Wooden boat heating

[boddubbay]

Is an Eberspacher/Webasto type system a good idea or are there reasons against? Would a wet system be better?

Thx

Steve

 

[Kukri]

Is an Eberspacher/Webasto type system a good idea or are there reasons against? Would a wet system be better?

Thx

Steve

Well.. Yes, you can fit an Eberpacher or a Webasto if you can find space to run the ducting (wooden boats have internal framing which gets rather in the way! It won't do the boat any harm.

Or you could fit a nice solid fuel stove like the Faversham, made in the town of that name by Colin Frake.

If you go the real stove route, you will do better if the stove pipe goes through a "water iron" at deck level and emerges ideally in the slot between main and headsail, with the stove itself placed as low in the boat as possible.

 

[DoubleEnder]

The Faversham stove is good and Colin is a friend. There are lighter solid fuel stoves too. I have one that is bulkhead fixed and burns charcoal, Dickinson Newport, which is quite small and fits my small boat. There are others....
I hear only bad things about Eberspacher, but have never owned one.

 

[DownWest]

There use to be a small builder of wood/charcoal stoves. Something like Force Ten IIRR. Basicly a bit of 100mm steel square tube made into a wood stove, with a 25mm 'stove-pipe'. Seemed to work fine, just needed feeding often. Any keen DIY metal butcher could make something similar.

Think we hear a lot about Ebers, because there are very many about, so a % thing.

Just remembered... Did a quick survey on a Swedish 27ft for some friends, it had a diesel fueled boiler tucked in the hanging locker with thermosyphon rads under the edge of the berths. No electrics involved. They were on their way to the Carib, but fell out by the time they got to Portugal, hence the sale.

 

[boddubbay]

Have found Refleks stoves that look interesting, you can run rads of it as well.
Anyone have any experience of them?

Thx

Steve

 

[Motor_Sailor]

Have found Refleks stoves that look interesting? . . .

Refleks are extremely reliable, quiet and don't use electrical power. They also draw air from inside the boat and pass it up the chimney which aids ventilation which is perfect for a wooden boat. If you have the space to mount one at floor level, they are ideal.

Downside is they warm the boat by convection so the upper part by the overhead is warm and down by your feet is cold. A small fan by the chimney can help. I think the radiator capacity is quite low, but can be useful to heat a small radiator / towel rail in the heads if close by.

 

[Gerry]

If you do go down the solid fuel route, we have one of these https://cubicminiwoodstoves.com/collections/all/products/cb-1210-br-cubic-mini-wood-stove . We were delighted with it through last winter. It is small and relatively light. It heats our 40 foot grp boat and keeps the whole place dry too. I even cook on it. being so small it burns very little wood, you can also use compressed logs .I highly recommend it.

 

[BabaYaga]

Have found Refleks stoves that look interesting, you can run rads of it as well.
Anyone have any experience of them?

Thx

Steve

I have a Refleks clone (Glembring) 1.8 kW in the hanging locker, connected to five rads under the bunks. Combustion air is taken from the outside, by choice. There is a low power electric pump to circulate the water.

It works well, but is was a complicated installation in a 29" boat.