wrote:
Interested in a discussion oriented towards people who are looking to
live aboard, of ways to safely heat a cruising sailboat at dockside.
SH
For the last two winters I have been using a Pelonius oil-filled
radiator-type heater. The one I have includes a timer so this allows me to
set 2 on-off cycles. I set it to turn on around 6AM to warm the boat up a
bit and then off at 8AM. It comes on again around 2PM to warm things up for
my return. It is a 1500 watt unit and I run it at full power instead of
lower settings. I find it adds about 10C to whatever temperature is
outdoors. I also have a small fan sitting behind it to blow air through the
radiator assembly. The thermostat for the unit is in the housing so I figure
it may shut off prematurely when the unit gets warm rather than the interior
air. The fan is an attempt to lessen this possibility and also distributes
the warm air. Last winter I didn't bother with the timers, just ran the unit
continuously at Medium and I noticed an increase in my electric bill. Just
going to set it up today for the first time this winter.
The boat, C&C 37, came with an Espar and I use this in the evening if it
gets particularly cold.