Two Dog Nights: Cabin Heat In Winter

[s/v Faith]

Interesting product. My solution is to just head further south. ;D Looked real pretty in the ad, and ventilation is a concern. Would that much heat be safe near a bulkhead?

Best solution so far!  ;D

[s/v Faith]

I have been using a "Mr. Heater, Buddy" unit aboard s/v Emerald Tide for 2 winters now.  I did install a CO alarm before using it, and it has never gone off.

In my earlier post, I had a very different experience aboard Faith;

Something I neglected to mention in the last post on this...

 There was one of the small Coleman catalytic heaters that was with the equipment onboard the boat when we bought her.  It seemed like a good short term heat source since it is made for enclosed spaces (even though the instructions probably say otherwise, it is marketed for use in tents).

 The couple times we used it before the detector was installed, we noticed that it did not do much to heat the cabin, but that it seemed like there was no air to breathe after it had been on for a few minutes.  After the detector was installed, we learned the CO levels became too high almost immediately after the thing was lit and could only be made safe if both the foredeck hatch and the companionway hatch were wide open... not very helpful when you are trying to warm the cabin....  ::)

 Bottom line, I do not recommend this piece of gear for use on a boat.

There are a couple differences, mainly that Emerald Tide has at least twice the interior volume as Faith has, but ore significantly I think the newer generation of heaters just work better.  My old Coleman had a metal matrix, the Mr. Heater unit has a fiberglass batting matrix.  You could feel your eyes burn and the air was hard to breath with the Coleman unit.

Just an update, but I agree with CapnK s later comments in this thread that the newer generation of propane heaters are a viable option for the Small Boat Sailor (but I still prefer ChatCatDaddys suggestion above, and that is what I have done once again.). :)