Chrysler Sailors Forum

Hi,

Planning for winter sailing. I'm making my new wish list of Boat stuff. I'm thinking it would be nice to be warm in my cabin on a cold rainy Seattle day this coming winter.

List of what I would like in a heater...

As always I'm thinking value for my dollar, so the Binford 3000 turbo heat blaster is out.

Solid Fuel?

Propane?

Alcohol?

Karosene?

1. The first heater I found was $1200 Karosene job. Just say no to that price. Needs a 3" chimney.

2. Dikerson Solid Fuel Heater Under $400, burns wood/char coal/etc. It needs a 3" chimney.

3 Sig Marine Cozy Cabin Propane Under $500, 6500BTU, low presure system, 1" chnmney. Auto shutoff if O2 level drops by 6%

4. Alcohol any thoughts?

So far I'm leaning to the Cozy Cabin heater because of the 1" chimney, easy light and the O2 Auto Shutoff.

I like the idea of solid fuel burn anything, but the fuel storage could be a pain and the 3" hole for the chimney.

Where do I put it in my C-22? Mid boat would be my thought. I need to cut a hole in the cabin for the chimney so I have to think about how big it will be and what will get hung up on it on the deck.

So who has done this?

What heater did you use?

What worked?

What did not work?

What would you do different?

Do you have photo's?

Where did you put it on the boat?

Thanks
Alan

I think if you had an alcohol stove it would be duel functional cook/heat and no chimney. and if you watch e-bay you might find one under $50

Alan,

FWIW...

Mine doesn't have an 02 or CO sensor,, but I have a smaller one of this type that can get the cabin comfortably warm quickly. With the forward hatch cracked, the upper hatch board left out and a rainfly over the cockpit we were comfortable inside at 40 degrees and rainy outside. We didn't sleep with it, just day/evening use.

From personal use I know it doesn't take much to heat up the small cabin space, so the low setting is usually what we use most often or it gets too warm inside... but it is nice to shed a couple layers and warm up, have cocoa, or just relax and read with before lights out at night.

This type heater is also a radiant heater so you do have to be aware of what is in font of it, and as heat rises, everything above can get warm. I didn't know they had heaters like this until last year for enclosed places.

Link:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... 80026&rid=

Windward should be here soon, he knows about winter sailing.

I highly recommend a CO detector mounted low in the cabin no matter what type of heat you end up with.

Hey Alan,

Alcohol stoves as a quick source of heat is nice but can lead to someone getting burned. We've used one in the past. It was adequate at best. We used it to boil water on the stove. This kept hands away from the flame and provided a bit of a heat sink. However the humidity in the cabin was to high.

I've used the small "Wallace" kerosene heater. That worked beautifully. However it was 20 years old sometimes a pain to get lit. It had quite a current draw since it was a push button electric start. Once running we could heat the boat nicely.

Destiny has a deisel furnace. Probably irrelevant but at least on topic. It heats the water tank, engine block, and has a heat exchanger for forced air heat. Takes a good 45 minutes to come up to speed but once there it heats the boat to 75 degrees easily in sub freezing temps.



I strongly agree with the already mentioned CO2 sensor. Yes we have one aboard Destiny. Small price for the saftey provided.

I'd be very interested in what you choose and how you install it. There seems to be no "Perfect" place on a C22. Maybe extend one of the half bulkheads??

Scott

on my j-30 I used the aclchol stove.. it worked great but I rarely sailed past Nov. so the temps did no get to low....if you were planning on going to sleep with a stove running... you'd better be sure to buy one with all the safety elements and that C02 alarm....

slightly off topic but,

I have sailed my boat in some cold weather and my I love my 12v heated thermos with hot coacoa in it. makes all the difference