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Old 09-29-2017, 03:03 PM   #5
Lepke
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City: Between Oregon and Alaska
Vessel Name: Charlie Harper
Vessel Model: Wheeler Shipyard 83'
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 3,023
Some hopefully helpful info, I have a recording thermometer I set in non heated areas of my boat in winter. Mostly in the bilge areas and engineroom. My concern was almost all of my plumbing runs thru the bilge. My water tanks are next to the engineroom.
The lowest temps I recorded was 34°F in weather as low as zero, sometimes lasting for a week. This was in bilge areas below unheated cabins. Engineroom and unheated cabins never went below 45°F. I should have measured the water temps. Readings were between East Vancouver Island and the coastal Columbia River.
I live aboard, wood boat, at that time I heated with wood. Since then I have developed several options for heat (diesel stove, wood, pellets, engine and electric all tied to a diesel boiler) with pellets about half the cost of the next cheapest. All this started when diesel was $4/gallon. Now I heat unused cabins to 50° and bilges stay above 45°.
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