recall one of his writings explaining how his old wooden boat was leaking during a crossing and only then did he learn how to caulk it. The difference is that TC always writes with hindsight and rose tinted glasses while these YouTube channels are often showing us the process and how difficult and/or frustrating it can be when you start out. It's a different medium for sure, but it's no less valid or useful and I think it's mean spirited to expect them to fail.

 

[jamie N]

Getting charcoal to go is quite easy, I've found. A piece of lit ZIP, then a smallish amount of charcoal, wrapped in kitchen towel makes them easy to put in, and keeping yourself clean of course. It'll fire up and begin to smoke, then bung in some more to get it as full as you want. After it's really got a big burn on, close the ash drawer and find the cork screw.....!
Because of the position and style of my flue exhaust, I've had polite enquiries concerning the smoke, which has led to some very good social mixing.

 

[Kukri]

What a beauty! A bargain at $4500

Or one of these, if you don’t need the oven:

LITTLE COD INFO & SPECS.

 

[Zagato]

Charcoal heater for me, they work when you learn how to use them. I use open fires and a wood burner at home... it takes time and failures to learn how to make them work properly (without fire lighters!). It's a pleasure and a skill to make it all work and read a book with a glass of wine... OR you can flick a switch, sit back reading your Kindle with a lager... horses for courses.

Sadly the issue with old versus new is that new is more complicated and can go wrong more often. How many threads do you see starting with my Eberspacher heater has gone wrong! They are also bloody noisy and don,t give out a dry heat which is surely a massive advantage giving more than one use. Getting from A to B maybe more efficient WHEN it works but think of the amount of time and money people spend themselves or having to pay trades to come in and sort all this complication out when it frequently does not work. There are more times when you cannot even start from point 'A'... KISS, reliability is a huge selling point!! EDIT recent thread on Eberspachers at the moment on Practical Boat Owner, not dissing them completely but it should a good read for general awareness, wood burning stove operations are not completely issue free!

 

[Adios]

Or one of these, if you don’t need the oven:

LITTLE COD INFO & SPECS.

I like the side loading for scavenged wood. Very nice. But being able to weld I'd feel obliged to make my own at that sort of money. Its not a complicated shape or much material

 

[Gerry]

OK so maybe old is the new new..... We aim to have a boat that is 100% self sufficient. Probably unattainable in reality but something that we strive for. We have solar power, a wind generator, wind vane, solid fuel stove, paper charts etc. Yes we have some more 'modern' goodies too but still keep the stuff to fall back on in a worse case scenario. Until recently we spent most of our time off grid, sometimes for months on end. What became clear was that propane for cooking and a source of heating were weak points that we could address. So we went down the line of a solid fuel stove. We can gather our own wood and heat the boat from that as well as a viable alternative to cook on if needed.
In these strange times that we are living in the comfort I get from feeling I have done everything I can to keep us safe and isolated for as long as needed is tremendous.
We have had a couple of times when it has been difficult to light the fire, always when the wind is very changeable but we have pretty much mastered the art of which hatches to crack open to ensure the correct air flow.
Once a month we run a brush down the flue to clear any residue-in four years we have never had more than a cup full, no tar certainly and definitely no flue fires. In fact there is usually no sign of any smoke when the fire is alight .We haven't had the stove lit at sea but I see no reason why in reasonable conditions it would be an issue. I probably agree that in the height of a storm I would not want to deal with anything that would divert attention from the main matter of sailing the boat.
Last winter we took delivery of £50 worth of logs from a local farm. We filled one of our cockpit lazarettes, and some bags in the forward heads. We are still burning that wood now 12 months later....The great thing about the grizzly is that it will also burn coal and peat giving us a wide choice of fuels.
Obviously our chosen way of life is not for everyone-but for us it works and works well. Sitting this afternoon in a deserted West Country marina typing by the light of a flickering fire as the wind and rain swirls around the boat I feel rather smug and cozy!

 

[lustyd]

Mine gives out a lovely dry heat (Airtronic) and is also easy to start as I just push a button - I didn't even need to practice or learn anything I think most of the issues are with lack of use and lack of maintenance but I've used mine for several weeks 24x7 and it's very reliable so far and keeps every cabin in the boat warm and dry as well as keeping the cockpit lockers warm and dry which is a bonus. Cheap to run too, it sips about a thimblefull of deisel an hour and the deisel is only 50p/l for heating purposes.

 

[lustyd]

Reading Gerry's post I have to say if I was going the Uma route I would accept a stove as there wouldn't be any deisel on the boat ?

 

[Adios]

Charcoal heater for me, they work when you learn how to use them. I use open fires and a wood burner at home... it takes time and failures to learn how to make them work properly (without fire lighters!). It's a pleasure and a skill to make it all work and read a book with a glass of wine... OR you can flick a switch, sit back reading your Kindle with a lager... horses for courses.

Sadly the issue with old versus new is that new is more complicated and can go wrong more often. How many threads do you see starting with my Eberspacher heater has gone wrong! They are also bloody noisy and don,t give out a dry heat which is surely a massive advantage giving more than one use. Getting from A to B maybe more efficient WHEN it works but think of the amount of time and money people spend themselves or having to pay trades to come in and sort all this complication out when it frequently does not work. There are more times when you cannot even start from point 'A'... KISS, reliability is a huge selling point!!

i'm with you on the KISS but I had an eberspacher and it isn't a wet heat like an un-vented gas or paraffin heater, fumes go out the exhaust and cabin air gets circulated through a heat exchanger. Also when they stop working they are simple to undo and send off to be serviced. Wasn't that noisy either but rather than a nice sound from a fire it wasn't such a pleasant noise just a bit of white noise you soon forget. To have a wood fire like this thing LITTLE COD INFO & SPECS. and all that ambience though, that would be magic on a boat IMO.

 

[Laminar Flow]

I'm afraid the "good old days" hankering is mostly just a symptom of selective or worse, defective, memory.

I have had and lived on board with, a solid fuel burner, a large Dickinson diesel range, a Dickinson LPG (vented) and now a Webasto.

Solid fuel is messy, the storage of said fuel is awkward and inconvenient on a small boat and the small size of stove necessary for installation on boats needs to be frequently stoked. We heat our house with a large, airtight wood burner, it is where they belong.

Diesel stoves, for all their convenience, have a habit of back-drafting into the cabin in high winds, winds from the wrong direction, someone opening the wrong hatch etc. This will inject enough oily smoke into the cabin to cause immediate evacuation and hours of entertainment cleaning up the great quantities of soot flying about. You can raise the stack all you like, until the boat looks like an oil refinery, try all the different types of caps available, I have, including the venerable H model. Your decks turn black in a very few days and the stains are near impossible to remove. I lived on board through 6 Canadian winters with this setup.

The vented LGP I used for the large aft cabin. It worked fine, but needs a fan to efficiently circulate the heat. The additional (to the Dickinson) fuel source is an inconvenience. A 20lbs tank lasts 5 days.

Our present boat has a Webasto. I installed it myself. It has done service, faultlessly, for ten years. As far as heating a boat is concerned, we have arrived. No awkward lighting, no mess, no soot, no smoke, no smell, just turn the thing on and put your feet up.

 

[Adios]

Obviously our chosen way of life is not for everyone-but for us it works and works well. Sitting this afternoon in a deserted West Country marina typing by the light of a flickering fire as the wind and rain swirls around the boat I feel rather smug and cozy!

That would work for me

 

[Gerry]

Interesting set up. I removed my Newport diesel heater from a locker in the forward heads. It had a cut out in the bulkhead facing into the saloon where your stove is, so that the front was flush. Th boat stank of diesel because the tank was in there and the fill line and pumped leaked fuel.

I have often thought about refitting it, all serviced in a similar space to where yours is. No one really sits there except after a meal leaning in as the saloon table does not extend into that space. Food for thought. By the way, I see you have the supports for the root berth, can you still use it with the stove in that position; what boat is it, looks similar to the Rival or Bowman?

Yes well spotted, it's a Bowman 40. We can take the stovepipe off and then the pipe cot is perfectly useable. We sail just the two of us so the other pipe cot is sufficient when on passage. Shortening the saloon bench actually made the place much cosier. The shorter seat is still plenty of room for two. And it can all be restored to the original layout very easily should we or a future owner wish to do so...

 

[Adios]

Our present boat has a Webasto. I installed it myself. It has done service, faultlessly, for ten years. As far as heating a boat is concerned, we have arrived. No awkward lighting, no mess, no soot, no smoke, no smell, just turn the thing on and put your feet up.

I miss the large trawler lamp I used to have. Having the colour light it gives off in the evening was pretty close to the ambience of a fire. Add that to the webasto's sufficient and even heat and its still a cosy cabin isn't it. Having both webasto and a solid fuel fire is possible of course, for back up and fuel options, but then maybe a little excessive on anything other than a liveaboard.

 

[Laminar Flow]

I like the side loading for scavenged wood. Very nice. But being able to weld I'd feel obliged to make my own at that sort of money. Its not a complicated shape or much material

We live in a country of drift wood. You never, ever use saltwater drift for burning in a stove, it will rot out the metal in no time. The salt also increases the amount of dioxin created in the combustion process.

 

[Adios]

We live in a country of drift wood. You never, ever use saltwater drift for burning in a stove, it will rot out the metal in no time. The salt also increases the amount of dioxin created in the combustion process.

good point i hadn't thought of. I love the smell of a driftwood fire on a beach so i probably would have specifically sought it out if you hadn't said that. Not that i've got a stove yet but one can dream...

 

[Kukri]

I'm afraid the "good old days" hankering is mostly just a symptom of selective or worse, defective, memory.

I have had and lived on board with, a solid fuel burner, a large Dickinson diesel range, a Dickinson LPG (vented) and now a Webasto.

Solid fuel is messy, the storage of said fuel is awkward and inconvenient on a small boat and the small size of stove necessary for installation on boats needs to be frequently stoked. We heat our house with a large, airtight wood burner, it is where they belong.

Diesel stoves, for all their convenience, have a habit of back-drafting into the cabin in high winds, winds from the wrong direction, someone opening the wrong hatch etc. This will inject enough oily smoke into the cabin to cause immediate evacuation and hours of entertainment cleaning up the great quantities of soot flying about. You can raise the stack all you like, until the boat looks like an oil refinery, try all the different types of caps available, I have, including the venerable H model. Your decks turn black in a very few days and the stains are near impossible to remove. I lived on board through 6 Canadian winters with this setup.

The vented LGP I used for the large aft cabin. It worked fine, but needs a fan to efficiently circulate the heat. The additional (to the Dickinson) fuel source is an inconvenience. A 20lbs tank lasts 5 days.

Our present boat has a Webasto. I installed it myself. It has done service, faultlessly, for ten years. As far as heating a boat is concerned, we have arrived. No awkward lighting, no mess, no soot, no smoke, no smell, just turn the thing on and put your feet up.

I recognise that you like me have been there, done that thing and acquired the rather sooty T shirt.

My experience is slightly different though. I didn’t find my two Shipmates needed frequent stoking - but perhaps I just quite liked playing with the stove. Both would stay “in” overnight.

The blow back problem is serious particularly with diesel stoves at sea. Broadly, one should try to get the flue in a low pressure area on deck (sounds silly, but try between headsail and mainsail on a sloop or cutter) and avoid having low pressure in the cabin (don’t have a sprayhood or a wheelhouse, at least not when going to windward!) but do have the flue made of a heavy gauge of stainless steel or similar (don’t use copper; it goes brittle) to keep the heat in the flue. A blower as well as a damper is a nice thing in a yacht flue. This goes for drip diesel as well as for solid fuel.

There’s a nice drawing of a blower Tee-ed onto a flue - at a fine upward angle of course - in Don Street’s “The Ocean Sailing Wreck” (not mine, copyright Liz and Anne Hammick?).

It’s often said that you don’t see a high latitudes boat or indeed many UK live aboard boats without a flue on deck - they usually have Eberspachers etc in addition.