Wood Stove

[my1972ih]

I have a Cubic Mini which I removed from my sailboat in Florida. We won't be reinstalling it. It will need repainting with high temperature paint. It has surface rust due to being in an enclosed sailboat for 9 months while two hurricanes passed through.The stove is in Montana. We will be headed to Washington State mid month and could bring it if anyone wants it. It is the stove only.

[arcticmonkey]

well that (wood stove) certainly sparked debate
I guess it depends in the long run where you intend to go
can't see a ready supply of wood once you leave the west coast heading for warmer weather...Dickenson pacific oil stove warmed my boat trouble free over the course and distance... did a lot of pre made meals in the summers though

[GrowleyMonster]

Did someone say "wood"? For a larger boat, this might be just the thing.
ShipMate Stove Company Inc. - your source for classic solid fuel boat stoves, heaters and sinks.

[gulfislandfred]

I lived aboard, in Seattle, Port Townsend, and cruising from a bit North of Desolation Sound, to Olympia, from 1971 to 1993. I always had a wood stove: Shipmate, Skippy, Gypsy, Tiny Tot (on an 18 footer), several welded steel stoves that I had made for me, and three ferro cement stoves, with cast iron, or steel tops.


I own the smaller Cubic Mini, which I hope to install soon. It may be too big for my current Sirius 21, or not. I think the Cubic Mini, either size, would be perfect for a 30 foot boat.



Fuel availability: There is almost always dry wood, in sizes to fit a small stove, under logs on the beach. Fir bark, also known as Fisherman's Coal, in my time, is excellent fuel. It burns for a long time. BEWARE!! Fir bark expands as it burns! It will lift the lids on stoves that have lids, and make a damped down stove roar. If you're in town, 2x4 scraps ( a chop saw is your friend here) are common on building sites, and other places. Pallets are good, too. A tupperware bin of 2x4s 6 inches long, is several days f wood, maybe a week.



Stove clearance: metal sheet with a half inch space behind it, or two sheets, with half inch spaces between, can reduce safe clearance to combustible surfaces to about 8".



Surround the stove with sheet metal (old barbecues have a lot of stainless steel on doors and sometimes sides. Snap On sells a metal cutting tool that inserts into and air hammer that cuts stainless sheet really well)
Surround sides, bottom and TOP! with metal sheet, with a half inch or inch, and an open space at the bottom on the side sheets. The hot air behind the sheet rises, cooling the surface behind, and circulating air in the cabin.


Too hot? Open the hatches, and let your boat dry out! It is lovely to sit around in shirtsleeves in a truly dry boat, after a week of rain.


Fuel Storage: I used to collect on shore with a military duffel bag. Plastic tubs with good lids can store a few days of wood in the cockpit.


One verse, and chorus, inspired by the wood stove:


If you want your own house, but you haven't got the dough
Living on a boat is the way to go
At a dock in the city, or at anchor with the otters
Anywhere you go you've got a view of the water


So crank up the wood stove, tune up the fiddle
If you don't know the whole tune, start in the middle
Make a batch of brownies, throw 'em in the oven
Smoke a little reefer, have some day time lovin'


Baba Rum Fred

[Lepke]

I've burned wood of and on most of my life, including one year on this boat. I prefer a wood fire but for most boats it's not practical. You need dry seasoned wood. If it's not dry, you will get creosote buildups. If you don't clean the chimney at least yearly, you'll have a chimney fire. You can put off the chimney maintenance if you burn hot every few hours. But to have a supply of dry wood, you need storage. If you're on a small boat with a little stove, that may work. But I burned about 2 cords a month in 0°F weather. With a private dock I had storage on the bank, but then I had to have tarps to fool with. Also the icy walk on the dock with an armload of wood. On a boat, some sort of diesel heat, with fuel already on board, makes more sense. Preferably a diesel heater that requires no power.

[Panope]

I swapped out the wood burner for a Dickinson Drip furnace.

Funny thing is - I can't remember why


Steve

[GrowleyMonster]

Planning a newbuild pretty soon. Actually I wish I could use a wood stove in the winter and I would like to put one in the new boat, but they are VERBOTEN in my marina, where my boat is 90% of the time TBH.



Actually I am thinking about a low pressure diesel fired DIY oven/stove based on the primus diesel/kero camp stove burner but regulated, with sight glass, remote fill, regulated air compressor and pressure gauge. Oh, and remote priming and lightoff. I really like my gimbaled single diesel burning modified/regulated Primus knockoff for cooking. I could well see the burner adapted to heating, with flue and a good draft and redundant CO monitors.



But wood... so simple and elemental. Diesel is cheap when used efficiently, but you can't get it free. There is usually wood that can be scrounged for nothing. And an honest wood fire, especially if you can see it through a glass door, is so relaxing and meditative.


Only one problem, for me, with wood stoves. Cleaning the flue, carrying the ash out, okay I got that. No biggie. What sucks is going to sleep with a hot, cheerful fire and waking up at 0330 on a cold boat. Small stoves don't hold a fire or heat for an entire night. Unless maybe you have a supply of coal handy. Hard to scrounge coal in most ports, though.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

Planning a newbuild pretty soon. Actually I wish I could use a wood stove in the winter and I would like to put one in the new boat, but they are VERBOTEN in my marina, where my boat is 90% of the time TBH.



Actually I am thinking about a low pressure diesel fired DIY oven/stove based on the primus diesel/kero camp stove burner but regulated, with sight glass, remote fill, regulated air compressor and pressure gauge. Oh, and remote priming and lightoff. I really like my gimbaled single diesel burning modified/regulated Primus knockoff for cooking. I could well see the burner adapted to heating, with flue and a good draft and redundant CO monitors.



But wood... so simple and elemental. Diesel is cheap when used efficiently, but you can't get it free. There is usually wood that can be scrounged for nothing. And an honest wood fire, especially if you can see it through a glass door, is so relaxing and meditative.


Only one problem, for me, with wood stoves. Cleaning the flue, carrying the ash out, okay I got that. No biggie. What sucks is going to sleep with a hot, cheerful fire and waking up at 0330 on a cold boat. Small stoves don't hold a fire or heat for an entire night. Unless maybe you have a supply of coal handy. Hard to scrounge coal in most ports, though.

You can shove a kero, meths, LPG or even a diesel burner inside a woodstove to get flued dry heat in places where smoke is not allowed. Keen to hear more about your modified primus diesel burning stove. I've used a MSR XKG but it doesn't burn very clean on diesel.

[LargeMarge]

For his sailing houseboat he calls 'Quidnon', Dmitry Orlov is re-designing this classic from his youth, the Russian Marine Stove:

Quidnon: Marine Russian Stove: Heat Storage

Could something like this work in weeks of below-freezing temperatures? Dmitry says it does...

[Snowpetrel]

^^Interesting. I have often thought of using water tanks or fuel tanks as a heatsink from the main engine. Problems would be the incubation of bacteria from the warm temperatures. Prehaps heating steel or lead ballast would work better?

Overall one solution to the cold nights is to fit good insulation and to harden up. I only used my diesel heater for a few hours when I took my boat to Antarctica. Admittedly it was summer and the boat had 50mm polystyrene insulation. Good sleeping bags, warm clothes and three people in a small boat made it warm enough. Damp is a much bigger issue than cold, and that where a wood heater shines, drying out the boat nicely.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

^^Interesting. I have often thought of using water tanks or fuel tanks as a heatsink from the main engine. Problems would be the incubation of bacteria from the warm temperatures. Prehaps heating steel or lead ballast would work better?

..........

You could keep the whole anchorage warm (unless you plan to insulate your ballast as well).

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

You can shove a kero, meths, LPG or even a diesel burner inside a woodstove to get flued dry heat in places where smoke is not allowed. Keen to hear more about your modified primus diesel burning stove. I've used a MSR XKG but it doesn't burn very clean on diesel.

Its a Butterfly brand Indonesian made copy of the old Primus pump stove. I modified a vintage Sea Swing gimbal for it. Base Camp and a few other vendors sell the regulated burner which makes this stove wat more convenient and useful. Otherwise you have to release pressure for lower flame and pump it up for higher. PITA. I burn clean road diesel in it. You can light off with diesel but that makes smell and soot. A teaspoon of alcohol is better. There is a priming cup under the burner. I use a big syringe to put the alcohol. Light it and pump the stove. Release a tiny bit of diesel so there is some in the gas generator part of the burner. When the alcohol is nearly burned away, open the valve and the vaporized diesel is released and ignited. The regulator really is a good addition even though it costs twice what the stove costs. Burns kerosene too but diesel is cheaper. Will burn white gas or unleaded gas with different orifice but diesel and kero are much safer and have more BTUs.

I am getting off this ship today after 138 days and laptop is packed. In a couple days PM a reminder and I will post more or point you to the threads already on the board. Of course like all open stoves this one produces CO and water vapor. In a flued enclosure this would work nicely.

[Snowpetrel]

^^ Looks just like the old kero burners I had on my taylors stove and cabin heater. I never tried them on Diesel having understood they would block and soot up badly, but prehaps with the modern low sulphur diesels they may work well enough on diesel?

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

You can shove a kero, meths, LPG or even a diesel burner inside a woodstove to get flued dry heat in places where smoke is not allowed. Keen to hear more about your modified primus diesel burning stove. I've used a MSR XKG but it doesn't burn very clean on diesel.

Its a Butterfly brand Indonesian made copy of the old Primus pump stove. I modified a vintage Sea Swing gimbal for it. Base Camp and a few other vendors sell the regulated burner which makes this stove wat more convenient and useful. Otherwise you have to release pressure for lower flame and pump it up for higher. PITA. I burn clean road diesel in it. You can light off with diesel but that makes smell and soot. A teaspoon of alcohol is better. There is a priming cup under the burner. I use a big syringe to put the alcohol. Light it and pump the stove. Release a tiny bit of diesel so there is some in the gas generator part of the burner. When the alcohol is nearly burned away, open the valve and the vaporized diesel is released and ignited. The regulator really is a good addition even though it costs twice what the stove costs. Burns kerosene too but diesel is cheaper. Will burn white gas or unleaded gas with different orifice but diesel and kero are much safer and have more BTUs.

I am getting off this ship today after 138 days and laptop is packed. In a couple days PM a reminder and I will post more or point you to the threads already on the board. Of course like all open stoves this one produces CO and water vapor. In a flued enclosure this would work nicely.

[Mother1ship]

Lady Byrd - as they say in the south, 'Bless your heart!' -- I've lived in Seattle area (Olympia) on several boats. You need heat.

Wood heat -- smells wonderful. Takes forever to heat up, goes out at night, cold in the morning. Gotta have wood and you can't store it outside -- too wet. So that means SOMEwhere on the boat. and you know what is always on wood (no matter how much you work at it)? Bugs. Bugs come in on the wood. and when they get nice and warm, they crawl/fly/wiggle/wriggle and poop. Don't do it!

Diesel heat -- draws very little diesel, uses a small amt of battery, is available all night long and all day if you want it. WEbasto makes a great one (I had one), and you have the added luxury of a blower that spreads the heat all over the boat.

or -- if you MUST have a fire to watch (admittedly nice on a cold night) consider a diesel fireplace. Had one of those, too, loved it! it did make a bit of smoke but it was worth the wonderful heat with romance of fire. You can bank it down and run it all night, and some come with a blower.

but remember how careful you must be to install any of them -- anything that burns, will burn anything.

good luck, and enjoy some of the best sailing there is in the PNW!