Two Dog Nights: Cabin Heat In Winter

[starcrest]

I used lots of different things from kerosene heaters(too much shmutt)to propane under way( way to go)Its the same thing I use to cook with..I just invert a metal pan somewhat over the burner .but now I am dock bound so I used an electric portable heater ...untill the blower motor burned out...then I got ta thinkin... I got this electric skillet that I use to cook steaks...and that pretty much heats up the main cabin with no problem....its small...doesnt get red hot like the heater element...thats all I need so thats the way I go. besides I am already paying 65 bux per month for electric.winters here in south florida dont last but more than a week or so...even then only the nites are really cold..b4 ya knowit we b in a himmacaine alert

[Jack Tar]

Want a nice cabin heater to run off of engine heat or hot water. Want to look for a deal on a diesel heater. Guess  where the now line of boat heaters had their start.

Do a google search for Cab heaters or truck heaters or diesel truck heaters. I found some diesel heaters for much less money on sites for tractor trailer cabs. Oh and they do run better on keroscean that disesel fuel.

[captedteach]

I've heated my cabin with a propane lantern - the little kind that screws on a disposable bottle with a single mantle.  I've also hung it off the stern and killed tons of bugs for the fish to eat

[Solace]

Cabin heaters for live aboards in Canada are pretty much all electric. We shrink wrap the boats with a plastic cover - that keeps the snow out, allows you to use your cockpit as a sunroom or for storage and when the sun shines it's like being in a greenhouse - can be quite warm. With the shrink wrap enclosure being plastic, that lets out any idea of any kind of a fossil fuel heater - both for the chimney or the fumes. Yes, we cook with propane - but a heater would have a much larger appetite and displace air with exhasut.

I had been using a 3' base board heater to heat with, but it roasts my legs when I'm sitting at the table on the computer. I have now gone to a bathroom style 1500W heater with a fan and built it in to the wall below my bar. We have had a very mild winter so far - yesterday it went up to 52 deg F - all the ice is gone, so I haven't yet needed to switch on a second heater - that one is ceramice heater - both have built in fans. For me to run the second heater I have to turn off the hot water heater.

[captedteach]

For me to run the second heater I have to turn off the hot water heater.

If the water is HOT why do you need a water heater ? 

[CharlieJ]

 

[Adam]

Hey Starcrest, where in S. FL are you?

I'd just use propane on nights when it got chilly... never to get it truly warm, but enough to take the edge off.

Adam

[starcrest]

currently dania beach florida.just south of ft laud.airport.stones thro from south runway. grate place 2 b if you like airplane noise and jet fumes

[Pixie Dust]

If at dock, a little electric fan heater keeps the boat toasty.  If anchored out, I use a little coleman propane heater, uses the 1#bottle.  I heat up the boat prior to bed,  turn it off at night and then turn it on first thing in the morning.   Boat heats up quick!   Even in Florida, heat is needed at times, esp. in the panhandle. 

[s/v Faith]

If at dock, a little electric fan heater keeps the boat toasty.  If anchored out, I use a little coleman propane heater, uses the 1#bottle.  I heat up the boat prior to bed,  turn it off at night and then turn it on first thing in the morning.   Boat heats up quick!   Even in Florida, heat is needed at times, esp. in the panhandle. 

 Exact same deal.... don't trust that propane heater though.  I just bought a kero 'Shipmate' heater... just trying to figure out where I want to mount it.   

[tigerregis]

On the dock I use an AC oil filled rad, nice and constant, backed up with a ceramic cube. On the hook, I have used a cast iron fry pan filled with any non combustibles, the little Coleman tent heater worked enough to keep the chill off. The best though, is the W&P Trawler lamp, you can read by it and it throws off a lot of heat. I used a 12V portable fan(4D's) to move the air and it was just fine. Downside is all the moisture from fossil fuels.Btw, the fry pan sat on a Force 10 kero stove.

[Jack Tar]

I think G.I. Joes has Mr Heat Buddy on sale for $65. I use one. It takes propane canisters or a addaptor hose to external propane tank.

[CharlieJ]

And of course there is always the old standby- a clay flower pot turned upside down over the stove burner. Just make sure you have a safe place to set the hot pot if you want to take it off. The stainless sink does well.

[Se Langt]

A standard red clay flower pot turned upside down over one of the top burners on the galley stove makes a nice cabin heater.  However with propane remember there's a lot of water produced which increases moisture in the cabin but this system does work well.  Try one where the burner unit is back aft in 'safe' locker and then sends dry hot air up to the cabin if you have room.

M.

[CapnK]

Yep, dangit, it's that time of year again. Bringing the CrewDogs belowdecks at night, for 2 reasons:

1) It's cold out there for them.

2) I can sure use the doggy BTU's inside, myself.



35* this morn at sunrise. Yuk. 

[AdriftAtSea]

LOL....just don't let the crewdogz get wet...

[CapnK]

LOL....just don't let the crewdogz get wet...

Yar! 

[s/v Faith]

Anyone using kerosene (on your boat)?

[CharlieJ]

Yep- only not really kerosene- we burn Mineral Spirits instead, and have for 30 years now.

In our stove, in our lamps, and in our anchor light.

[Captain Smollett]

That's my plan, as well, CJ.  I have an oil anchor lamp, and am going to purchase a kerosene camping stove (or perhaps a multifuel) for the galley and add oil cabin lamps (only have 12V electric at present).

As an aside, I've burned Citronella in the anchor lamp (even inside the cabin when it was needed as an anchor lamp) and worked very well for mosquito control.  When inside, it 'coated' the cabin surfaces with some residue that seemed to help keep the critter at bay even when the lamp was NOT burning.

Just my opinion, but I think kero/oil lamps+stoves give the most options and utilize relatively cheap fuels available world-wide.