Very small boat heating

ghostlymoron said:
These days 25' - 30' is considered (by some) as small. Perhaps I should have said 20' boat heating. I wanted to rule out Taylor's, webasto, eberspacher and the like for which I have no space.
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I understand of course, but for a long time the largest boat in our club was a 20' wooden yawl ( Hunters Moon is still going strong elsewhere, happily ).

I once sold my 22 and bought a 30' cruiser/racer, but very quickly came to ask myself ' why am I paying more just to cart around extra furniture with a boat which isn't so rewarding to sail ? ' So I binned it and happily bought back my 22, which had a nice rest and dry out inbetween so I gelshielded her...:)
 
Power shouldn't be such an issue for weekends.
Assuming you only need heat in the evenings and for, say 5 hours then a propex using max 2amps will need 20 amps for 2 nights. a modest 60AH battery will not be depleted and will have all week to top up with your solar panels. A modest investment in some fold away panels would ensure that your one battery got charged up during the week. Even an eberspacher would be ok and you know someone who can help there!!
 
I made mine from 8mm steel box section. I managed to do it with a cheap shoebox welder and a 4 inch grinder. But it wasn't always straight forward and fitting it safely was really testing. I was hoping to burn wood but now we just use charcoal, cheap, can get it everywhere and it burns so cleanly.
 

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pcatterall said:
Power shouldn't be such an issue for weekends.
Assuming you only need heat in the evenings and for, say 5 hours then a propex using max 2amps will need 20 amps for 2 nights. a modest 60AH battery will not be depleted and will have all week to top up with your solar panels. A modest investment in some fold away panels would ensure that your one battery got charged up during the week. Even an eberspacher would be ok and you know someone who can help there!!
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Indeed.
And at 2 amps, you could get a useful period of heating from a battery small enough to take home and charge. 2hours of heating of an evening would only need a small motorbike battery or similar.
Maybe re-charge it while you're in the pub?
 
Love those two stoves. Will be having a good look at where I could fit them in on my boat. Is there a minimum length of flue, does anyone know?
 
Reptile Smile said:
Love those two stoves. Will be having a good look at where I could fit them in on my boat. Is there a minimum length of flue, does anyone know?
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I don't' know but the manufacturer will advise. You want the stove low down otherwise you'll have cold feet and legs. You can always make the flue longer with a removable extension above the deck.
 
When I had a charcoal heater, I had to experiment with the flue length, eventually adding enough pipe to get up to boom height and that more or less solved the downdraft problem.
 
Agreed that they are better lower down, but if you simply don't have the floor space bulkhead mounted does the job. My flu is about 600mm above deck and never had a down drought problem even when sailing.
 
On any boat that needs a heater one would imagine you would want a cooker for warm food/drinks. Any cooker could double as a heater but would need a flue for safe long term operation. A heater however needs to be down low to warm lower areas.
A temporary flue could be set up using washboards with a hole for a flexible flue. Would mean heater must be near entrance or near forward hatch. Replacement hatch with hole for flue.
OP needs to decide if he wants to use methylated spirits diesel/ parafin or charcoal or other solid fuel.
But of course the whole decision depends if he really wants to camp in winter on boat if so how often and how much trouble he is prepared to go to. Just don't use anything without a flue. olewill
PS any one who knows me might wonder why I am posting about heating. Certainly I have no experience but I hope some good sense. 22 degrees overnight minimum here with max today 36 so no heater.
 
I've always wondered why no one suggests a small generator such as the eg screwfix IMPAX IM800I 700W INVERTER GENERATOR 230V at £189.99 and say a 500 watt electric heater. (I just picked the cheapest 4 stroke inverter I could easily find). The generator like an inboard engine on bigger boats could be used for an few hours to heat things up, and as and when necessary also for recharging the on board battery making toast. The sky's the limit. And it would use the outboard normal fuel.
Bare at
 
Seajet said:
The boat I sailed on for a sailing exam had an Ebespacher, the thing was very noisy all night and had I seem to remember a 4 amp draw on the electrics.
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Not suggesting the OP fits one, but my D3L is barely audible unless it is on full power, which isn't often. I don't see the point in having it on all night anyway, the timer turns it on a little while before the alarm goes off. As for current draw, your memory might be a little rusty, mine draws about 2 amps.

This forum constantly gets questions from owners of Eberspachers at their wits and wallet's end with problems.
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That's just terribly exaggerated, we got the odd post, mostly from people who have badly fitted systems. Considering how many are in use, they are very reliable. Mine was fitted in 1988 !
 
I used to heat a 21' boat with a Tilley lamp. Well, not so much heat, more light with heat as a useful by product. It produces an awful lot of heat, at the cost of also producing a lot of noise and a quite spectacular amount of condensation if you don't ventilate well enough to blow most of the heat away.

I'm afraid, OP, that the only good heating solution I ever found for that boat was an extension lead and a small (600w) oil filled radiator. Otherwise I just wore more clothes.

On my current boat I have fitted a Hampshire Heaters charcoal heater. I haven't used it much, but it's a thing of wonder when working and the dryness is as welcome as the warmth.
 
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