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[dserrell]

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[fafnir]

I have found on smaller boats that it doesn't take much to heat the cabin.  I find that reading for about a half hour or so with a candle lantern is often enough to warm things up to being comfortable.  I usually sail on Lake Superior well into October.  If it is a really cold night,  or if it is winter and I am working inside the cabin, I will place a clay pot upside down on the stove and heat that up for a few minutes.  The clay pot once warm stays warm for awhile and heats up the cabin quite comfortably and it only takes a few minutes.

[bmiller]

I would really like to try one of these. Origo alcohol heater, works just like one of their stoves. Alcohol is a pretty safe fuel to have on board.  $140 seems resonable to extend the season.



link to heater at Defender

[edbuchanan]

Hi David,

I've been using the Origo Heat Pal heater/stove for more than a decade now.  Circulating the heat with one of the cabin fans really speeds warming in our 23.

Ernie (Molly, 23/II 1984)

[Craig Weis]

When on dock an electric catalytic ceramic heater with thermostat and a infinitely variable fan. Works great. Nothing like sitting inside the Com Pac 19 with the snow coming down and all your winter gear piled up on the vee birth. All comfy and all knowing that in a few days she gets pulled and put in dry unheated storage in a few days for six months.
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[bmiller]

Good to hear the Origo heaters work for you guys, thanks. Think I'll get one for Pooka.

[Suncat a Lula]

Check it out!  You can pay $7.00 for a quart of alcohol.  Buy it by the gallon;  it's $4.00.  (4 qts. to a gallon)

[bmiller]

I've never bought alcohol from a marine dealer. Always get it from the hardware store for about 1/4 of the price and it burns just fine.
Any combustion heating source should have a CO detector in the cabin also.

[Craig Weis]

I have an oil lamp hung on my compression post but always have a hatch or two open to combat CO2.
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[ka8uet]

I'm scared of fire, so tend to just add clothing instead of heating the cabin.  Use battery lantern for night-time reading below.  However, if I use my oil lamps, I usually have the hatchboards out and hatch open, kind of defeats the idea of warming the cabin!  I agree with the ventilation and CO detectors.  I would also add a fan to help the CO move out the open vents/hatches.  Combustion also adds moisture to the boat, leading to problems with mold/mildew.  Remember, CO can get you dead very fast and very peacefully.  If you have a headache and you're using a combustion heater, GET OUT FAST!!!!! 

[Craig Weis]

Noted; and the time it takes for the body to rid it'self of CO2 is far greater then the time to 'take in' oxygen. That's why so many people who are removed from a CO2 enriched atmosphere die, even with an oxygen mask on. The body just can't get rid of the CO2 fast enough. But as stated the CO2 is absorbed toot-sweet! Faster then oxygen.
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[Craig Weis]

"Combustion also adds moisture to the boat, leading to problems with mold/mildew.  Remember, CO can get you dead very fast and very peacefully.  If you have a headache and you're using a combustion heater, GET OUT FAST!!!!!  "

True. For every 1,000,000 btu's burned about 100 lb of water vapor is added to the atmosphere.
And why when baking water based paint say on steel I-beams in a direct gas fired bake oven for instance a dry cold winter's day will require less btus then a hot humid day. On humid days like this the bake oven exhaust fan is kicked up a bit and removes more oven atmosphere to the atmosphere. Need to rid the oven of the water vapor from combustion before the baking of water born paint.

Also why water drips from the car/truck exhaust pipe.

In the atmosphere around the globe is 700 trillion-billion tons of water vapor. What we call clouds. It never increases nor decreases but meerly circulates around the planet. Some places are dry, some are perfect and some are wetter. No big deal.
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[Potcake boy]

Dave,

Use a solar heater - works especially well in the Keys - plus you get a great water view as well.  It's a win/win.

Ron

[romei]

I wired my boat up this year.  I think I'm going to buy one of these from harbor Freight and give it a try next spring.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96144

[Bob23]

   In the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Good Old Boat magazine, there are two articles of interest:
   First, on page 14 is an article on the installation of a Dickinson Marine wood stove installed in a Pearson 28. Very interesting and you can't beat the smell and sound of a wood fire.
   Second, on page 33 is very informative writeup about deadly vapors that we may find on our boats. It touches on marine CO detectors and the dangers of CO poisoning.
   As some of us know, this magazine is wonderful. Although they seem to concentrate on larger ships than ours (mine?) it always has usable information and lately they've been touching on smaller boats like ours. Henry C did a great article on the Compac 19 in the same issue.
Bob23...just my 2 cents...again