Heating System on Mac 26x

[WhiteDown]

Would anyone suggest how to heat the cabin of a Mac 26x. Propane heat would be out of the question due to the danger of carbon monoxide and children sleeping on board. An enshenbacher (sp?) deisel system is too expensive around 1300 Euro. I have thought about a low wattage Direct current fan heater. 300 Watt. Crocidile clamped straight onto the - +'s on battery, I'm not sure if the 50Hp Yamaha would produce enough amps to drive this while engine running only of course. I don't think I would risk depleating the battery otherwise. This would be to dangerous as the battery is so essential on board. A secondary battery system might work and this has been suggested. Where would the second battery go though. I would have to fiberglass it in somewhere. There are not to many spare places on board?

Any thoughts?

[Chinook]

I don't think battery powered electric heat is an option. Just too heave a draw, and a very inefficient use of electric power compared to other types of heat. Unfortunately, just about any safe solution for the enclosed cabin of a boat is going to be expensive. When we bought our 26X we knew we wanted to cruise in northern waters where heat would be really needed, and so we installed the very expensive Wallas stove in the boat. We got the single burner model. It has a hinged hood which can be lowered down over the heated burner plate. A thermostat controlled squirrel cage fan in the hood kicks into action, blowing air over the cooking element. It does a very nice job of heating the cabin, and we've remained comfortable while sitting in 34 degree water, with condensation water dripping off the cabin walls inside, while up in Alaska. This heater uses very little electrical power, and is very fuel efficient, operating on kerosene. The stove is vented to outside air with a thru hull fitting. The Wallas stove has been much discussed on this forum.

[nedmiller]

Unless you are going to be plugged into shore power at a marina, Chinook is right, do not consider electric heat. You just can't carry enough battery power for that to make sense.
We also have an expensive unit, Wallas but 1300 Cabin Heater (4000 BTU which is probably the equivalent of 1200 watt) It makes the cabin comfortable on very cool nights but if I were buying now, I would get the next larger size up. The Wallas brings in outside air for combustion and then is vented to the outside making it quite safe.
A less expensive (but still a bit pricey) would be a solid fuel heater like the Newport Solid Fuel heater (it's on sale now for $323 at
http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=20010F
but it is larger and requires a 3" hole for vented (I think the Wallas was 2" or a bit less) West Marine carries a similar model. Because they are so small you would probably have to get up to feed them and I have no idea of the soot/smoke issues.
Some folks have put a tiny wood-stoves like the "Sardine" on their boats but they are a bit heavy, expensive and require an even larger 4" vent hole.
Unless you are willing to take the chance and go to catalytic propane, I don't see any options that are both cheap and safe.
SILK

[Québec 1]

Try the origo alcohol heater. That's what I'm getting.
Q1

[WhiteDown]

Thank you Chinook, Highlander and all who responded re:a heating system. I 've seen the wallis stove and like it. Very compact idea. The other fuel burning stoves seem a bit cumbersome. I'll check the one from West Marine. Great advice thank you. I'm in Ireland and its blinkin cold here. Not bad in the summer but winter is not right.

[ROAD Soldier]

I have a Wallas 95D model in my here are the advantages:
-Need very little fuel and battery power will burn less then a 1/4 gallon in one night.
-Keeps toasty warm to the point you can walk around in underwear, that even my Admirial who is always cold normally.
-Very small chimney

Disadvantages
-Do not use fuel even with stabilizer in it that is older than a couple of months, so only fill up what you need which is very little.
-Besides intial cost the replacement parts are expensive my thermostat switch cost $256 USD just to replace that.
-It is sappose to be servised by the dealer every 50hrs of use that servise I was quoted $700 USD. Needless to say mine is not servised yet.

Currently mine stopped running I think it is the pump I am desiding wheather to buy another expensive part for it or make a hybrid stove by buy an electric flat surface one and adding the Wallas fan cover to it for heat. This would be powered by my 2000W Honda Generator. This way I could keep the same amount of space combining the stove and heater still.

[kmclemore]

Wow, ROAD Soldier, that sounds like one heck of a lot of repairs on your Wallas... given that, I'd say reliability is one of the 'disadvantages' as well!


And WhiteDown (and Road Soldier), please consider adding your location and boat particulars on your Member sidebar - makes it easier for all of us to get to know you and to help you. You can do this by clicking "User Control Panel", above, and then clicking the "Profile" tab.

[ROAD Soldier]

To be honest I broke the thermostat doing a mod near it. The Wallas is the older model and came with the boat from previous owner. I have no idea how long they used it. The owners were a missionary couple that did live in the boat from what I was told. They crossed the country parking in Wal-Mart Parking lots for the nights they were not on a body of water. They must of really loved each other. So for reliability I for the little bit that I have used it until recently it has been awesome. Fishing in December I would troll sail along for strippers and it would be freezing out but I would just sit on my Billy A/C mod in the companion way and the heat from the Wallas would rise out over me keeping me warm. My biggest complaint is the price of the unit and any part or service you need for it. You can buy 2 or 3 kinds of any other stove plus a separate heater for the price on one of these. However it was nice to pop the chimney up and push a button in freezing weather and be warm 10minutes later.

[Sugar Bear]

Has any one tried the origo heat pal 5000, alcohol heater/stove. It's good and bad points? Will it work as a stove as advertised?

[Rick Westlake]

Has any one tried the origo heat pal 5000, alcohol heater/stove. It's good and bad points? Will it work as a stove as advertised?

I used my HeatPal (bought at a boater's flea market) for the first time last month, in Florida, during the coldest December in local memory. It helped, but my own extreme caution about "combustion products" meant that I didn't get as much benefit as I might have gotten.

The good point is that it's portable and it's not too expensive to buy. The worst point is that alcohol fuel is awfully expensive, even if you use denatured alcohol from the paint store. (I wonder if E85 would be safe in it? I don't think I'd trust it. I may try 91% isopropyl alcohol, someday, though.)

I didn't try it as a stove, but the manual describes how you can take off the top half and put a pot above the burner. However, alcohol doesn't really put out all that much heat for cooking. I felt better about using my little "omelet cooker" butane stove for the cooking I did.

(PS, I'd really like one of the Wallas stoves like the one ROAD Soldier - and Chinook - have in their boats. They're vented to the outside, like a gas or oil furnace in a house, so they're much safer than an unvented heater or cooker. But the cheapest one is some $1700!)

[K9Kampers]

Link to an archived dialogue on this topic: LINK

[Elliotte]

Hi,
Here is another thread at another forum discussing the same kind of issue may this could help us.
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Thanks

[Timber Cruiser]

I put a Dickenson Propane furnace in my 26S 10 years ago. It works great. I installed a propane sniffer for safety and my propane locker is mounted on the stern between the boarding ladder and my motor.

I uses very little proane and comes with a pipe that vents through the deck. It uses air from outside so no problems with CO2. It is worth a look if you already have a propane cookstove.

[rmil2k]

you can make a hatch panel with in/out and use one of these, works great, stays outside.

RM<

[Octaman]

Has any one tried the origo heat pal 5000, alcohol heater/stove. It's good and bad points? Will it work as a stove as advertised?

The Origo alcohol heater is what I have been using for the past six years.

It is a great heater producing 5.000 BTU (!) but I think the choice of heater should be determined by your geographical location and average low temp in winter; Ireland, I believe is much colder than Greece in winter. So what works for me may not necessarily work for Ireland.
The Origo heater works well for temperatures that are not extremely low, in my opinion.
For example, we overnight on our Mac with outside temperatures of 10 deg C and can achieve 22 deg C belowdecks quite fast. This is very comfortable. If the temp drops lower than 10 deg the Origo struggles. Also because the Mac has no insulation.

Two years ago we bought a second Origo heater, so with two heaters on we are covered no matter what.

Why Origo alchohol heaters?
• They are easy to use,
• Alchohol is very cheap and readily found almost everywhere, in my part of the world and safe to store on the boat.
• This is a heater that is not fueled under pressure; if the flame goes out for whatever reason there is no hazard to our life (Incidentally, the flame never has gone out)
• Burning alcohol, I believe, does not produce deadly or harmful gases,
• One full round lasts 8 hours – long enough for a night’s sleep if you top up before going to bed. With two heaters we leave one on when going to bed, the second heater stays off but full of alcohol, in the wee hours of the morning, when the temperature outside is at its lowest and when I get up for a visit to the loo, I light the second one and go back to bed.
• The Origo heater will NOT tip over due to its low centre of gravity – this is a great safety feature. For this reason, I can leave it on if someone chooses to stay belowdecks when we are cruising as long as it is correctly placed, or will stay upright if a rogue wave hits you while at anchor.
• It is portable , you can move it around and store it where you like. When lit, you need to have sufficient space above the heater for the rising heat.
• The Origo heater doubles up beautifully as a cooking device. Admittedly takes a little longer to boil a litre of water compared to a butane or propane burner, but who cares. Will not work well in a draft (in summer). The flame needs to be stable to be efficient.

The downside: For some people the light smell of alcohol can be off-putting.

Hope this helps,

Octaman