Even in this most temperate and mild part of Canada, winter is a thing. Ok, so we post flower pictures pretty much every month of the year (except August, when they all die from drought). And I think my Instagram is getting repetitive with pictures of me, my kids and my friends enjoying all manner of outdoor fun in brilliant sunshine. That doesn't mean it doesn't get a little chilly. And, on a boat, a little chilly is a lot uncomfortable, and the chillier it is, the more condensation happens.
Condensation is kind of a creeping evil. You don't really notice it until you go to tuck your sheets in, or get a towel out from a beside-the-hull storage space, and they're soaked. And, if it's been some time since the last time you figured out that condensation was a problem, they're probably a bit smelly, too.
So heat on a boat you are inhabiting is completely essential. Nawitka came with a Webasto hydronic heater. It didn't work at first, but I called my boaty-fixy guy Karl and he had a word with an errant glow plug and it worked fine.
For a bit.
Then it didn't, and we were sad, and it was getting colder, and I could only run one space heater off the dock's AC. (I did learn how to reset the breakers on the dock though, and that's valuable information.)
The other problem was, when it DID run, the Webasto heater sounded like a jet engine, which was annoying for my neighbours. So I considered asking Karl to just fix it again - for about 5 seconds, before deciding that a new heater was justifiable.
KA-CHING $5K or so later... I have a nice Espar heater. It works and it makes the boat toasty warm, although it seems to object to keeping the boat just sort-of-habitable and sometimes has trouble staying on if it's at all in doubt about whether it should be running or not. That's an outstanding problem, but I've kind of figured out how to work around it.
Diesel heat is very, very nice. And the hydronic system means that hot coolant is zooming around the boat behind the settee and through storage spaces and keeping all those bits warm and dry and condensation-free.
I did have a problem after Karl installed a heating vent in the small child's cabin (which previously lacked one, being on the port side - all the hydronics ran down the starboard side). The intake for that vent was in the aft storage locker, which is close to the exhaust for the heater. So the air it blew in, while warm, smelled like exhaust. A carbon monoxide detector failed to detect anything dangerous, but it was still kinda gross. So an air intake had to be mounted inside the cabin. That worked fine, although I can't have any of the port lights or hatches open in that cabin because the intake sucks cold air in at an impressive rate. The warm air emitted by that heating vent doesn't compensate, plus the cooler air getting sucked into that heating vent means the "warm" air coming out actually isn't, so much. So, closed hatch and port lights for that cabin - and open door. Good thing the cabin's inhabitant is 5, and wants it that way.
The other problem that the heater replacement exposed is that the gauge on the fuel tank is completely non-functional. But it doesn't know that, and occasionally it tries to say something about the fuel level, and invariably, it's lying. Mostly it says it's empty, but sometimes it says something that sounds good (3/4 full!) but it's also a lie.
So I have taken to guessing, and randomly chucking in a 25L jerry can of diesel or two. (Amusing side-note: I recently started working out again and one of the exercises in my routines is called a "farmer carry" and it consists of just walking around holding dumbbells. 25L of diesel = 25kg = 55 lbs = honking huge dumbbells, but clearly the weight I can manage, as I can carry 2 full 25L cans of diesel down to the dock. It hurts but it's a good hurt, and I can skip that exercise next time I need fuel.)
One of the good things about these Espar heaters is that the fuel pickup starts clicking really loudly when the tank is low, so I have a tiny bit of warning before it runs out completely.
While much, much quieter than the previous heater, the Espar is still not silent. So, I've taken to running it in the morning and the evening (and through the day on weekends if we're around), but I just use a space heater throughout the night. The Espar will still kick on if it gets too cold, but the space heater doesn't make much noise, and it keeps the cabin at a steady, albeit cool, temperature.
It took a few months, but I finally got the heating figured out, and as I write this, I am delightfully warm. Yay diesel heater. (And before anyone squawks at my profligate use of fossil fuels - screw y'all. I drive an electric car, use less than 10 gallons of water a day, and run my entire home off one 15-amp electrical outlet. I think I can justify a cup or so of diesel every night.)
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