Hot water on demand

[fkittson]

I'm looking for a good hot water on demand unit for my 31' power boat, or a decent electric/exchanger hot water tank. My wife and I like to shower on board cause the shower house at are marina isn't the cleanest. We are refitting are head and will be keeping are shower on board. We will also be adding a transom shower. Does anyone know of a good reliable unit.
Thanks in advance for all the advice.

[sww914]

On our previous boat I bought a cheap Chinese one on ebay. It worked great but we only had that boat for 2 years so who know how well it lasted?

[fkittson]

What make was it and how did you do the venting

[ReMetau]

We've had a ventless Excel on board for three years now.

[shorebird]

I also installed a cheap made-in-China unit in our cabin, but would not run the same unit in our boat. I would consider a Bosch or Rheem, vented, on propane if you have LPG on your vessel. We have been really happy with our cheapo unit in the cabin.

[fkittson]

What make was it and how did you do the venting

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by fkittson

I'm looking for a good hot water on demand unit for my 31' power boat, or a decent electric/exchanger hot water tank. My wife and I like to shower on board cause the shower house at are marina isn't the cleanest. We are refitting are head and will be keeping are shower on board. We will also be adding a transom shower. Does anyone know of a good reliable unit.
Thanks in advance for all the advice.

Many moons ago, in my powerboat days, I used a oil cooler type heat exchanger that I ran fresh water through the "oil" side. It made endless hot water once the engine was up to temp, and cost me all of $200 to build

[1000 islands]

I got an EcoTemp for Christmas.

This is used by many here in the 1000 Islands, so I assume it is well made????

[sww914]

I don't know what make it was, that was 15 years ago. For the venting I just used their recommended methods and materials, regular house stuff. I know this doesn't help much. The venting was easy on that boat, it was a big trimaran so I had a multitude of installation location options. On this boat, a monohull pilothouse, it would be very difficult to locate one without a major compromise. Glad we're where we don't need hot water now.

[sneuman]

The electric on-demand jobs are interesting, but look to draw too much electricity for a 30 amp shore power service when the water is drawn.

[gettinthere]

If you have shore power, just install a 6 gallon (or 12 gallon if you have the room) hot water tank.
When I looked into this, none of the tankless manufacturers would certify for boat use. If you have a fire, the insur co will likely deny your claim. Furthermore, a surveyor will probably mark it down and the insur co would insist on it's removal before binding coverage.
If you find a unit acceptable to the yacht insurance industry, please post it here. Perhaps things have changed in a few years