Options for Heating a Boat -Why we Chose a Cubic Mini Wood Stove

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We will be cruising in some cold weather destinations next year, and we need to stay warm on Brick House!

So hot…we are in T shirts…🥵

So we started researching options for how to heat a boat last year. Here are the options we looked at, and why we ruled out each one systematically, for heating the boat for cruising in cold weather, full time.

Here is the video…information below is supplementary to the video…

1. Espar diesel – electric heater Details Here

A. Brick House used to have a forced hot air system…Webasto, Wallis, Espar, or a Chinese diesel heater…all the same principal with different qualities and options.My memory of this system is one of strong diesel fumes, and dry air you didn’t want to be near.

B. Though friends rave about this easy push button system… but when I ask them to demonstrate the system…”well…it’s broken right now…I need to send it in for repair”. This wasn’t just once…but every system I asked to see on each cruising boat that had one. These systems are NOT something you can repair on your boat…they usually require sending them in for servicing. This Is NOT something we can do where we will be sailing!

C. Installation requires Routing diesel around the boat, electric pumps, exhaust systems out the side of the boat, big air duct pipes…and other things we were not fond of doing to have heat for 6 months or a year.

D. The last reason we chose not to use this system was the consumption of not just diesel, but also of electricity. Brick House has a great battery system, but not a huge capacity. We did not want to be reliant on electricity to run our heat. The electrical consumption of a forced hot air heating system is not insignificant.

2.Propane Heater…like a Dickinson Marine Propane Heater. More Details

A. We immediately dismissed a propane heater for the boat. We very well know the pain of moist heat. Moisture is a byproduct of burning propane. Condensation will be everywhere, even worse than with a quartz heater. Dampness on a boat is not a good recipe for staying warm aboard. We needed a dry heat.

B. Consumption. To heat a boat for 6 months, would require a minimum of 12 big bottles of propane on deck. This is not practical. And if you add the electricity assist for better heat dispersion…more electricity consumed too.

C

We did consider the P12000 propane heater that Dickinson Marine makes, because that particular design has a sealed combustion in it, and hence would not be a wet heat. To get the capacity I felt we needed for heating the boat, we would have had to do the bigger model, the P12000, which comfortably heats a 12 x 12 foot area…which is really only about half the area we would like to have heated. The main problem I have with this unit, is the propane we would need to carry onboard to run it, even if just at night. It’s says you get about 80-100 hours out of one 20 pound bottle. If we ran it just 1/3 of the day…and that’s darn conservative, we would get about 10-12 days out of each bottle. Half that if we ran it much of the day, and just let it go off at night. ..would lead to using one bottle per week. Plus it needs electricity for the fan…
If we cruised in remote areas for 6 months, assuming we found one place to fill our propane bottles exactly halfway through , we would have to carry 12 20 pound bottles of propane. We just couldn’t see carrying that much weight and bulk onboard Brick House.

3. Pellet Stove. Tempting…but…One on Amazon

A. Monthly maintenance required involving a vacuum cleaner. We don’t have this capability to vacuum a stove monthly.

B. Most importantly, a pellet stove requires electricity. We just don’t want to depend on electricity to stay warm.

C. Storage of wood pellets. We would need many big bags of pellets. It’s very possible to buy them in major population areas, and they are cheap, but we will only be in a very major population center once or twice in 6 months…so we would need to stock up on many bags, and keep the bags dry.

4. A Drip Diesel/Alcohol stove heater, like a Refleks heater. At least this doesn’t need electricity so it was a strong consideration. But…

A. Diesel Routing…diesel dependance again. We don’t want to store or route diesel all over the boat. We don’t want a diesel tank inside. We will have all we can do to carry enough diesel to motor around the fjords of Chile..we don’t want to also have to be carrying 100 gallons of fuel for a stove to stay warm, never mind alcohol for the lighting of the Refleks.

B Difficulty of Use. I’m sure we could get the hang of it, but people do report difficulty getting this kind of unit to start, and heat properly.

5.Hydronic heater. Basically baseboard heaters filled with hot water…similar to the waste when your engine runs, but a unit to make the water heat in tubes that run to critical spaces on your boat. We liked this compact unit, but…

A. We did not have space to run hot water pipes all over the boat.

B. Very expensive system. We aren’t even sure we will be in this area for 6 months yet. We may just go through as fast as we can depending on how we are feeling. We didn’t want to spend thousands for this adventure.

6. A small woodstove. Some economical models, some very expensive unit too though, and not dependent on Electricity at all. Endless supply of easy and even free fuel. But… (Video comes out today: The Video)

https://youtu.be/PuUYSUITc_A

A. Most are too big for our space. Luckily, Cubic Mini had 2 versions that would fit easily though. Information, Installation instructions, and Videos

Grizzly Model

Cub Model

B. Gathering of wood, and keeping it dry will prove to be challenging. But other fuels may be found in one or two areas hundreds upon hundreds of miles apart, often to windward, and must be carried in bulk. Wood on the other hand can be found everywhere, in small doses. It will give us something to do together on the beaches and wooded anchorages we anchor at along the way, as well as a bit of exercise and purpose to our walks.

C. We will still have to do some maintenance…cleaning the flue periodically. But at least we are capable of doing this and it requires no power to do so…just a strong arm and a brush.

D.Tending of the Fire presents hot ashes and embers. We will need to be careful to not let anything come out of stove while opening the door. We purposely got an oversized platform to put it on, with a drawer that extends outwards for this very reason. We will still need to be very careful while using the stove.

7.Electric Heater

We do not have enough power to run a quart heater full time on Brick House. But until we leave the dock in Uruguay we will have and use one!

An Offshore Passage..Secure it, Lash it Down, Close it tight, or lose it Overboard!!

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The only thing that fell over on our last offshore passage were the cushions…we forgot to replace the velcro when we redid the bulkheads. But losing something overboard, whether it be your valuable water supply, a crew member, or the anchor at sea…all can be a very serious problem while sailing offshore on a passage!

Patrick Childress’ latest “Tips from the Pros” Sailing Video series, with Hank Schmitt, demonstrates some simple things you can do, before leaving on an offshore passage, to prevent bigger problems while you are sailing offshore.

Check out the video here, and please leave all comments on the video in YouTube…not here. It really helps Youtube to promote the video more if they see that you are enjoying the video and commenting about it, sharing it, giving it a thumbs up etc.

Female Crew on a Sailboat: Sailing Safe

Professional Delivery Captains -Sailing Tips from the Pros Sailing Series

Our Island in the Sun…A New Sailing book…A Detailed History Of Brick House! (And a bonus of the RECENT history of Brick House…how she came to be “my” boat, then “our” boat, and how we afford to keep going after more than 12 years aboard!)

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The history of Brick House…before we owned her…is the history with Garry and Carol Domnisse, her previous owners…when she was named “Yellow Rose”.

Their new book describes in detail, the adventures they had outfitting and sailing “Yellow Rose”. Everything from SSB radio schedules, to their daily lifestyle and their passages. Carol is a lady after my own heart and you will hear from her personally in this book. You will see why I say that…

The book is available in Kindle edition and hardbound Here On Amazon and at Barnes and Nobles, and on Garry and Carols blog at https://ourislandinthesun.com/

Here is the recent history of “Brick House”…during our ownership…

How exactly, does “BRICK HOUSE”  afford to sail around the world for over a decade now? How did Rebecca come to own Brick House aka Yellow Rose…and How did Patrick come to be co-owner?

Before SV Brick House became my sailboat, “my island in the sun”, Garry and Carol Domnisse owned her, and called her “SV Yellow Rose”. They cruised between Alaska and Texas and beyond, and had some of the best years of their lives cruising on this 1976 Valiant 40, in the 1990s.

But then they sold Yellow Rose…to me, Rebecca…Here is the story of how we afforded to sail off on this cruising sailboat..and how Patrick came to join me to sail around the world on Brick House, and how we manage financially, to keep sailing and cruising on her, and probably will for life.

In 2001, with my previous husband, with my dream boiling over with enthusiasm, we purchased SV Yellow Rose, and thought we were off on a new adventure with her. However, what was really MY dream didn’t quite work out as planned. My then husband, it turned out, wasn’t “onboard” with the dream we, or more accurately, I, had been planning for more than a decade, and well…

…I tried to rid myself of my sailing and cruising dream/addiction but alas, I was too contaminated to take the dream back, and settle for what I saw as a “second best” life, on land. Jim was a good guy, but I didn’t want to drag someone along, nor did he want to be dragged. We then divorced, but still, I put Yellow Rose up for sale, since sailing it and maintaining it by myself just didn’t seem reasonable at the time. I had just met Patrick, but he had already sailed around the world once, and I didn’t think he would do it again, and he concurred…he didn’t want to cruise this time, on such a small boat as Yellow Rose. He wanted a Swan 48 or equivalent, because this was what he has become accustomed to sailing offshore, in the NARC rallies that he sailed from Newport to the Caribbean on.

I figured that was probably just an excuse for not truly wanting to cruise, but I fell head over heals in love with Patrick anyways… so I continued to try to sell Yellow Rose. Yes..I had a little big of baggage…and should have believed Patrick Childress when he said he was earnest in wanting to sail around the world with me!

Just before signing a P&S on Yellow Rose, Patrick and I attended a seminar by Douglas and Bernadette Bernon who preached to “take the boat you have and go now”.  Douglas and Bernadette has just returned on the Shearwater Cutter 39 footer, from full time live aboard cruising. Patrick quickly learned from their wise words, and concluded that a Swan 48 would mean working for another decade. He had friends younger than him dropping dead of various ailments. He decided we should call off the sale of Yellow Rose, and go cruising soon! She was paid for, and not such a bad boat!

So I got rid of the P&S in the nick of time, and we started our preparations. I still wasn’t completely convinced Patrick would actually go…oh yee of little trust…. But saving every dime wouldn’t hurt nonetheless, and so we worked hard, saved every penny, and slowly prepared Yellow Rose for world cruising. Every weekend she was further ripped apart, and I cried to see her become a shell of a boat in the name of renovation. We renamed her “Brick House” since Patrick refused to cruise on a boat with the soft name of a flower. She splashed in June 2007, we married on her in July, and we actually sailed away in August. We waved goodbye to a friend on another sailboat as we left Newport Harbor…”see you in 4 years!”. I felt like that was a lie at that time. No way could the money possibly last that long! Would we even really leave the USA, or would it all fall apart just as my hopes rose?

We raced down the east coast narrowly escaping fall and winter, and then departed to the Bahamas. That’s when it started to feel real for me. We then raced towards the Panama Canal by way of the western Caribbean. I didn’t want to run out of money in India and have to work for a dollar an hour for the rest of my life to afford an airline ticket home!! I was so jealous when we met cruisers who were just “out for as long as it was fun”. We were on a monetary expiration deadline.

Secretly…I had another bank account though…with enough money for another year, if need be. Later I found out…Patrick had almost the exact same amount, representing another year, if needed!

Just as we started approaching a smaller than comfortable bank account, we drained our accounts with a dismasting in the northern Pacific. Luckily, with some determination to not end our cruising , we landed jobs in Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands where we worked for 16 months to fill the kitty back up again. That represented year 4.5. The only thing we had to buy there were 2 bicycles (no cars on the island), and some boat parts. Everything else was provided and we only had to pay Marshallese taxes of 5%, and social security from our paychecks. Nearly every dime earned went in to the kitty. When we left there in 2013, we had the same money we had when we departed Rhode Island, so we assumed we would be Ok for another 5 years. Patrick started his social security benefits slightly after departing there, and our very small writing income continued, so the money has lasted much longer. As we start year 13, as long as we are somewhat frugal, we manage to keep our head above water financially, and there is now no end in sight!

I think a big part of our financial success on the boat came from NOT buying that Swan 48 that we both would have both preferred. Going with the boat that was well within our budget, and not stretching things very far to have the biggest, fanciest boat we could have. I feel sad for the younger cruisers out there that enjoy nice big new boats, and experiencing this lifestyle, but then have to sell the boat, and work again. I can not imagine having to go back to long term work after living this way. But I do like those fancy big comfortable boats they sail in!

Now, Patrick and I sail, and do not see any end in sight for our adventure. Brick House is our home, as it was for Garry and Carol. It takes us to far corners of the world, and let’s us stay there extended periods of time exploring new cultures, and meeting new people. We don’t cherish the ocean crossings, but we love that the motion of Brick House is kind, that she carries us safely across the oceans we need to cross, and is comfortable at anchor and in marinas. We are glad she isn’t flashy or shiny… we think it probably discourages theft because we certainly don’t look like the richest boat in a harbor. She has what we need, and is well outfitted for all the comforts in life you could need. We do not insure her, ex dot for third party liability, because insurance companies think old sailboats are more of a risk than newer boats, but with Patrick Head of the Maintenance Board, we feel she is far safer and seaworthy than any newer boat out there.

Garry and Carol set off on Yellow Rose in their retirement. They sold her smaller boat, their land home, and everything they owned I believe, to sail off on Yellow Rose. Brick House was a newer boat back then but Yellow Rose was never an extravagant luxurious boat. I think for both us and them, she represented an affordable option to go out and live this lifestyle, and I encourage all new cruisers to NOT stretch their budgets for the biggest newest possible boats. This lifestyle can certainly be enjoyed in a modest boat like Yellow Rose, like Brick House, and the cruising kitty can be preserved for fun, maintenance, and emergencies. True freedom is when the boat is paid off, and you have a comfortable sum of money in the bank. Don’t finance a boat…only buy one you have cash for. I think Garry and Carol would tell you the same.

Garry and Carol just released a second edition of their book called “Our Island In the Sun, which describes the adventures they had outfitting and sailing her. It’s in both his and her voice which adds interest to the story.

The book is available in Kindle edition and hardbound Here On Amazon and at Barnes and Nobles, and on Garry and Carols blog at https://ourislandinthesun.com/

I enjoyed the old version too…how could I not enjoy reading about my Valiant 40’s previous life? This edition is promised to be more organized and edited, and in color! I am so looking forward to reading it again. My autographed copy, hot off the press, arrives this week!

 

Ten Years Ago, Where Was Sailboat Brick House? (FLASHBACK)

 

Who is Patrick Childress..and why a YouTube Channel?