placement of cabin heater

[rrgane]

i am about to install a cabin heater in my Islander 29, and am somewhat stuck as to the placement of it. i have noticed most boats my size have the cabin heater on their main bulkhead (the one separating the main cabin from the head and forward compartment, usually where the compression post is as is mine), on the starboard (skinny) side. while this makes a lot of sense to me as it keeps the charley noble out from underneath the boom and possibly baking and staining one's main, it also puts the cabin heater high up (away from someone's feet as they are sleeping in the starboard pilot berth), and off in a corner, where there won't be as much exposure.

is the added circulation worth it for me to mount my cabin heater directly aft of the compression post and fiddle with making a rather convoluted exhaust system to get the charley noble out from under the boom? or in a boat as small as mine is the difference so small that i am really over thinking things?



thanks!

randall

[Faster]

In a boat that size I'm not sure you'd gain much from the more convoluted installation. You could probably accomplish the same or better improvement in performance by mounting a small 12V fan to move the heated air around the cabin.

BTW I'd recommend the Dickenson P9000 Newport heater - a real nice unit with safely vented features, flue and cap included, and a visible flame that provides good ambiance. (See below) It has an internal fan that greatly improves efficiency too.

[rrgane]

Originally Posted by Faster

In a boat that size I'm not sure you'd gain much from the more convoluted installation. You could probably accomplish the same or better improvement in performance by mounting a small 12V fan to move the heated air around the cabin.

BTW I'd recommend the Dickenson P9000 Newport heater - a real nice unit with safely vented features, flue and cap included, and a visible flame that provides good ambiance. (See below) It has an internal fan that greatly improves efficiency too.

hey Faster thanks! yeah i would like to have a nice new heater, but i am a cheap b@stard and have an old shipmate kerosene which works well already, and i really do not need all the much oxygen heheh..

i am thinking of getting one of those ecofans to pop on top..

[billyruffn]

rrgane / Randall,

As shown in Faster's photo and the one below, I think most installations of heaters are on the main athawartship bulkhead.

Like yours, mine uses a liquid fuel (diesel), and so there is an additional installation issue of where to put the fuel tank. My recommendation would be, at a minimum, to put it on the other side of the bulkhead. Although it seems obvious to locate the fuel tank away from the heater, I know a very experienced sailor who lost his boat filling the fuel tank while the heater was still hot. His tank was in the same compartment, above and to the side of the heater and....you guessed it,... he spilled some fuel. Boat burned to the waterline and sank. That's a round about way to make another point re the installation of the tank -- put it somewhere where it's not too difficult to fill it. (I made the mistake of installing one in a locker. I thought I was being clever getting it out of the way, until I tried to fill the tank.

My heater was installed with copper tubing as a fuel line. It has been pointed out in other threads that copper tube 'work hardens' if it is stressed dynamically, but in the case of this installation the tube is relatively short, and is well secured to the bulkhead every foot or so of its length. You can see from the photo that the fuel line comes through the bulkhead just where it enters the fuel regulator, so it's pretty well protected from heat. I believe Faster has a better set up where the fuel line (seems to be a gas line) is below the heater and shielded by a wood covering.

Per Faster's suggestion -- note the fan above the heater. It works very well in getting the warm around the cabin.

Good luck with the installation.

[Faster]

Nice, clean bright interior, Billy!

[billyruffn]

Normally not so clean, Faster. The mate made me pick things up for the photos . But, thanks. I owe it all to an Australian cabinet maker.

[Valiente]

An unseemly (if seamanlike) "oohh" escaped my lips when I saw that chart table and cabinetry, Billy. Beautiful work.

[rrgane]

i second the unseemly "oohh" very handsome indeed!

[sailingdog]

billy-

Very nice...