Diesel Boat Heaters

For a good sized 12v or 24V alternator the use of a used or rebuilr alt from a bus is the best solution.

EG "Rebuilt 24 volt, 50DN, 250 amp alternator 24 VOLT, 50DN, gear driven alternator. Rebuilt by Kirk and never installed. It has been bench tested and is in perfect... Joshua Tree CA United States $ 295.00 USD"

From the for sale list on the "busnut" board.

The 50DN has been made for decades and are really reliable.

A second advantage is the field control current is under 8A , so an off the shelf 3 or 4 stage sailboat type V regulator will handily charge the battset as fast as you dare.

They are available with V belt , flat belt or shaft drive.

Some bus folks that need 120V hook them to a good large inverter , as they are strong enough to run 2 air cond units at once.

More fun is a simple voltage throttle (from a welder) so the engine RPM can be only enough to keep the voltage where you need it.

Even those big big $$$$ spiral wound batts take less charge as they get full, so why listen to the noise , or burn the fuel ?

About 1/3 of the fuel burned in a diesel makes work, the 1/3 in the cooling system can heat water for a radiator , the 1/3 in the exhaust is harder to capture , but?



FF

For folks with the old Espars , we werte told the Bosch glow plug was rated for 7.5v.

Espar de-rared the voltage to attempt longer life to 6V.

AS noted this was for a 14V + running engine.

Lower the available volts to 12.5- for a dockside powered boat , add in long undersized (25A required at at start) wiring and NO Start is common.

For those with a big resistance coil on top of the unit simply remove a turn of the resiatance wire , and start the unit .

If the voltage at the glow plug is between 6v and 7.5v , great , otherwise chop some more .

FF

Dickenson is pretty common in AK.

We used a Dickenson Range cruising Southeast Alaska for over 20 years.

The boat was a 47' Skookum, hull and deck were fully insulated with blueboard.



You can cook on it, but it is better suited to soups, and things which take a while to cook. By the time you get the surface hot enough to fry an egg, the whole boat is unbearably hot. It does provide ample heat to keep a 47' boat toasty warm in the winter.

great looking galley there mate