Which heater

[olddog57]

Hello everybody,
I want to arrange heating in my boat, which is 2003 Fisher 34 mark III (with lateral galley), and I see no possibility to accommodate a Dickinson diesel heater - no space for it is available
Webasto type is not of my liking - pricey as I don't consider Chinese substitute, besides laying ducts is probably not easy (read pricey) at all.
So, I'm thinking about either Wallas stove, or Dickinson Bristol stove/oven: to dickens the propane appliances (and compatability problems)!
Wallas with stove and oven is very expensive, while the stove itself is only 1900 Wt: would it be enough for heating, say, in Oct in Scotland?
Dickinson Bristol stove/oven: 1900-5400 Wt, but it is impossible to use the stove separately from the oven - both are hot when you only need to fry an egg.
Any thought/advice would be much appreciated.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by olddog57

while the stove itself is only 1900 Wt: would it be enough for heating, say, in Oct in Scotland?

OD, we chartered a Moody 31 in Scotland 18 months ago at the end of September. The yacht had a 2kw hot air heater installed. We only used it at half power and the yacht was still toasty warm.

Our M31 has a 2kw Webasto hot air heater and it keeps us toastie warm even with ice forming on the deck.

Your yacht is a little bigger but if you fit curtains to the glass and mats or carpet on the floors then you don't need to go over the top on power. Do you not have room in the engine space for a Webasto heater?

Pete

[Cheechako]

How cold is it there in winter?
The diesel drip burner heaters like the Dickenson etc are a lot of trouble and messy for many people unless you just burn them constantly.

A Webasto, Wallas etc type can be installed on a bulkhead with no ducting etc. Just a space heater with outlets you can change direction on.
I've done it... didn't want to deal with ducting etc either.

The 'knock offs' seem to get good reviews as do the ones they sell (much cheaper) for Truckers!

[olddog57]

Yes, Pete,
For Webasto there is room in the engne compartnent.
But I don't want ducts, besides to get rid of propane is what looks appealing

[hpeer]

I have a 44’ center cockpit. I mounted an Espar D4 over the engine and have a total of about 3’ of duct blowing into the saloon.

If I were redoing it I would look hard at Planar. They have a rep in the UK who is active in YBW.

[Marathon1150]

We have two boats and each has a heating system. One uses a Force10 bulkhead heater that burns propane. Terrible. The second has an Espar forced air heater that burns diesel from the main tank. Excellent.

I will eventually convert the first boat to an Espar/Webasto hot water system. Not cheap but when we bring that boat back to Vancouver and sell the second boat, the cost of the system will be an excellent investment.

[hpeer]

Marathon,

I have been the same road. I have a 33’er that came with a kerosene bulkhead heater. Its OK for cool seasons. I can even make some tea on it, slowly. But I installed an Espar D4. A world of difference.

Our 44’er came with no heat. I installed a kero bullhead heater in the aft cabin and it heats that space nicely. The main saloon is heated with an Espar D4. The D4 is w bit small for this but I close off areas and it keeps the saloon nice. We were down to 13°F (about -10°C) the other night and the saloon was 62, with the companionway to the aft cabin open.

The huge advantage to the Espar/Planar they heater is they can be used while underway. Really, really nice to duck below for some warmth.

[Strait Shooter]

I have to say that I like your idea about the Dickinson Bristol, but I'm somewhat partial to these units. I have one with the double hot water coil in my Ingrid and couldn't be more pleased. I have hot water at anchor, no added electrical load, and low fuel burn rate in addition to a single fuel on board.

They aren't ideal if you're firing it up to make a cup of tea, but that's what gimballed Jetboils are for anyway. My Bristol stays on for months at a time as there's simply no reason to shut it down. Don't listen to the nay sayers, it's not hard to start, and doesn't have to be messy. I believe most of those anecdotes are from people who haven't been familiar with them.

In short, I'm very pleased with my Bristol stove.

John

[ketchcng]

The Chinese diesel heaters seem like a great value. The forced air is a very pleasant heat too.