Very small boat heating

I have an Origo spirit ( or meths ) heater for my 22', think of a tapered alloy bucket cut in half horizontally, that's the business end with the spirit fuel ( spill safe in a baffle ) and burner, then you plonk the similar sized top on to make it safe away from treading feet.

The whole thing can be carried in its strap in half-bucket mode.

It works very well, but only lasts about 6 hours, not the claimed 8, so unless you time it just right you're in for a cold morning.

Of course it will still put moisture into the cabin and needs a little bit of ventilation.

Like Origo cookers, I wouldn't fancy trying to top up the fuel when it's hot.

Now I see near £200, worth it if you can't get to a marina and simply plug in a fan heater.

http://www.force4.co.uk/origo-5100-heatpal-portable-heater-stove.html?sqr=origo &
 
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A Propex 2KW heater would do the trick at about £500 or in a 20ft boat an older 1600W Propex would be ok and you can pick these up off e bay for £50-100 second hand. I had a 1600W on a 26ft boat and it was totally adequate getting the temperature up by +18 degrees over outside temperature. A bit fiddly to fit and there is some battery drain, but less I think than diesel fuelled blower heaters and less expensive to buy.
 
Anything involving battery drain is out I'm afraid. My charging is limited to 2a from the outboard (which I don't use much) and 20w from solar.
C08 said:
A Propex 2KW heater would do the trick at about £500 or in a 20ft boat an older 1600W Propex would be ok and you can pick these up off e bay for £50-100 second hand. I had a 1600W on a 26ft boat and it was totally adequate getting the temperature up by +18 degrees over outside temperature. A bit fiddly to fit and there is some battery drain, but less I think than diesel fuelled blower heaters and less expensive to buy.
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I have formed a very low opinion of plumbed in heating, which in the cases of Propex or Ebespacher were designed for long distance lorries.

My parents had a Propex heater on their camper van, and that quickly gave up.

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.

This forum constantly gets questions from owners of Eberspachers at their wits and wallet's end with problems.

If I went to bigger boat again I'd have a Taylor's.

For my 22' in the Solent the Origo job, and ducking into marinas with a fan heater when it's that time of year, works fine.
 
This for less than £10. I use it to warm the downstairs loo at 2 am on a freezing cold night (outside wall and all that)

Creates a lot of heat quickly. Will run out of fuel in a few minutes (so safer than something than creates CO for a long time). I'd suggest a heat proof base (I have a square of fire blanket) and another fire blanket in case of emergency and then a foam extinguisher nearby too (everyone should have one) I'd suggest something to keep the stove stable.

Uses ordinary meths; I find hardly any smell.

Spend another £10 on a CO monitor and smoke detector.

For use on a boat I would make a simple folded piece of metal to go over the top of the device for safety (also will condense vapour that could be collected in the base (a saucepan?).

Stick a thermal brick on top as someone suggested and once the stove goes out you still have some heat.

Can't believe that Origo thing costs nearly £200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HIGHLANDE...899155?hash=item5199283193:g:cZsAAOSwaA5Wl0Vo
 
We've heard from a handful of people with eber problems which considering the number installed is a miniscule proportion. When I had one I did re place. The ECU but I don't know if it was the cause of the malfunction.
 
I've currently got a Midicat catalytic heater on my 26 footer. Its not quite enough for depths of winter usage on a boat that size but would be fine on a 20 foot boat. They give off moisture, but as long as your boat is ventilated its not massively problematic, or at least hasn't been on mine. I have a good quality CO detector and its never gone off with heater running for hours on end. Mine outputs 1.3 kilowatts according to the sticker on back, but I've sometimes thought thats a bit of an optimistic figure - probably more like a kilowatt I reckon in full flow.

A charcoal heater will chuck out more heat, but catalytic heater less of a rigmarole to light I would imagine. I've recently decided to go the Refleks/Taylors route, but only because heat output of my Midicat is not quite enough. People on here are usually not big fans of catalytic heaters but I did a fair bit of googling prior to installing mine and I couldn't find a single instance where one had caused injury or death.

Actually, mine might be up for sale soon, PM me if you're interested OP.
 
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We have a mini catalytic gas heater (they're sold under a variety of names, but Scandinavian made) on our 23 footer. It's not ideal, but a real boon.

Yes, it gives off some water vapour, but it hasn't been a problem in our well ventilated boat. It's doesn't give off odorous fumes, but the air does get stuffy when its been on a while. A CO alarm and fire extinguisher adequately address the risks for me.

It's not the glorious heat of a solid fuel stove (string in your vest below while there's snow on the decks!) or some other types, but it makes a real difference to be able to come below and 'defrost' in winter. I use it only occasionally, but would really miss it.

Our boat is quite spacious for a 23 footer, but the heat is ample - it takes a little while to really warm up the whole boat (largely open plan), during which time the radiant heat is most welcome. Once it gets in its stride, the heat is too much - the challenge is to turn it down far enough rather than have to turn it on and off to maintain temperature. Because the minimum variable setting on the heater itself is too high after a while in all but the coldest conditions, I use to the isolating cock to turn it down a bit more.

On a small boat finding space for a heater is a real challenge (even if you choose a type that doesn't have a flue). I carefully chose a heater that would just fit widthways onto the return of a bulkhead, but when it arrived it turned out the stated dimensions didn't include the projecting gas supply elbow. Rather than have this projecting into the circulation space of the cabin, I have the heater on a flexible hose and store it in a shallow locker (where the fixed piping, with an upstream isolating cock, is taken) when not in use. When I want to use it I just lift it out, fold out the built-in stand, and sit it on the handy raised step we happen to have in front of that locker so it not in the way of feet and movement.

Regardless of whether, you have heating, sitting with a blanket over your legs makes huge difference, I find, to how warm you feel. I keep a small blanket to hand on the boat (and at home!) for that very purpose.
 
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That's a bit like a penny stove.https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...irIXFw&usg=AFQjCNH1_IkA6pO7Q6w0-X6LudOWORERcQ

I made one of these a while ago for a bit of fun - its ok for boiling a pot when camping but I wouldn't use it on a boat.

Agree that Origos are very expensive for what they are but I'd consider an Origo cooker if my gas one packs up. Trouble is they can't do toast which I like with breakfast.

Sailingsaves said:
This for less than £10. I use it to warm the downstairs loo at 2 am on a freezing cold night (outside wall and all that)

Creates a lot of heat quickly. Will run out of fuel in a few minutes (so safer than something than creates CO for a long time). I'd suggest a heat proof base (I have a square of fire blanket) and another fire blanket in case of emergency and then a foam extinguisher nearby too (everyone should have one) I'd suggest something to keep the stove stable.

Uses ordinary meths; I find hardly any smell.

Spend another £10 on a CO monitor and smoke detector.

For use on a boat I would make a simple folded piece of metal to go over the top of the device for safety (also will condense vapour that could be collected in the base (a saucepan?).

Stick a thermal brick on top as someone suggested and once the stove goes out you still have some heat.

Can't believe that Origo thing costs nearly £200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HIGHLANDE...899155?hash=item5199283193:g:cZsAAOSwaA5Wl0Vo
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I don't think Origo heaters are that expensive, like a lot of boat stuff you only buy them once - mine is decades old.

I suppose if you really tried you could do toast on it, but then I decided long ago from being on friends' boats that origo cookers would take up too much of whatever lifespan I have left.
 
Whats inside those origo heaters? They should do a heating attachment to their stoves.

4 candles in a stainless holder takes off a chill in the evening but obviously not this time of the year. I've seen suggested before a lava stone warmed on a cooker too.
 
A decent battery should run an eber or Propex for long enough to warm up a small boat.
Solar panels to get a reasonable sized battery recharged between weekends are not that expensive.

The only other answers worth bothering with involve properly installed flues, care with ventillation and CO etc. And generally dodgy to use while under way.

A volcano kettle and a hot water bottle is not to be sniffed at though.

Seriosuly though, we are not the only people to find that a boat that actually does what you want is better value for money than one that only works for you a few months of the year.
 
johnalison said:
We used to used a "Minicat" heater, which I think I may still possess. It wouldn't make the cabin cosy enough to strip off in but it would make it tolerable during a summer chill, and was safe enough to leave while we went ashore. You lit it with meths and when warm it burnt its own strange fuel SBP, which I believe is still obtainable.
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I also have an old catalytic heater somewhere and suspect it might be the same model. It was OK to take the chill off inside a 20' boat early/late summer. I remember that it was only 600W, started with meths and ran on special fuel. I was a chemist at the time, so trivial to discover that the special fuel was unleaded petrol. Quite expensive at the time because you could only buy the leaded version.

I must dig it out and put some petrol in. Just curious to see if the catalyst is poisoned or if it still works. Brings back memories of a completely different style of sailing when even getting a recent newspaper was a luxury.
 
I use a small catalitic heater (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Campingaz-BlueCat-Heater/dp/B000ZJ97C8) and an oil lamp on my 26 footer when it's cold at either end of the season. They don't make the boat toastie but make it tollerable. The cat heater does produce moisture but my boat is quite well ventilated and cooking a meal and boiling a kettle probably makes as much. The cat heaters are good in that they only produce co2 and the top of them doesn't get hot enough to be a real fire risk should any thing fall on it. Saying that I don't leave it on past bed time. The canisters are pricey as well although one does seem to last a season.
 
The Origo heater makes things pleasantly toasty inside once it gets going - it's quite different to the cooker job - and with caution, one can dry out socks etc on the top cowling.

And I don't think 20-22' is ' very small ' ta very much, that's for boats like the 14' Voyager and Lysander micro - cruisers ! :)
 
Seajet said:
The Origo heater makes things pleasantly toasty inside once it gets going - it's quite different to the cooker job - and with caution, one can dry out socks etc on the top cowling.

And I don't think 20-22' is ' very small ' ta very much, that's for boats like the 14' Voyager and Lysander micro - cruisers ! :)
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Whats inside those origo heaters? Is it just the fuel can like the stoves use?
 
Seajet said:
The Origo heater makes things pleasantly toasty inside once it gets going - it's quite different to the cooker job - and with caution, one can dry out socks etc on the top cowling.

And I don't think 20-22' is ' very small ' ta very much, that's for boats like the 14' Voyager and Lysander micro - cruisers ! :)
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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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