Heat And A/c

What is the best way to heat a small boat, propane furnance or other fuels? Best furnance...?

Then best way to cool off? Roof mounted units, convert an auto A/C-12volt system?

 

Your rooftop ACs like on a motor home will work just fine on a boat in fresh water. Coleman makes a marine version for salt water use. Also a low profile offered. These unit also incorporate a heat pump and can supply heat. A drawback is they use 110V and will not run off your engine alternator and need a properly sized generator on board to operate. You can google roof mount ACs to get electrical data. These units run $ 600-to $ 800 bucks. The best and safest heater if a diesel fired one but they can be pricey Small wood burning stoves are safe if well anchored with fire protection for walls and should be held up 3' to 4' off the floor to protect against falling on one. Seme really neat small stoves made like 12" wide 10" deep. I'll look for a link and come back and post it. http://www.marinestove.com/sardineinfo.htm
http://www.go2marine.com/category.do?no=12196&view=item
http://www.fatscostoves.com/ Subaru/Robbin makes a small diesel generator which has enough output to run a roof mount AC. http://www.temcoindustrialpower.com/products/Portable_Generators/GG0029.html These seem to last for decades. Any motor home gen set will run them also
I'm building a 30' x 9' power cat. Will have roof mount AC and a fatso wood stove. A 10 gal. water heater -propane-under the pilots seat vented high and a gas vent level with sole to the outside for propane leaks and a sniffer alarm. 2- 30 lb. fiberglass tanks will be roof located. Will also have a 3 burner cook top, propane with a sniffer alarm under. Any propane appliance will have a shutoff at the tanks but always have a Visable, wall mount shutoff valve near the actual appliance for emergencies and to shut off at night. Just a bit more safety.

 

Rasorinc, Thanks much! I can bear the cold (to a point) better than the heat, so A/C is going to be necessary for long term jaunts. Propane under the helm seat outside, good spot.

The site are helpful, that wood stove seems a little pricy for what it is, but the porcalin with glass would be nice.

Any other suggestions? Anyone use radiator heaters, those 110V portables?

 

Don't know anything about radiator heaters but portables use more energy then the heat
they give out. The fatso wood stove is about $ 230.00 NOT A $ 1,000.00 PLUS LIKE THE SARDEAN. Sorry for the caps. The fatso will melt you in a boat and guests will be amazed. Propane heaters work well but observe all ++++safety features. I've spent a lot of time planning out my needs and wood to heat, propane to heat water, and 110V to cool are about the best system on small boats that I find.

 

Both heating and cooling are available from www.dometic.com
I use a rooftop A/C unit only on mains power but some motor home owners have a larger alternator installed and use an inverter to run the A/C. Running on batteries is hardly an option: it draws more than 80 amps.

 

define small boat ..?? canal boats have full boiler and radiators ......only 80A ....try a narrowbaoat where running your engine/ gen is not permitted 8 pm -8 am ..about 800AH should cover it ..... 7 or 8 110AH Numax will be fine .a couple of 130 A alternators to charge it in the day ..I can give you the parallelling circuit ..a 240v version might be better

 

Thanks guys for the great info. I think a wood fire would be great, but my fireplace is messy and takes a lot of wood, but that's in the home.

Small boat.....Yes, I sould have been more specific. about 24' long, 8 wide and a 6' ceiling, that's pretty small to me,it wouldn't be any bigger.

Bolger's Tenessee would be the largest and it has lots of glass, I'd probably use about 2/3 to 3/4 the same area for windows, making them smaller. If I did that I'd probably use double hung of crank out vinyl clad thermopane windows.

Another might be about the same size along the lines of a canal boat with an arched top and much smaller port lights.

Sides and ceiling would be insulated with spray or foamboard, but not much.

All this plays apart in keeping a constant temp in the cabin area.

Is Numax a battery?

It's good to know that marinas have hours of operation for gen sets, I didn't think of that but certainly understand it!

With wood heat, seems you'd need more space for the wood pile and making sure it kept dry. And those small bundles sold at gas stations for the occasional romantic fire would be very expensive to actually heat with. Then, you can scronge wood along the rivers....

And, hot water, a tank or at the tap? I'd lean toward the propane at the tap taking up less room.

 

This is all good advice and the most economical way to solve all these problems to date.

Good post.

I should add that I've owned the Little Cod wood stove and used it for primary heat year 'round in Maine, full time live aboard, no other heat source.

Also, if you get the right model Coleman Mach rooftop AC unit (with heat capability if desired), you can actually run it from a Honda EU2000. That's the setup I have in the RV I am in while building. I wouldn't recommend an air cooled diesel generator on a boat, though. They are just awful to listen to. Had one of those once too.

 

Air con is a problem. I know of only one solution...good ventilation, a sun awning and an electric fan.

For heating the oil fired heaters that they use on Trains and buses are simply the best.

Webasto makes a nice unit. Heats both the air and water. Several other manufacturers do the same. These units are not cheap but are Well worth investigating.

http://www.webasto-marine.co.uk/products/blueheat-heater/thermo-top-ce.html

 

Thanks for the sites, didn't realize there were so many options out there. I really like the idea of a fireplace/stove, not sure how practicle it would be trying to keep a very small fire going through the night.

A wood stove I think needs to go with the style of the boat and cabin as well, not sure but a work boat beadboard cabin is what I have in mind with some redwood trim and cabinets (since I have alot of t&g redwood).

Sounds like a good gen set is in order, efficient, dependable and quiet.

I have a couple oil filled portable radiator heaters I use when I don't need the central heat. They do very well and seem to be cheap to operate. I believe they are 1200 and 1500 watt heaters. I'm sure they would burn you out of a small cabin area that was insulated.

Agreed, I'd take advantage of shade, fans, misting the deck and other strategies asthe weather allows. I would like for my rig to be livable on the hook, gunkholing in remote areas all year.

 

Its socially unacceptable to lie in paradise with a dam generator running............

 

Yes, I know!

Last time I camped in a park, I set up camp in my spot. Had a nice evening and went to bed. I was awakened by an diesel pusher RV parking next to me. I went back to sleep and then awakened again. The war a roar and my tent was shaking as if I were in a tornado. The RV turned on his generator to run the air and the exhaust was just a few feet from my tent! Needles to say, I brought it to the RVer's attention with an attitude and verbage any real sailor would clearly understand!

A quiet gen set. I would bring up solar, but that's another game all together.

 

And of course, solar can't run your ac or heater.

 

Concur.. and if there's hot below it's propably very nice weather to stay out

 

The secret to a cool boat is to not run the machinery in the afternoon.

If you run a gen or main engine during the afternoon, that big hot lump of metal stays hot and pollutes the whole boat all night. In high summer make it a habit to stop early to allow the IRON to cool before bedtime.