View Single Post
Old 08-18-2015, 10:15 AM   #9
DavidM
Valued Technical Contributor
 
DavidM's Avatar
 
City: Litchfield, Ct
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,786
There are several types of diesel boat heaters:


1. Drip type bulkhead mounted- These use a regulated drip of diesel to burn in a small bulkhead mounted unit with a small flue pipe. The Dickenson Newport heater mentioned above is one example. These can be installed with an optional hot water heating coil that can be plumbed to your hot water heater to make hot water for showers. These are probably the cheapest type of boat heaters.


2. Forced air- Like the Wallas mentioned above, or Espar and Webasto. These are remote mounted, often in the engine room and are a tiny forced air furnace where the hot air is heated and ducted through the boat. The flue exits the side of the boat.


3. Hydronic- Arguably the best, but the most expensive. Like a home oil heating system, a central "boiler" heats water which is circulated to several fan/coil units in the boat. These can also be plumbed to heat hot water.


You can spend from $2,000 for a simple drip heater installation to more than $5,000 for a hydronic system. For weekend use in your climate I would install the drip type. For live aboard, the forced air or the hydronic system would be my choice.


Fortunately many boats for sale in the PNW already have heating systems installed.


David
DavidM is offline   Reply With Quote