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Old 10-29-2018, 02:47 PM   #2
Sailor of Fortune
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City: St Augustine,Fl
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RowboatBob View Post
It has been customary on all our tug boats (in Seattle and Alaska) to install small diesel fired furnaces that that will keep warm (hot) water circulating through the engine block, even through an element in the Oil Pan. This results in never having a cold start issue with the mains, shorter warm up times, less smoke and soot.
One advantage to this is that the engine room, and most of the entire cabin space, stays nice and warm/dry. But these are huge masses of iron acting as the heat source.

My question: Does this seem like a do-able application for a small trawler (i.e; Nordic Tug 37) and are there other alternatives that are common practice in the pleasure boat industry, without relaying on a simple block heater through a freeze plug. Just trying to wrap my head around the pros and cons of the concept for this application.

We have some great engineering types on staff that often times custom make the furnaces/exchangers for the tugs, but I hate to dominate their time on my toys.

Thanks in advance for your opinions!
Yes,useful for small trawler engines as well. No need for furnace setup. A small wolverine heat pad, mounted to oil pan does the trick. Cuts down on condensation inside as well. SBAR marine sells them (Seaboard Marine). A couple of hundred bucks well spent. Truck supply houses have the block immersion types as well. your choice.
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