cabin heaters

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

Anyone install a propane cabin heater? The T37 only has a couple of spots one of these could fit: forward of the pilot berth, on the side of the hanging locker and the other location would be under the dinette table (after the table is altered so it no longer needs the slide mechanism).
The question that I have is: Is it worth the trouble? Do these heaters efficiently heat up the boat?

alpinista · **Posted:** 04 Apr 2007 15:10

We have a Cozy Cabin Propane heater mounted on the bulkhead forward of the pilot berth, with a small heat sink powered fan mounted on top. It work pretty well, if you are hardy. Last winter, on a night where the temperature hovered in the high 20s, the Cozy Cabin was able to maintain a cabin temp of 60 degrees. It does much better when outside temps are in the 40s or 50s.

The 1st mate and I are considering a hydronic heating system, replacing the current hot water heater with a dual purpose diesel fired system. Expensive, but would be much easier to route through the boat than a forced air system, giving you multi-zoned heat throughout the boat, and on-demand hot water to boot.

Jay

pkreyling · **Joined:** 20 Mar 2007 12:54 **Posts:** 2

We've been using a "Little Buddy" camp propane heater for a number of years. I mounted it to the bulkhead under the table (I build a wine cabinet and got rid of the sliding mechanism). I think it's 9000 btus, and it's not vented so we don't usually leave it on overnight. We do have a CO detector on board, which sometimes goes off if we leave it on all night. We use this heater in the winter (duh) when we're caught up in boat projects. It takes the chill off pretty fast and since we've been insulating a lot takes it up to the high 60's even when it's below freezing out.

During the winter I keep a 20# tank on deck and feed the heater with a hose through the dorade, but when sailing we just use a disposable bottle. Eventually we're going to install either a central system (hydronic has a lot of advantages, but pricey) or settle for a bulkhead heater; diesel either way.

Peter Kreyling
White Bird
T37-155

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

With the Hydronic systems, I am assuming you will either need a generator or will need to be plugged in, for running a heat pump under batteries alone will certainly drain the power rather quickly; although, the even heating would be nice. What I would like to do is have a heat source that is more independent such as propane or diesel but I'm uncertain if it will do an adequate job here on the Chesapeake in the cooler months.
The Cozy Cabin Heater by Force 10 only requires a 1" vent pipe whereas the diesel heaters such as on made by Dickinson need a 3" vent pipe.....something to consider.

alpinista · **Posted:** 12 Apr 2007 15:50

re: Hydronic heating systems, here is a link to a diesel fired DC system that provides 25,000 BTU/hr while burning .22 gals/hr and using 5 amps/66 watts. It supplies 6 - zone controls: 4 space heating, 1 engine coolant heating and 1 domestic hot water.

http://www.dieselheating.com/hurricane.html

Jay

Tartan37403 · **Joined:** 24 Oct 2006 12:51 **Posts:** 48

I think the heater type required certainly depends on where you cruise. We mostly sail on the Chesapeake Bay and have been perfectly happy with what is now marketed as a Sig Marine Direct Vent P9000 Heater. It was manufactured under another name when I purchased/installed 5+ years ago. This is a propane "fireplace" in that the flame is behind an airtight glass door.

My main concern was oxygen depletion with propane heaters. This one has a flexible, stainless double wall stack. Combustion air is drawn from outside the boat through the outer wall of the stack and the burnt gas exhausts through the inner pipe.

We mounted it on the starboard cabinet that is the "footwell" of what was the pilot berth on our boat. It is mounted just above the seat back cushion. There was enough stack to allow a "S" curve to be bent in the flexible pipe which allows the port over the heater to swing open/closed.

It heats the salon nicely and the low wattage built in fan in the heater works well. We use an existing Hella fan to push heat into the v-berth when needed.

I ran a separate propane line down through the cabinet, into the bilge and back to the propane tank so as to minimize the number of fittings in the boat for safety reasons. The hardest part of the installation was the hook up in the tiny propane locker.

This has proven to be an effective, attractive solution in our moderate climate.

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

We're on the Chesapeake as well, and I was looking at the Dickenson propane heater that sounds similar to what you installed. I was also looking at the Force 10, but that one does not have a sealed combustion chamber; although, it has a low oxygen sensor.

Jay · **Joined:** 22 Oct 2006 19:25 **Posts:** 61

You might also consider a reverse cycle marine air conditioner. We have a Cruisair SXR16 16,000 btu unit and find reverse cycle interior heating to be reasonably effective if outside temperatures are above freezing. Jay

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cabin heaters

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