heating and liveaboard recommendation

[Ann]

We have a Cal 44 in Seattle and plan to liveaboard starting in a week or so. It currently does not have a heating system. My husband is looking at a Webasto hydronic system but for now we just have a space heater. Since we're new to sailing and especially to liveaboard what do most people use for heating? My biggest question right now is the space heater we have heats well but can we leave it running during the day when we're not there? I didn't want it to get cold during the day and then have to heat it up every night but not sure what the recommendations are. Any other advise/recommendations/etc for newbie liveaboards is appreciated Thank you in advance!

 

[Gary]

Heat

I just leave a 100 watt light on while i'm gone. The temp. stays at about 55 even on the coldest days.

 

[Ann]

really?!

Really!? Or am I being gullible? Do you just have a regular lamp that you use a 100 watt bulb in and turn on? You can tell I'm very wet behind the ears on this

 

[Patrick]

Careful with space heaters

If you leave a space heater running all the time, check it periodically (weekly) for buildup of fuzz and other drek on the fan. Also, get a good one that will shut off if it tips over or gets too hot.I doubt that a 100 watt light will suffice for warming on a boat your size but it is surprising how much heat it puts out. It might keep a particular room warm if you shut that room off from the rest of the boat.You can turn the heater off and see how long it takes to warm up the boat.We just used a unit we got from West Marine and left it on low when we were gone.Electric blankets are good too. We found a blanket which goes under the matress pad and warms from underneath. That helped a lot with condensation (and mold) under the matresses. We found that the areas which were cold and covered inside were prone to getting and staying damp. Any small amount of heat (light bulb, damp chaser, etc.) will help that a lot.

 

[Seattle Scott]

Ann, I left a small space heater on

at the lowest temp setting last winter ( no live aboard) on my 37 ft. Ended up costing $30 a month in elect bill at Shilshoal. Unplugged it when I got first bill ($90). May not make sense to heat when not aboard.

 

[Ann]

west marine unit

Thanks for the advise. You mentioned you use a unit from West Marine. Is it a space heater or what? I also really like the suggestion of a heated mattress pad. Thanks!

 

[Tim]

Space Heating in seattle

We used to live on our Hunter 40.5 in Seattle. We had the same dilemna as you have. When we purchased the boat, it didn't have heat. So we learned how to do the space heater shuffle before we had a chance to put in heat.We found that by using 3 floor heaters (the West Marine type, we could keep the boat comfortable without having to run them on high.One heater was at the forward end of the main cabin (usually set at 600 watts), The secnd heater was toward the middle of the main cabin (usually set at 600 watts, 900 watts if it was really cold) The 3rd heater was in our aft cabin. We would only turn it on about an hour before we retired (also at 600 watts). We would normally leave the thermostat of all 3 heaters on low when we slept.This worked fairly well and we didn't trip the circuit breakers too often because of distributing the wattage over the 3 heaters.When we were not on the boat, we would only leave a single heater on (600 watts again) and then set the thermostat fairly low. Just make sure to vacuum the dust out of the air intake every so often.Worked like a charm.

 

[Trevor - SailboatOwners.c]

Hydronic

Hi Ann -I installed a Webasto 2010 hydronic heating system in a Formosa 51 we lived aboard at Shilshole years ago, and most recently installed the same heater in our Taswell. I highly recommend going the diesel boiler route for liveaboards. Even heat throughout the boat and plenty of hot water for showers!Expensive and a project to install, but worth it if you're living aboard.Just my 2 cents,Trevor

 

[Phil Herring]

Forced air

Well, I have a dissenting view. I've had both circulating water and forced air and I'd go with the forced air. Sure, it's kind of loud and you don't get all the other benefits, but the extra air circulation kept the boat dry in the winter. It really cuts down on condensation. That's the one problem with space heaters: take a boat with a wet deck, add heat, and soon it will be raining inside.

 

[John Nantz]

2nd for Forced Air

In a humid climate like our area the forced air system is a better way to go. The problem with a boat around here is mold, mildew, and condensation.For a balanced view point talk to the owner at Boat Electric on Westlake, http://www.boatelectric.com/They know alot about heating and refrigeration and sell Espar which makes both forced air and hydronic heating units so they don't have a bias one way or the other. When I was looking at a boat that didn't have heat I discussed the alternatives with the owner and he came out in strongly in favor of forced air from the standpoint of the above mentioned problems assuming installation is possible. Forced air does generate noise (but can be mitigated), requires a larger heater unit, and the distribution system requires larger holes for the air ducts as compared to water hoses. What is really important is they can explain WHY forced air heat is preferable over electric or hot water heat from a physics standpoint. You really want that humidity OUT of the boat!I'm sure that other firms such as Scan Marine http://www.scanmarineusa.com/about.htm also on Lake Union would be able to explain the differences also. We have an Ardic forced air heater we got from Scan Marine on our boat and it was a life saver when we cruised up in Southeast Alaska where the humidity is much worse than here.Living on a boat one needs to consider that by the time you get to the boat (given typical Northwest climate) your clothing will be wet or soaked and will have to be dried out. Doing this onboard will add to the condensation inside but forced air heat will push this outside.Installation hint: Don't drill large holes for the air ducts through structural members of the hull without geting approval or okay from the manufacturer. A good surveyor will note this in their survey.

 

[newly anonymous]

pasta moritoriums

I have a Webasto hydronic system and love it, but as a liveaboard I've had to add a dehumidifier to dry the boat out when it rains. Before the dehumidifyer, we'd have to declair pasta moritoriums whenever a storm front came through, and if it rained for more than two days we'd have to start showering up in the yacht club. A hydronic system is great system for down here in the Bay Area, but in the Pacific Northwest I think you're well advised to go with forced air because of the humidity problems.

 

[Paul]

I lived aboard...

my ODay 35 last winter and used 3 space heaters, 1500 watts each. I needed 50AMP service to run them and the rest of the stuff. They worked quite well and for some reason I didn't have the condensation problem that everyone told me I would have. They worked well down to -30C (-25F) then needed extra sleeping bag.But I agree with some of the other posts that a forced air diesel heater is probably the best but they are so expensive.