Heating a widebeam

[caroline louise]

Hi all

I have a 57ft by 10ft widebeam with a boatman stove in the corner at the bow.  It really doesn’t heat the space.  The stove is very small.  I am wondering whether replacing it with a bigger one would make a difference or whether I need to move it.  I am trying to avoid this as there is nowhere obvious for it to go.. thank you,  caroline 

[Slim]

I would say, both. I had a Squirrel fitted about 10' aft of my front doors on a 55' nb and that worked fine. Never understood fitting a heating source at one end of a narrow cabin . (be it a narrow or a wide beam.)  

[Annie cariad]

Tried putting plenty of coal in and opening the damper .Do you have a fan ?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

I've seen wide beam boats of similar size heated cozily with a Morso Squirrel stove, not dissimilar in size to a Boatman, but these had a back boiler, feeding radiators to distribute heat through the boat. More centrally mounted helps too, but that's a lot of work to change. There is a backboiler version of the Boatman, but I don't know if this can be done as a retrofit to an existing one. You'd need to ask them, or some one on here may know.

I'm going to be buying some window film as secondary double glazing later today. It's that time of year again. It makes a big difference in boats with bus style windows. My boat is reverse layout, with the stove centrally mounted in the lounge and the galley at the rear. I have some floor length thick lined curtains between galley and lounge, which spend most of the time furled against the walls. When it is very cold, I can draw these across to concentrate the heat towards the front of the boat. Lots of tricks to keeping warm and reducing coal use! You already have the thick curtains, which help a lot too.

Jen

[mrsmelly]

The location isnt good but facts are the stove is too small. My friend had a squirrell on his barge that proved inadequate to heat it so I bought it off him and fitted it to my last boat which was a narrowboat and we all know a squirrel works well on those. My widebeam had a fantastic Masport Fatso stove fitted in it when I bought the boat which was awesome. I think @blackrose has a morso Panther? on his boat so he may be able to advise on his thoughts as a widebeam owner.

[The Grey Goose]

Ive got a Hamlet Hardy at the stern of my widebeam , it isnt a big stove but with the Valiant fan on top it heats our boat very well. I think  you have to ensure you are well insulated with not to much clutter so that airflow isnt impeded.

[pearley]

We have a Hamlet Solution 5 on our 60 x 10 fitted between the kitchen and lounge (reverse layout) With a fan it keeps the bedroom at the far end at a nicely comfortable temperature. 

[Peanut]

My friend here has a squirrel on her wide beam 60 x 12. The stove is quite adequate, and heats the saloon very well, to the point where you have to open the doors as it can be too hot. It doesn't heat the bedroom, though. They have a Webasto type heater with radiators which will do that.

 

The location of the stove may not be ideal, and as has been suggested, a stove top fan might help distribute the heat around the boat better.

 

Edit: They burn coal, wood doesn't last five minutes.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Peanut

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Peanut said:

Edit: They burn coal, wood doesn't last five minutes.

 

In my experience yes it DOES last five minutes, so I too burn coal  

 

 

[Peanut]

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

In my experience, yes it DOES last five minutes, so I too burn coal  

 

 

If you worked like the tree monkey, or had access to a Country Estate, with their supply of 'free' logs, then you too might burn wood as well.

I know, they will say it costs, as they have to work to get it.

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Peanut said:

If you worked like the tree monkey, or had access to a Country Estate, with their supply of 'free' logs, then you too might burn wood as well.

I know, they will say it costs, as they have to work to get it.

 

No I woodn't.

 

 

I think it takes several months to dry it out into a burnable condition. 

 

It's highly irresponsible to burn freshly felled wood.

[Peanut]

The Monty Pythons Parrot sketch comes to mind.  Never mind, I'll remember to put a smiley on next time.

 

Of course, no one who knows anything would burn unseasoned wood, It would gum up their chimney, and leave black tar on the roof for a start.

[peterboat]

I have a 57 x 12, in the stern we have a Rayburn royal its solid fuel it eats anthracite which produces plenty of heat. It has an oversized backboiler which heats hot water and radiators, the stove produces 5kw to room and 5kw to radiators. The boat is very well insulated, with double glazing, the stern has a wheelhouse which is double glazed. I have a large lounge bedroom which normally will stay warm enough, to compliment this we have a Huam stove it's a true woodburner, it in cold its needed to keep warm. In reality it replaced a boatman stove because it wasn't up to the job, it's now in Jaynes bungalow where it adequately keeps the lounge warm. The boatman is half the size of the Huam yet its claimed to have a similar output, it doesn't is all I can say. We also run the Rayburn Royal 24/7 it eats 25 kilos of anthracite every 4 days so not cheap, but keeping warm is never cheap

[blackrose]

So yours is a 10kW stove Peter? 

 

I have a 8kW centrally located Morso Panther on my 57 x 12ft widebeam. 

 

On 11/11/2023 at 05:58, caroline louise said:

 

Have you ever considered tidying the place up Caroline? 🤣

Edited November 12, 2023 by blackrose

[caroline louise]

33 minutes ago, blackrose said:

So yours is a 10kW stove Peter? 

 

I have a 8kW centrally located Morso Panther on my 57 x 12ft widebeam. 

 

 

Have you ever considered tidying the place up Caroline? 🤣

🤣 yeah.. I did wonder that when I posted the photo… 

 

I didn’t know that stoves had measurements in kW.  Does that tell you how hot they make the place? 

18 hours ago, peterboat said:

I have a 57 x 12, in the stern we have a Rayburn royal its solid fuel it eats anthracite which produces plenty of heat. It has an oversized backboiler which heats hot water and radiators, the stove produces 5kw to room and 5kw to radiators. The boat is very well insulated, with double glazing, the stern has a wheelhouse which is double glazed. I have a large lounge bedroom which normally will stay warm enough, to compliment this we have a Huam stove it's a true woodburner, it in cold its needed to keep warm. In reality it replaced a boatman stove because it wasn't up to the job, it's now in Jaynes bungalow where it adequately keeps the lounge warm. The boatman is half the size of the Huam yet its claimed to have a similar output, it doesn't is all I can say. We also run the Rayburn Royal 24/7 it eats 25 kilos of anthracite every 4 days so not cheap, but keeping warm is never cheap

Thank you. This is really helpful. Especially that you ditched the boatman.. 

On 11/11/2023 at 01:50, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I've seen wide beam boats of similar size heated cozily with a Morso Squirrel stove, not dissimilar in size to a Boatman, but these had a back boiler, feeding radiators to distribute heat through the boat. More centrally mounted helps too, but that's a lot of work to change. There is a backboiler version of the Boatman, but I don't know if this can be done as a retrofit to an existing one. You'd need to ask them, or some one on here may know.

I'm going to be buying some window film as secondary double glazing later today. It's that time of year again. It makes a big difference in boats with bus style windows. My boat is reverse layout, with the stove centrally mounted in the lounge and the galley at the rear. I have some floor length thick lined curtains between galley and lounge, which spend most of the time furled against the walls. When it is very cold, I can draw these across to concentrate the heat towards the front of the boat. Lots of tricks to keeping warm and reducing coal use! You already have the thick curtains, which help a lot too.

Jen

Thank you. This is really helpful. Going to read again in slower time.  

On 11/11/2023 at 03:51, mrsmelly said:

The location isnt good but facts are the stove is too small. My friend had a squirrell on his barge that proved inadequate to heat it so I bought it off him and fitted it to my last boat which was a narrowboat and we all know a squirrel works well on those. My widebeam had a fantastic Masport Fatso stove fitted in it when I bought the boat which was awesome. I think @blackrose has a morso Panther? on his boat so he may be able to advise on his thoughts as a widebeam owner.

Thank you. This is super helpful. More food for thought 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

14 minutes ago, caroline louise said:

I didn’t know that stoves had measurements in kW.  Does that tell you how hot they make the place? 

In a round about way. It is how much heat power they kick out. How hot they make the place depends on how big the place is and how well it keeps the heat in. If you remember old style bar electric heaters, then 1kW is equivalent to one bar being on.

 

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

 

Have you ever considered tidying the place up Caroline? 🤣

I suspect photo is fairly typical of a happy family home with activities for young children ongoing.

With respect to heating, I have a narrowboat, and having survived childhood in a cold damp NE facing bedroom ie absolutely freezing inside and out, I would not swap current warmth for anything.

I have a Webasto which  kicks in if temp drops below 17C.

OP needs to sort this out, but I'd certainly have  backup heating if kiddies health is involved. 

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by LadyG

[J R ALSOP]

Looks a bit fumy / hazy  in there. Do you have CO2 alarm

[MtB]

1 minute ago, J R ALSOP said:

Looks a bit fumy / hazy  in there. Do you have CO2 alarm

 

I very much doubt it. CO2 alarms are rare, expensive and a lot less useful than say, a CO alarm.

[Tracy D'arth]

2 minutes ago, J R ALSOP said:

Looks a bit fumy / hazy  in there. Do you have CO2 alarm

Nobody has a CO2 alarm.  CO does not cloud the air. Its not smoke.

[MtB]

Just now, Tracy D'arth said:

Nobody has a CO2 alarm.  CO does not cloud the air. Its not smoke.

 

Point of Order.

 

I bought a CO2 alarm during Covid, as they are used mainly for assessing whether the ventilation in a room is adequate. I used it in ringing rooms during the periods of covid when we were actually allowed to ring the bells.

[Alan de Enfield]

Point of Order.

 

Divers will commonly use CO2 detectors to identify if their cylinders have been filled with 'clean air' or air that may have been polluted by the exhaust of the compressor.

 

We also use an O2 detector to assess the percentage of oxygen in the cylinder if we are diving with 'Nitrox' (enriched air)

[peterboat]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

So yours is a 10kW stove Peter? 

 

I have a 8kW centrally located Morso Panther on my 57 x 12ft widebeam. 

 

 

Have you ever considered tidying the place up Caroline? 🤣

Yes 5kw to the room and 5kw to water and central heating, its an enhanced backboiler works very well, currently childish here radiators warm, oven at 200c everything cosy 

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Yes 5kw to the room and 5kw to water and central heating, its an enhanced backboiler works very well, currently childish here radiators warm, oven at 200c everything cosy 

😂 Dont you just luv spell chuckers

[peterboat]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

😂 Dont you just luv spell chuckers

Coldish lol