Keeping a Cat Warm in New England????

[DonofPaw]

Hello my wife and I are considering the possibility of living aboard in Mass. Both of us are quiet partial to cats I'm really looking at the Prout SnowGoose Elites at this point but am still very open to any ideas. We are young so we don’t have a lot of resources and will need to continue working for the next 25+ years so moving south doesn't work sadly Does anyone heat a cat up here in New England? Is it really feasible or is that the reason we don't see loads of cats up here? Any ideas for heating a cat? Mainesail I know you have a cat up in Maine but from what I have gathered it doesn't seem that you live aboard in winter. Any thoughts would be very helpful.

Don

[sailingdog]

Maine Sail sails a Canandian Sailcraft 36T...not a catamaran. Don't really know where you got the idea he had a catamaran. Nope...doesn't.

The problem with heating a catamaran is the amount of space you have to heat. Most sailboats have lousy insulation, but the multihulls often have foam or balsa cored decks that are fairly thick, which can help a bit. You'd obviously need to add additional insulation, and cover the ports and cockpit entrance with something to prevent them from leaking all the heat out.

Once the boat is insulated to a reasonable level, I don't see why a forced air system wouldn't be able to keep it reasonably warm. However, a forced air system large enough to heat a catamaran's two hulls and salon is going to be fairly expensive.

Would your boat be in a slip or on a mooring. If you're in a slip, the obvious solution would be to use electric heaters, preferably the oil-filled radiator style ones. If you're on a mooring, which is more typical with catamarans.... you'd really need to go with diesel or preferably propane forced air heat. The reason I think propane would be better than diesel is that on colder days, the diesel fuel heaters may be harder to start—especially if you've let the boat sit unheated for a while.

[chucklesR]

Home Depot sells a 1500 BTU heater that screws directly to the outlet on a two pound LPG bottle. Heats the boat just fine. Bigger ones are available, the 1500 heats my 400 or so square feet nicely, I even use it to warm my garage . That's realtivily cheap heat and very usable on a catamaran because we don't have to worry about knocking it about when heeling or rocking.
Those same heaters also work just fine on a regular sized gas bottle.

[DonofPaw]

Sorry Sailingdog got you mixed up

[DonofPaw]

I think the idea right now is slip in the winter and mooring in the summer, so perhaps we could get away with electric heat on the slip and a electric blanket when it gets chilli on the mooring, what do you think electric heat would set us back on a metered slip?

[xort]

Originally Posted by chucklesR

Home Depot sells a 1500 BTU heater that screws directly to the outlet on a two pound LPG bottle. Heats the boat just fine. Bigger ones are available, the 1500 heats my 400 or so square feet nicely, I even use it to warm my garage . That's realtivily cheap heat and very usable on a catamaran because we don't have to worry about knocking it about when heeling or rocking.
Those same heaters also work just fine on a regular sized gas bottle.

C
How long does a bottle last?
Do you use it down below? I thought a propane heater would put out lots of moisture. Do you get a lot of condensation when burning this heater?

Round here I've seen livaboards install a propane heater that vents to the outside and put a big propane tank on the dock next to the boat with a long line to feed the heater.

Insulation and moisture/humidity control are the big issues. We were getting condensation on hatches in early October. Hate so see what would happen in January. Plan on adding the shrink film to all the hatches to create a double layer of insulation which will help retard condensation.

Also be concerned with heavy, wet snow that can fall up your way. It melts and refreezes which forms ice. Shrinkwrap is a very good idea to keep snow off and heat in.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by DonofPaw

Hello my wife and I are considering the possibility of living aboard in Mass. Both of us are quiet partial to cats I'm really looking at the Prout SnowGoose Elites at this point but am still very open to any ideas. We are young so we don’t have a lot of resources and will need to continue working for the next 25+ years so moving south doesn't work sadly Does anyone heat a cat up here in New England? Is it really feasible or is that the reason we don't see loads of cats up here? Any ideas for heating a cat? Mainesail I know you have a cat up in Maine but from what I have gathered it doesn't seem that you live aboard in winter. Any thoughts would be very helpful.

Don

I would suggest you get a second one. That way they could snuggle.

[xort]

Originally Posted by DonofPaw

I think the idea right now is slip in the winter and mooring in the summer, so perhaps we could get away with electric heat on the slip and a electric blanket when it gets chilli on the mooring, what do you think electric heat would set us back on a metered slip?

Make damn sure you have tight connections on your electric plugs. A poor or loose connection will heat up and become a fire hazzard. I had a plug melt this summer. The breaker finally tripped but when I pulled the plug from the socket, smoke came pouring out. The breaker will trip at 30 amps but if you are pulling 25 amps with a bad connection it may not trip soon enough.

[DonofPaw]

any idea what it would cost to wrap a 37 foot cat?

[chucklesR]

Xort,
I don't have a 'down below' like you do. Moisture is it's own problem of course.
I only use it to take the chill off so it's not a problem for me. Heck making coffee on the stove makes condensation on the windows.
Bottles last days, the 20 pound regular size I couldn't tell you as we don't live aboard.

Don,
I don't live in maine, so just a thought - electric blankets do nothing for the air outside the bed. Not a reasonable option in my view - that 2am sprint to the head becomes agony when you sit on the plastic.
Do they even have slips open in winter? I thought everyone up there hauled every year.