Boat heaters

[Chester]

Brooks Cooper, I know you are frustrated with your Wallace but have you considered their newer, more reliable, updated model? With minor modifications to the countertop it will in the same cutout as the origional.

[Will-C]

Warren,
We have a standard butane stove that came with the boat. I will probably get some sort of small barbie type thing for the cockpit. I'm trying to keep things simple. I carry a generator so we use a electric perkalator for coffee and hot water which is quick and no fumes to deal with. I carry a small electric heater for use before bed and the mornings currently. I have the generator plugged into the shore power and just use the outlets that are in the boat. I liked the compactness of an Airtronic D2 as it will go under the sink area. This way we should not have any burn victims if the grand children should be around. If I had not read so much - about the Wallas I might have sprung for one of them. This way instead of a Wallas I can have a heater and radar for 3k instead of just a Wallas that I would be second guessing all the time.
D.D.

[Grumpy]

The Wallas D-30 units can be fitted with an electronic control panel which gives you (amongst other things) two options:-
1. You can set the cabin temperature in which case it varies output to suit.(Not sure if it cycles Off/On)
2. You can set the burn level. For nightime use we have found that you set it to min with a window cracked and that is perfect as you have minimum noise and it is constant.

Expensive... YES
Temperamental... Not so much as the stovetop units. It seems that all of them have to go back to ScanMarine and be argued about for a bit. After that they usually work.

Merv

[thataway]

The hydraunic heaters work fine, but you have to have a boiler system. The boiler systems are complex and expensive. I don't see an outboard of any size as being a good heat source for these hydraunic heaters. The lines in the outboard are small, and the water pumps are set up to push the water only over relitatively short distances.

We had a hydraunic neater, similar to the Heater Craft unit, that Dave pictured, and it worked great--with a 45,000 BTU boiler--and both radiant copper pipes and 4 of these small heaters with fans, in a much larger boat. The boiler unit sounded like a jet plane when it fired up (air compressor to atomize the fuel, forced draft on the buner and exhaust, as well as circulating water pump.). I don't see this as being practical in a 16 to 25 foot boat. The hot air units are far simpler. With an inboard engine, the "red dot" like car heaters work fine, and you can heat the boat well--again, not sure that an outboard can be set up to accomidate that easily.

[amy and karl]

I can recommend the Airtronic d-2 by Espar. It has worked flawlessly since last spring when we put it in. We ran it for nearly two weeks straight on our Discovery Coast trip as well as many weekends with no problems with function or noise keeping us awake at night. It has plenty of heat for a 22 and would have no problem heating a 25. We only wish this would have been a factory option. If you are seriously considering it all I can say is we would do it again absolutely.

Karl on C-Daisy

[localboy]

Karl is that heater thermostatically controlled like Barry's? I know we will be looking for an upgrade once we get serious about cruising...Meredith DOES NOT enjoy beind cold and being toasty and warm would make it easier to convince her summer isn't the ONLY cruising season up here.

[amy and karl]

Hey Mark,

Our kit came with what's called a mini controller. It works like a thermostat. You choose a setting and the heater maintains that setting. The heater does cycle between outputs to maintain the setting. It really heats our 22 very well. Hope that helps.

Karl

[localboy]

Yes, it does, Karl. Thanks. Looking @ options.

[BrentB]

[Doryman]

[BrentB]

Thanks Warren

I didnt know until now the Airtonic used diesel as the fuel source

on edit

[Will-C]

Brent,
If you go back to my post in about the middle of page two of this thread there are all the spec's I think it's actually called an Airtronic D 2 by Espar. I have ordered it . I'll do pictures in my album once I get it installed. I believe someone has pictures of an installed Airtronic D2 in their C-Dory. I just don't remember who. I had made a decision to buy one a year ago. All the planets just got lined up correctly so I just now pulled the trigger.
D.D.

[BrentB]

Thanks Dave

I forgot to read the full message, my mistake
What make of butane stove are you using?

[Will-C]

Brent,
I'll have to look at it. It is the standard one C-Dory supplied. My boat for some reason didn't have one and Mark from Wefing's had one laying around so they put it in the boat at no charge. Could not argue about the price. It might be a Kenyon. I have to check on my baby this weekend I'll look at it and let you know. It takes those standard cannisters. It works like a champ. We have not cooked any 7 course meals on it. Replacement cannisters are cheap. They say they won't work well when subjected to temps in the twenties but then again I don't either. I plan for longer trips to have peanut butter and jelly, crackers and eat granola, trail mix, breakfast cereal like Kashi as they are light and don't require refrigeration or ice. I always want to be able to cook a fish should one commit suicide. Coffee is a must and we carry both a four cup percolator that we run off a generator or if we have shore power. The stove is there for hot water tea or those little instant coffee bags which are not bad. Some folks use a little pot that works off 120 volt. I think they bought them at Bed Bath and Beyond. They use them to heat soup hot water they are real fast and compact. I'm fighting the cockpit barbie thing but some day I can see it happening. I don't want the look like my boat was magnetic and was drug though West Marine and everything they had just stuck to it. Sorry for the rant!
D.D.

[JamesTXSD]

We use a portable Kenyon butane stove for quick heating of water or when we want to cook in the cockpit. Also, if it's really hot out and we don't want the additional heat in the cabin, the Kenyon works well.

To date (and I'm just sure this will put a hex on it), our Wallas has only failed once and that was due to a battery problem, not something wrong with the Wallas. In fact, when I called Scan Marine, they talked me through diagnosing the problem and with a few moments told me it was likely the battery. I couldn't believe it since I had recently changed out the batteries... sure enough, we had one battery with a bad cell.

It's not always easy to find the canisters for the Kenyon, btw.

Best wishes,
Jim B.