David Thatcher wrote:

Graeme Kenyon wrote:

 The point being, a massive amount of heat is not necessary - less is more. The "Little Cracker" is rated at 6.5 Kw on softwood - I don't know how that compares with my 400 watt heating panel.

Once off the grid, I will be very interested in knowing if there is a small wood stove capable of slow burning.

Annie Hill wrote:There are even smaller stoves than the Little Cracker available, if you rummage around on the Internet.  I'd sourced a wonderful one, but the guy who made them couldn't afford the rent on his big shed.  Chris on PassePatu said he'd buy one if the guy started making them again: maybe I can tell him there are now three definite buyers?  On the other hand, as I'm sure you know how to weld, I'm sure you could easily knock on up like I had on Fantail out of some 6 or 8" 'rectangular' section steel pipe.  But if you're going to live on board, you need to have a proper heater - apart from anything else, it's not good for you to live in a cold, damp space.  There are also diesel and kero ones available, with chimneys.

Back in the 1870s a friend used my workshop to weld up a little barrel stove for his boat - it was made from circular section steel pipe. It put out a fierce amount of heat. We then reconditioned an old wood stove - and this lead to a small business reconditioning Shacklock and Champion coal/wood ranges which I carried on for a few years, and for a time I had the patterns and made up few Dover stoves (a little range on legs.) I also rebuilt more than one Champion "Runlight" - a tiny wood stove with oven, designed for caravans.They were all good and put out lots of heat - but all were what I would call "old generation" stoves - that is, not airtight. They work fine as long as you keep feeding them with coal or small pieces of wood - too hot for a small boat some of the time - and could not handle slow burning a decent lump of wood for long periods. The "modern" airtight domestic wood burners are much better in this respect, but I have had no experience with small ones, though I have heard that the "Little Cracker" is very good. I notice that Roger Scott's Shoestring has got one too. If there is a smaller one that is just as good, I would be very interested indeed. I would like to know more about the llittle home-made stove on  Fantail  too.

Just for interest, I might add that I am cheating at the moment by running off the national grid. I purchased a plain, simple electric panel heater - cheap, it just looks like two square feet of particle board painted with white undercoat, but you plug it in and it heats up. It was just the right size for a cupboard door so it is installed permanently and takes up no space. Since it is rated at only 400 watts I thought it might just take the edge off a cold night - but in fact it makes my little cabin warm enough that I have to get up in the night to switch it off - I wish I had paid a few dollars more and bought the version which has a thermostat. I mention that in case anyone living in a marina is interested. The point being, a massive amount of heat is not necessary - less is more. The "Little Cracker" is rated at 6.5 Kw on softwood - I don't know how that compares with my 400 watt heating panel.

Once off the grid, I will be very interested in knowing if there is a small wood stove capable of slow burning.

Graeme Kenyon wrote:

(How was the galley ventilated in Badger?)

We had a dorade vent over the galley, two opening ports (useless when it was raining) and, of course, the wonderful, completely underrated pram hood at the after end of the cabin.  This was just brilliant for exhausting steam from the galley and I will definitely be fitting one to SibLim, if only for ventilation. 

I would love to fit one of those extremely compact “Little Cracker” combustion stoves which have such a good reputation, but that is well down on the list at present, due to cost, and the need for some major changes to the interior accommodation layout.

There are even smaller stoves than the Little Cracker available, if you rummage around on the Internet.  I'd sourced a wonderful one, but the guy who made them couldn't afford the rent on his big shed.  Chris on PassePatu said he'd buy one if the guy started making them again: maybe I can tell him there are now three definite buyers?  On the other hand, as I'm sure you know how to weld, I'm sure you could easily knock on up like I had on Fantail out of some 6 or 8" 'rectangular' section steel pipe.  But if you're going to live on board, you need to have a proper heater - apart from anything else, it's not good for you to live in a cold, damp space.  There are also diesel and kero ones available, with chimneys.

 I am now having second thoughts. Does anyone know what this stuff is?

Annie Hill wrote:

There are two reasons I don't want to use polystyrene, David.  One is that it never degrades and is one of the worst of the materials that human beings inflict on an unhappy world.  The second is that I don't want the insulation to be too good, because I would need to light a fire to warm the boat up on spring and autumn mornings.

Up the creek here where I live, right now at the start of winter, the potential for condensation is quite remarkable. You can imagine, at low tide, snugged down in the bottom of the creek bed, what it can be like on a cold night when the mist and fog comes rolling in. The first few mornings, the deck head was dripping wet everywhere. My pot-boiling cooking habits adding to the problem no doubt. (How was the galley ventilated in Badger?)

Currently I just run a small portable dehumidifier up in the forepeak (takes out over a litre of water per night, circulates and warms the air slightly too) while I consider what to do with this boat which has no insulation. The dehumidifier has, for the present, solved the problem completely and perfectly, but at 220 watts it is hardly a solution for coastal cruising.  (By the way, I tried one of those tiny little ultra-low-wattage ones you can buy at Noel Leemings, but it proved to be useless.)

I would love to fit one of those extremely compact “Little Cracker” combustion stoves which have such a good reputation, but that is well down on the list at present, due to cost, and the need for some major changes to the interior accommodation layout.

Now, I noticed something interesting on this boat: the previous owner had stuck some sort of felt-like material on parts of the deck head and around hatches etc. I ripped most of it off, suspicious of what might have been underneath it. The bits that remain, while surrounded with condensation-prone painted surface, are always completely dry. Perhaps that had been the original purpose of the stuff. I don’t know what it is, some kind of synthetic quite thin layer with a fabric backing easily glued in place. I can’t say I like it much, but it simply does not seem to attract any condensation even when surrounding areas are drenched. It might be worth considering as an alternative to panels with air-gaps behind, or sheets of foam – the reason being, it requires only a pair of scissors and a tube of contact adhesive to fit, and takes up no space. It is white in colour, and although I did not like it when I first saw it, I am now having second thoughts. Does anyone know what this stuff is?