installing a Dickinson on a Beneteau 373

[darkaegisagain]

This has been on my list of things to do and with the weather in the Seattle area its a priority...

I would appreciate some feedback on where or how to install a Dickinson heater on a Beneteau 373. I can think of two spots on the forward bulkhead or near the nav station.

I have considered a Webasto heater but its a big jump in effort / price to install and for my use I was thinking the Dickinson heater was a better choice

Thoughts or ideas?

Any experience in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Liam]

I have a Beneteau 331. Very similar to your boat. I installed a Dickinson propane fireplace heater a few years ago. Great product! I really enjoy being warm at anchor.
I installed it on the forward bukhead, port side in the main salon. It is about 6-8 inches above the setee cushion. I tee-ed into the propane stove and ran the line from the stove to the heater through the setee lockers.
They make a guard that goes over the vent cap to prevent lines from snagging. You will definately need that accessory.

 

[darkaegisagain]

Where did you route the exhaust pipe? Straight up or on an angle to the side? I don't think I can route it directly up (theres a window and some structure there) but I think I can route it off the side a bit.

thanks

 

[darkaegisagain]

I finished installing the heater today, I switched my choice from diesel to Dickinson 12000 propane because in some cases we need heat under say for my family (the PNW can be chilly). And after digging through enough forums I found out about the back flow issue in high winds.

Mounting the heater and pipe were easy, finding a method to route the gas line was another story. After about 3 hours of trying to pull a line behind the galley we decided to route it through the bilge. The gas line is a fairly serious line from Sure Marine its double walled with braided exterior... and it was 40' long which made it very expensive. I mounted all the lines with grommets and secured them with attached tie downs to keep them from chafing.

After getting the gas line in and electrical pulled through yesterday I finished the install today and it works great. The chimney was mounted right in front of my forward bulkhead, this placement prevents it from catching the sheets due to its location in front of the inner forestay.

Just for reference it takes about 8-10 hours to do all this.. you will need a 3" and a 1 1/8" hole saw with a 6" extender and another regulator / gas solenoid if you choose to separate the lines from the stove at the tank. Also its recommended in many places to route a full length of gas line from the tank to the appliance, I would stick with that rule.

I can't imagine what a pain it would be to install a forced air system with the 3" hoses running around the boat. I think I would elect a hydronics system if I made that choice (I found an Espar on craigslist for 1000 bucks..)