Propane or Diesel Heat?

[KevinT]

Originally Posted by cyclops

By the way, how are you going to sleep without being suffocated in your sleep by a shift in wind direction? Nothing worse than dead and being cold. Are your beds above the main deck?

I asked the question looking for insight and help.

Cold and Dead
Exxon Valdez in Alaska ( Which *of course* you know is now called the Sea River Mediterranean and runs oil in the Atlantic, which was the part that had us laughing the most about "Calling Alaska".
Bunks above the main deck.

Got anything useful to say on the matter? Or does the one eye limit your depth perception?

[cyclops]

I love the above the decks for sleeping safety. I know even that can be dangerous. But that is the safest from exhaust fumes. Is the berth area foward , amidship or sternish?

[Deering]

Kevin,

If your heating system works for Vancouver it'll work for most of Alaska in the boating season.

I hope you're not planning on cruising up here in the winter - that would be a mistake. The 70 knots and 10 inches of rain we just got this week would make boating life awfully miserable, and the 6 hours of daylight would make it DARK and miserable!

I've been using a smaller Espar diesel forced air furnace for my 28' aluminum boat and it is more than adequate 8 months out of the year. If temps stayed below freezing for an extended period of time the boat would probably be warm enough, but the condensation on the cold metal would mean everything was clammy. The thing I like the best on the Espar is that I've had it for 8 years now and never once touched it - no service, no repairs, no adjustments... just pour in fuel and warm my hands. If it died tomorrow I'd feel I got my money's worth. It does draw some juice during the startup cycle with the glow plug, but that's short-lived, the rest of the time the power draw is very modest.

Let me know what your Alaska cruise plans are and I'm happy to give you my $.02 worth - I've been here 12 years and am pretty familiar with my portion of it.

Bob

[yipster]

i'm not advertising but this is a damn good webasto site

[Richard Piers]

First priority-good insulation-fireproof sprayfoam 2". minimises heat loss & corrosion.
Second-never have propane on board-crazy.
Third-many types of oil fired heaters or cooker/heaters inc. Canadian made-take your pick. Heat loss calcs not difficult.

[safewalrus]

Wondered when somebody would get to it! Well done Richard! Insulation, nice and thick either spray on or 'Rockwool' then nice thick wood bulkheads. go find your solid fuel / woodburner that you through away (foolish boy!) set it up fill it up with any old drift wood, why waste good expensive fuel! keep it on, well banked up with all the dampers closed in! Keep you warm and dry nice and cheap. If you want backup for sailing etc use a diesel heater. Use parrafin, or as you lot call it kerosene lamps, OK they give off a fair amount of moisture but coupled with the wood burner it's nice and cosy below, you can see too! Some oil lamps are just as good as electric ones, with the addition of heat! To keep Cyclops happy leave a deck vent partially open (I lived on a steel boat over three winters like that with temperatures down to -5 [OK not Alaska type winter true] but I did at times have to open a hatch to cool down a bit!

But bottom line is the insulation without that your wasting your time and money! Enjoy!

[FAST FRED]

Check with the Dickinson folks their "antartic " floor mounted unit is very small and works well up to 30deg of heel.

To operate under weigh the H style of smoke head works vastly better under sail than the std. Bridet top.

If the boat does not have WT bulkheads a simple heat powered (no Electric) fan will push the air about enough to keep very comfortable .

Have used this unit in a 33ft MS down to -17F and stayed in my T shirt.
Although with 3 compatrment water tight subdivision we used a thermosyphon radiator setup to feed the other cabins , but still with NO electric.

They are NOT the most efficent units , but with no electric requirements , who cares? 4 gallons a day at FULL BORE only one GPD at most times.

Can use household fuel if its cheaper and no need to dilute the fuel with kerosene as needed with Espar or Webasto complex furnaces.

Annual maint. is a 5 min job.

You might contemplate the Dickinson line of oil fired ranges, same almost 20,000 BTU but you get to cook & bake for free for the entire heating season.

In summer a small camping gas bomb or Kerosene (primus) is used on top for most 2 burner meals.

Works for me!

FAST FRED

[safewalrus]

Know what your sayin' FRED but I still prefer the solid fuel option. You'd be surprised where you can get fuel from (free and easy, tops of fence posts! off cuts, driftwood, flotsam [ even if you have to flot it yourself, if you see what I mean ] if it's a mutifuel job, if it ain't it ain't worth a damn!

[Raggi_Thor]

Solid fuel or a diesel burner will keep the boat warm and dry.
Some (cheap?) propan/buthan burners will increase the humidity inside the boat.

[FAST FRED]

The key here is the use of the vessel.

For a weekend , coming aboard a cold boat and waiting many hours for a temperature rise is fine.
Part of the "Adventure",

For a live aboard in freezing weather ONLY reliable heat will let you go to work for days , and not come home to burst pipes and water tanks.

All diesel furnaces are vented to the outside , so are very drying all winter.

Leave the cat and plants extra water on those 3 day trips away from the boat!

FAST FRED

[Raggi_Thor]

In Norway some combination heaters are popular, burning both diesel or "parrafin" (kerosene?) AND wood.

[Nels Tomlinson]

Originally Posted by KevinT

... I'm concerned that with the hull being steel it's going to be slightly harder to heat.

I bet you're right. Consider some spray foam, from an insulation contractor. It's good stuff. Be sure you have it applied over good epoxy paint on the interior of the steel, because if the paint isn't excellent, the foam will ensure rust.

Originally Posted by KevinT

At present, there is actually a small wood stove in the boat which is comming out.

That means that you have room for a Dickenson or one of the European equivalents. All the fishing boats here use those for cooking and heating, and you need to cook and heat all year long. The pot burners are fairly safe if installed correctly, they tell me.

Originally Posted by KevinT

I have intentions of doing an extended cruise to Alaska in 2 years, and would like to know that we'll be warm enough.

When you get to Juneau, look me up.

[capefearboat]

I think propane can be used safely for cooking and heating. I believe that USCG does permit such use on "T" boat clasification. There are restrictions regarding location of tanks, necessary, valves, etc. much like the ABYC requirements.

[safewalrus]

Originally Posted by capefearboat

I think propane can be used safely for cooking and heating.

'Course it bloody well can! Just don't let it into the bilge, it's heavier than air, it will stay there until you drop that lighted match you start the stove with into it - then you join the 'airborne' Anything is safe as long as you don't forget it's dangerous - like nitro!!