heating up a small sailboat during a chilling October

[sarafinadh]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Oil lamps bear one warning, depending on the fuel used and the user, you may wake up with a killer headache from the fumes. All lamp oils are not created equal, and while many folks say "if your kerosene stove stinks, you need better quality kerosene" some of us say that even the purest "water-white" kerosene still stinks when it burns.

8 - O
I don't think I would EVER leave an open flame burning and go to sleep. We always put the lamps out before we hit the hay. The electric heater we run while sleeping but that has its' own safety features.

[Rowglide]

Lived aboard an Alberg 37 for 2 winters in the cradle in Kingston, Ontario...
HEAT... what a luxury. most yard power only allows one heater to run at a time. Shorepower gives a bit more leaway.
I had a COLE (that is how it is spelled) stove on the bulkhead, but found that good anthracite coal is hard to find, and very dirty. Brickettes are NOT a substitute. Bundle up if you are sailing, it's worth the suffering.

[Bene505]

I cook something with our propane stove to stay warm and have a carbon monoxide detector that I test often enough. Close all the doors to other staterooms, the v-berth, or what-have-you so you are minimizing the area you are heating. Then cook something on the stove top or bake something. I find that the oven smells less than the stove top, so that's my preference.

A couple of nights ago in 50 degrees, 20+ knots wind at a mooring I fell asleep on the setee while baking potatoes that I cut up into slices. I awoke later to an 84 degree cabin and delicious - almost potato-chip like - baked potato slices.

I know others use oil lamps. I find that they smell, even burning lamp oil.

[eryka]

On the hook, we have a Webasto 2000 that makes the cabin toasty - we've never had to turn it above 1/2 on our 33. Sips diesel or kerosene. In the marina, we use one of those oil-filled heaters that looks like an old-fashioned radiator - doesn't get too hot and doesn't use too much electricity.

This winter, we're going to try "latitude adjustment." We'll give you all a report

[sarafinadh]

Originally Posted by eryka

This winter, we're going to try "latitude adjustment." We'll give you all a report

Now THAT is a heating system Himself and I could get behind!!

But not till '11 for us... I'll just have to enjoy your latitude adjustment vicariously!

[xsboats]

I use my inverter to run a 1500 watt ceramic electric heater while motoring and an electric blanket while anchored. This augments the heat supplied by a couple of brass trawler lamps burning kerosene. Cooking dinner does a fine job of knocking the chill off and any water boiled for pasta, rice ,etc.. will help heat if left in the sink until it cools off. I've even bolted down an old Kerosun heater with a cakepan inverted over it leading to a stove pipe to collect waste gasses to vent out through a cabintop charlie noble. My favorite heater was a wood stove that I installed in a propane catalytic burner in. It burned only 1 lb of propane every 8 hrs. Regardless of what I've heated with over the years, ventilation was always the primary concern not only for deadly gasses but for condensation as well. The best cabin heater I've found yet was moving to Florida!

[Jim H]

When I was growing up, we had a fiberglass trailer with a two burner propane stove. The trailer had no heater, but we would use a new, small flower pot, turned upside down on the propane stove. Basically, the burner would turn the pot into a radiant heat source, the fumes would vent just as if we were cooking, and we'd shut it off when going to bed.

I'm thinking of doing the same on our boat, because our propane tanks last a very long time, and heating the boat this way for 30-45 minutes once or twice a day would likely be fine fuel wise. I believe using a new pot was important, since one exposed to water could break.

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by Jim H

When I was growing up, we had a fiberglass trailer with a two burner propane stove. The trailer had no heater, but we would use a new, small flower pot, turned upside down on the propane stove. Basically, the burner would turn the pot into a radiant heat source, the fumes would vent just as if we were cooking, and we'd shut it off when going to bed.

I'm thinking of doing the same on our boat, because our propane tanks last a very long time, and heating the boat this way for 30-45 minutes once or twice a day would likely be fine fuel wise. I believe using a new pot was important, since one exposed to water could break.

This is also a good way of making a small kiln for doing various craft projects.

[xsboats]

Flower pots work great, but you need to ventilate the cabin or it will rain like crazy down below as the condensation forms on the headliner

[zeehag]

latitude adjustment or a trawler lamp using liquid parafin and ventilation---the lamp will heat the entire boat------i like latitude adjustment best....and feather quilts...