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Winter Heat while at the dock

3K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  boatpoker 
#1 ·
We have for years used small ceramic, electrical heaters for the few winter weekends we would spend aboard. We only have a 34 foot vessel and it would take 2 or 3 heaters plus a fan to effectively move warmth to the "corners" of our boat.

This past year I purchased a Dyson Hot air multiplier (whatever that is??) to try. Yes, Dyson products are a bit more expensive but with a coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond, it came to acceptable numbers of dollars so I made the purchase.

It is one of those strange ovals on a platform and did not look at all to be of a "nautical" bend but I have to say, Mr. Dyson has a wonderful product. Now instead of 2-3 heaters plus a fan running, we have one device that seems to warm air, move air and circulate air in an extremely effective manner. Even my toes in the V berth get warm. :D The Hot has a remote control and you can set both the fan component and the temperature setting. The oval can swing in an arc or be positioned in a straight line. The oval never gets hot to the touch and the "fan" is not loud. It will cycle to the temperature setting so may go off and on as needed.

Certainly many boat owners are fortunate to have diesel heaters to warm their vessels in the winter months. I would love to have one of those or would just like to sail South but for the rare night we crawl under our winter cover and want to warm up our little vessel, as long as there is a power outlet, this will seem to be a comfortable solution.

Happy Thanksgiving all!! :)

Leslie

s/v Tango, CR 34
Lankford Bay Marina
Chester River, MD
wintering over in the water....
 
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#3 ·
I believe Leslie purchased the Dyson product at 'Bed,Bath and Beyond'..which by-the-way is very interesting store to browse..at about 50% of it's list price due to heavy discounts and rebates..

How effective is this heater..? Normally my vessel's interior portion of the mast is cold to touch this time of the year. After about an hour's running the Dyson, my bare feet while propped up against the mast feel pleasantly comfortable.
 
#4 · (Edited)
We have for years used small ceramic, electrical heaters for the few winter weekends we would spend aboard. We only have a 34 foot vessel and it would take 2 or 3 heaters plus a fan to effectively move warmth to the "corners" of our boat.

This past year I purchased a Dyson Hot air multiplier (whatever that is??) to try. Yes, Dyson products are a bit more expensive but with a coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond, it came to acceptable numbers of dollars so I made the purchase.

It is one of those strange ovals on a platform and did not look at all to be of a "nautical" bend but I have to say, Mr. Dyson has a wonderful product. Now instead of 2-3 heaters plus a fan running, we have one device that seems to warm air, move air and circulate air in an extremely effective manner. Even my toes in the V berth get warm. :D The Hot has a remote control and you can set both the fan component and the temperature setting. The oval can swing in an arc or be positioned in a straight line. The oval never gets hot to the touch and the "fan" is not loud. It will cycle to the temperature setting so may go off and on as needed.

Certainly many boat owners are fortunate to have diesel heaters to warm their vessels in the winter months. I would love to have one of those or would just like to sail South but for the rare night we crawl under our winter cover and want to warm up our little vessel, as long as there is a power outlet, this will seem to be a comfortable solution.

Happy Thanksgiving all!! :)

Leslie

s/v Tango, CR 34
Lankford Bay Marina
Chester River, MD
wintering over in the water....
Folks should be aware that electric heat is 100% efficient so a 1500W electric heater of any type or price is technically putting the SAME BTU's, roughly 5120 BTU's, into the space.

How you circulate the air in the space is a secondary discussion. For $400.00 a basic $16.00 1500W heater and a $45.00 Vornado fan or some 12V fans will do the same thing. Unfortunately with electric heat you can't beat the physics of putting BTU's into a room. Moving the air around is secondary and can be done effectively for a lot less money than $400.00..

Some of the ceramic disc heaters move some decent air, Pelonis being one good brand, and some don't. Some 1500W electric heaters have no fans so are just radiating vs. circulating..

So 1500W is 1500W is 1500W. If you need the air circulated more effectively there are less expensive methods, unless of course you like the look and size of the Dyson..

Working on boats in the winter I have had very good luck supplementing the small fans in the inexpensive heaters with a small table top Vornado fan on low....
 
#11 ·
Folks should be aware that electric heat is 100% efficient so a 1500W electric heater of any type or price is technically putting the SAME BTU's, roughly 5120 BTU's, into the space.
Mostly, but there's also an important difference in the temperature of the unit. A large low-temp heater like the oil-filled ones, is different than a small hot heater like the inexpensive ones - not in total BTU contribution but in burn/fire risk.

Looking forward to a long dark winter, I'm intrigued by the halogen light idea.
 
#6 ·
I've tried several small electric ceramic heaters for heat while dockside on shorepower for 8 years on two different boats and have never been particularly happy with them. They are pretty noisy and like the OP, I have found it difficult to get uniform heat throughout the boat. You seem to roast in some areas and freeze in others, using one unit and I've never wanted to run more than one at a time. The thermostatic controls help, but not much. They are also a potential ignition source and their placement and safety concerns cannot be overlooked.

During my last weekend on the boat in October getting it ready to pull for the winter I discovered a significant fuel system problem that necessitated hours of on and off messing around in the engine compartment with fuel pump, fuel lines, and some inevitable gasoline vapors (Atomic 4 inboard) present. It was COLD, but I didn't want to use the ceramic heater in that environment so I tried something I've wanted to do for some time. I picked up a radiator-like oil-filled electric heater at Wally World for $39.00.

I have one at home and I like it a lot. Always assumed it was too big and clunky to be practical on the boat. It wasn't! It's tall, but it has a small footprint and is on wheels, so it is easy to move around inside the boat. It fits nicely in the head compartment without obstructing the toilet when not in use. I found it slower to heat things up than the ceramic, but much more uniform once things got going and I feel infinitely safer as well as dead quiet. Even better heat uniformity when I fired up my two 12 volt cabin fans on low to move/mix the air around a little.

Looks kind of "classic" also. Wouldn't have worked on my 23 footer, but on the 32 it's awesome. I'm sold . . . no more ceramics for me.

Mobnets
1973 Paceship Chance 32/28 "Westwind"
 
#7 ·
In the past I've found the most effective electric heat on the boat when working on it is to use 500 watt halogen work lights. Not only do you get heat which you can direct, but also plently of light. Most all of the energy is heat, not light so your getting the same heat with three 500 watt lights as you would with a 1500 watt heater. I suppose if I was sleeping on the boat I might go the heater route rather than using lights but for working on the boat I think halogen lights are the best way to go.
 
#8 ·
Mirari:
Clarification: I was living on the boat that weekend while working on the engine (reaching in from inside the cabin with the companionway steps removed). I needed a warm refuge to eat, sleep and work).

Agree: Halogen lights are great for working on specific projects in the cold.
Mobnets
 
#10 ·
We have one of those oil-filled things that look like an old-fashioned radiator, have had it since we moved aboard, and it's our basic heat source at dock. On really cold nights/mornings and in the head, we supplement with ceramics. This Dyson looks quite interesting, thanx for pointing it out.

But you're right, the best dockside heat source is a change of latitude.
 
#12 ·
We used to use those heat lamps for hatching eggs as youngsters, where I grew up in the country and also for our dogs if they were in the kennel at night and not in the house. The dogs curled up under them and fell asleep seemingly just fine. I would need an eye shade. :D

The fact that we would need to run two ceramics aboard that had fans in them plus another fan to get to the nooks and crannies of our vessel did increase the noise level. Since the Dyson Hot is the only thing being used with its "fan"....or large oval hole that moves air, it is more quiet. The fact that the crazy thing stays so cool is what I appreciate. It has a tip shut off but I doubt it would burn anything. I don't feel as concerned about roasting our teak interior as I do with the ceramic heaters, should they get repositioned.

If there were gas fumes present, I would think anything that was electrical could initiate a spark and thus a big boom. Course an open flame heater with gas fumes I am sure has been tried....maybe only a few times, however.:eek:

Cheers,

Leslie

s/v Tango, CR 34
Lankford Bay Marina
Chester River, MD
 
#14 ·
In a marine environment, with nearby ignition risks ranging from fuel fumes to settee cushions, I would strongly favor heaters that dissipate the heat as quickly as possible. Either something like that Pelonis heater that Dave linked, which uses a large amount of fan-forced convection to keep the filament temperature from building up, or one of the oil type heaters, that use oil immersion to prevent direct contact of any fuel with the filaments. Anything that glows red hot is a "red flag" (pun intended). A halogen lamp would offer similar dangers.

I only have to heat my boat a couple of times a year (when I'm working on the hard in dead of winter), and I use a Walmart knock-off of the Pelonis design that Dave linked.
 
#15 ·
Also, consider some insulation. We insulated our entire boat over the course of many years, but a couple of down and dirty, quick and easy tricks include:

1. Wrap your mast with a layer or two of Reflectix insulation (It's that aluminum foil covered bubble pack that comes in rolls - Lowe's or Home Depot). Suzi then covered that with a flannel lined marine vinyl (try a fabric store or a marine canvas shop). She fastened it to itself along a vertical seam with velcro.

2. Put some bubble pack between the portlight glass or plastic and the screen. We were able to fit a couple of layers of the 1/4" stuff. It still lets light in but keeps out a lot of the cold.

3. Cut 1" urethane foam insulation to fit fairly tightly in the hatches. We edged it with vinyl tape to keep it from decomposing. We had two companionways and sealed one of them the same way. We could still get out in an emergency, but it kept a lot more heat in.

4. We've heard bad things about sleeping under electric blankets, but a friend of ours uses one to pre-warm the bed. A lot better than freezing your golly-wollikers off.

Good luck and stay warm this winter.
 
#16 · (Edited)
The Vornado room heater is what I used for 10 years living aboard, and what is currently purring away on my boat now to keep the mold away.

They're around $70 or less on sale and they really move air around the whole boat unlike conventional fans. You could FEEL air moving 20+ feet away on the boat. They're quiet, seem to have a very accurate thermometer, they remain cool to the touch even at 1500W (a big safety concern in my book) and are nearly impossible to tip over. I kept mine on with the fan always running and the heating element cycling on and off. I've only had one die in 12 years of essentially continuous duty all year round.

FANTASTIC product and I feel totally safe letting it run while I'm away from the boat for days/weeks at a time.

Vornado AVH2 Whole Room Vortex Heater : Target


MedSailor
 
#17 ·
One year, we covered every inch of the interior with reflectix and it warmed us twice - once by keeping a lot of heat inside in the winter, and then again in the spring after we removed it and had to scrub off the mold that grew behind it. This year we shrink-wrapped the forward part of the boat up to the cockpit enclosure - we may end up putting some insulation on deck counting on the shrink wrap to keep it dry, and a lot simpler than cutting and fitting reflectix (our boat looked like Tardis'). Also, we're using a room-size dehumidifier, the waste heat it puts out is an extra benefit.
 
#18 ·
I live on board in the PNW....this should be my last winter here. Last winter I had a Pelonis II ceramic heater, but it took awhile to get going and the fan didn't really kick out. I this year I bought a ceramic heater from the local hardware store 1000/1500 watt w/ thermostat and a fan that really kicks out. I have a wood stove but could really use a fan behind it. My boat is 1" wood w2" space from frames and 1/4" ceiling...water temp gets down into the low 40's.
 
#19 ·
Have you tried using the 2 or 3hr "duraflame" style fire logs in your wood stove? I lived aboard in the PNW for 10 years and tried every imaginable kind of fuel in my wood stove. Those worked the best hands down. I would cut the long along its longest measurement into thirds and I'd have 3x3hr longs. To explain further, if the log is 4"x4"x12" cut it into 3 pieces that are 4x4x4.

MedSailor
 
#20 · (Edited)
The "per-manufactured" firewood I use is compressed at 40.000psi....the dura flame at 20.000psi What I use is also made from a hardwood with an anti-creosote chemical added. But I don't drive and the nearest place that has them is Cenex for now I am burning teak scraps.When it gets cold I also do alot of baking. The ceramic heater I am using was $40 on sale for $20....as much as I despise West Marine, the sell a very nice heater, out of my price range but I know a couple of people that have one and are happy with it.
 
#23 ·
40' boat.... Hull lined with 1' pink foam insulation cut into 3" strips and bonded to the hull with caulking (except for engine room which uses fire rated glass fiber insul). One halogen heat lamp in each bilge compartment and one under engine keeps sole and engine warm all winter here in Ontario. Flagship marine electric furnace for "upstairs" has the benefit of reverse cycle air conditioning for the summer. 15yr. liveaboard with no condensation, leaks or cold drafts
 
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