How do I heat a Tiki 21?

[Brandon Gamble]

I hope to do quite a bit of winter sailing / camping and need to heat the cabin from time to time. using my cook stove or any other open flame seems unsafe. Any ideas?

Thanks
Brandon

[boatsmith]

I have used the upside down clay flower pot as well and it works well. You must leave the hatch open some for air but you can take the chill off nicely. The other option is to use an electric heater with a generator.. David

[WaveDancer & Bella]

LOL - Gemini I can tell you how to get both "aircon and heating". You have 2 hulls, so you bring along a "cool girl" for the port hull and a "hot girl" for the starboard hull.



Geminidawn said:

The Eskimos heat and seal the inside of their Igloos with a single lamp made from wick and blubber so what ever heat you'll need it'll not be much. As stated by others naked flames are a no no, gas and liquid fuels will just add to the condensation.
In a boat you'll always be looking for a dry heat. For curing of resin and the drying of boats I always use either infra red or halogen heaters. Even a 500 watt halogen light gives off a fair blast of heat, but as to how you can run a halogen heater off of a 12v system would take a bit of working out.

If all else fails look into getting a small nuclear reactor!

[Geminidawn]

I think you're onto something there. There was a system in Victorian times where they would heat bed chambers with charcoal embers taken from the fire and then encased them in a brass or earthenware container which made them substantially fire proof. If you know any potters of which there are a few I'm sure they won't mind throwing a similar purpose made vessel. After you have your barbeque on deck use the embers to heat the cabin.


boatsmith said:

I have used the upside down clay flower pot as well and it works well. You must leave the hatch open some for air but you can take the chill off nicely. The other option is to use an electric heater with a generator.. David

[Geminidawn]

Can't one woman do both? Blow hot and cold!
.......
.......
Oh dear I'm gonna pay for that amn't I!


WaveDancer said:

LOL - Gemini I can tell you how to get both "aircon and heating". You have 2 hulls, so you bring along a "cool girl" for the port hull and a "hot girl" for the starboard hull.



Geminidawn said:

The Eskimos heat and seal the inside of their Igloos with a single lamp made from wick and blubber so what ever heat you'll need it'll not be much. As stated by others naked flames are a no no, gas and liquid fuels will just add to the condensation.
In a boat you'll always be looking for a dry heat. For curing of resin and the drying of boats I always use either infra red or halogen heaters. Even a 500 watt halogen light gives off a fair blast of heat, but as to how you can run a halogen heater off of a 12v system would take a bit of working out.

If all else fails look into getting a small nuclear reactor!

[Mawibo]

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DON'T OWN A PRESSURE COOKER YET.
Careful!!!! embers generate CARBON MONOXIDE, it can kill you , really fast in a small space, hull, van, etc.
You could use your BBQ to warm bricks, this would be safe but you don't really want to carry bricks on a tiki 21.
What I used when ski camping was a PRESSURE COOKER. It is quick to boil water and I would leave it hot and closed in the cabin to released heat slowly through the first hours of the night.( steam stops when removing from heat source)
The benefit of this method, is that you have warm water the next morning for a wash .

[Geminidawn]

Well it goes without saying if air can get at, or escape from the vessel than it's nothing more than a solid fuel burner and in that case you would need a flue for the fumes to escape. I was thinking more along the lines of a solid version of a hot water bottle, totally sealed. But Mawibo is right if a hot water bottle leaks you get wet, if charcoal fumes leak you get dead.
I do know of some liveaboards that do have a small solid fuel burner, just big enough to burn a couple of briquettes at a time to get them through the winter and when the winter is over they stow it, the detachable flue then doubles up as a vent in the summer.


Mawibo said:

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DON'T OWN A PRESSURE COOKER YET.
Careful!!!! embers generate CARBON MONOXIDE, it can kill you , really fast in a small space, hull, van, etc.
You could use your BBQ to warm bricks, this would be safe but you don't really want to carry bricks on a tiki 21.
What I used when ski camping was a PRESSURE COOKER. It is quick to boil water and I would leave it hot and closed in the cabin to released heat slowly through the first hours of the night.( steam stops when removing from heat source)
The benefit of this method, is that you have warm water the next morning for a wash .

[Robert Sheridan]

Towsure in the UK sell a 12volt car heater/fan which plugs into a cigarette lighter socket, have not used it but thinking about it as we will be on our boat in the spring pending a 'latitude adjustment' and it can also be used to cool the cabin as well.
The other thing we have are pads under the mattresses which wick away moisture by allowing the air to circulate, we have some made of coir and some I got earlier which are of a man made fabric. We got the material at the Southampton boatshow; I can not remember the name of the supplier, but it works well. Helen also had success in insulating a tiki 21 using the closed cell foam used for sleeping pads.

[sirfbus1964]

had one of those 12v heaters in my vw camper,good enough to defrost a frozen windscreen.best thing is a decent cold weather sleeping bag or if ya get lucky shared bodyheat

[Ann and Neville Clement]

We once visited a lovely classic wooden monohull and saw their method of heating the boat.  They had an overturned metal funnel fixed just above one of the cooker burners and they attached a flexible metal hose to the tip.  This flexible hose was then configured into a spiral twist and fixed up to an opening in the deck.  There it was fitted with a store bought stainless cap allowing ventilation but there was no way for waves or wind to get blasted down their "chimney".  They said their heater did not bring condensation into the cabin because all that went up through the hose and deck opening to the outside.  Sure it did work for that boat because it was warm and dry below and cold and damp outside.  I touched the top of the flexible metal hose where it met the deck overhead and it was only just warm there having given away almost all of its heat while it spiraled up.

We mostly heat Peace by sailing south to where it is warm but talk a lot about that clever way of heating the cabin if we get caught by an early season freeze on our way to Bahamas from New England.  Yesterday we had ice on deck and we are already at the Georgia - South Carolina border!  Looks like it will be another cold winter. 

[Thomas Nielsen]

I use a small hurricane lantern with lamp oil works ok. Also skiers use little disposable hand and foot heaters. Stick one of these in your sleeping bag to get your toes toasty and your set. Condensation is the main problem but manageable with a towel and ventilation

[sirfbus1964]

use spray carpet glue and one of those cheep survival blankets,pretend it's a mirrored ceiling,or if the condensation is that bad wear a wet-suit, just getting out the wind is the main thing anything else is a bonus

[Thomas Nielsen]

I heat my boat with a hurricane lantern and my sleeping bag with the chemical pocket Warner's skiers use. I have a solar fan (with batteries) in each hull for ventilation. Works well in a T26, might be tight in a 21!