Solid fuel heater

[barrybrown]

I am considering putting a Dickinson solid fuel heater in my EC Triton (Defender has them on sale) my main concerns are having adequate draft and the size of the hole for the flue. On my last Triton I installed a Taylor kerosene which worked fine but I would like to avoid the cost and the complexity as well as having to carry the kerosene.
Has anyone had experience with burning solid fuel and any suggestions on installation and smoke heads or dampers etc.
Thanks,
Barry

[sscoll]

Barry,
Go look at Bellisima on the Great Dane 28 owners site. There's a good interior shot of an installation that may help. I also noted a Dickinson installation in a Triton that used up part of the headroom in the head in the MIR pages, don't remember which boat its on. By placing the heater low you should take care of the draft issue.

I've got one here I bought some years ago and plan to install at some point. I was on a Pearson Wanderer this fall that had one. When not in use he took off the chimney cap and put on what looked like one of those stainless milk shake cups that you see at ice cream shops. Does the trick for covering up the stack outside.

I asked Dickinson about dampers, they didn't recommend it.

Steve

[barrybrown]

Steve, thanks for the reply, I can't get as low as on Bellisima the best location for me is the forward end of the main cabin on the port side starting about 4" above the cushion. That leaves just under 3' of rise with a sizeable offset to avoid the inflatable stored on top of the seahood.
I bought the stove and the recommended parts for installation and will trust in finding solutions for any problems that occur later.

[I asked Dickinson about dampers, they didn't recommend it.]

They now recommend using a barometric damper.

Barry

[Rachel]

I think Britton on the forum has a Dickinson solid fuel heater (if I remember correctly). I feel like I've read literature where they only advise it for "casual use" or something like that (whatever that means).

The Navigator Stove folks have some really nice deck irons, viewable here (don't look at the stoves without a drool bib on):

http://www.marinestove.com/Accessories.htm

Rachel

[barrybrown]

[they only advise it for "casual use" or something like that (whatever that means).]

I read that also and don't know what they mean, I plan to use it for heat not decoration.

[The Navigator Stove folks have some really nice deck irons, viewable here (don't look at the stoves without a drool bib on)]

I checked out their site before buying the Dickerson, their stoves didn't fit my situation and their prices didn't fit my budget, but I admit they are impressive.

Barry

[Rachel]

I checked out their [Navigator] site before buying the Dickerson, their stoves didn't fit my situation and their prices didn't fit my budget, but I admit they are impressive.

Agreed - but I was thinking one of their deck irons might still be useful. All depends on your situation, of course.

I suppose the Dickinson folks are just saying (in a slightly non-specific way) that their stoves are not super heavy-duty. I know that for home wood stoves, the less heavy-duty ones work, but they tend to "burn out" sooner (i.e. warp or deteriorate; not referring to length of fire).

I really like some of the coal or coke stoves they make in England, but that kind of shoots the idea of picking up wood along the way, and I just like a wood fire.

One thing I noted when I was checking out the Navigator stoves, is that they are not "airtight," like the stoves I'm used to. Apparently they had to make a hole in the casting just beneath the door for a "permanent" draft in order to pass the EPA certification (or whatever they call it). It came up in a discussion about how to make fires in them last through the night. I guess that's why they call for a damper in the flue instead of just the one in the door, though I'm not positive about that.

Rachel

Side note: When I was heating my (land) cabin with wood, I had a major score when I found a cutting board factory that was tossing out their scraps. Talk about efficient: Hardwood pieces of exact dimensions (about 1" x 2" x 8" or so) that you could pack perfectly into a box. They started my fires for years :)

[Hulukupu]

Barry,

Mahana (fka Dorothy G) has an early model Dickinson about the same dimensions as the sale model at Defender. The PPO installed it on the port side of the setee berth by narrowing the berth. I'm not at the boat at the moment, but Tim posted pictures of it earlier under projects(http://www.plasticclassicforum.com/view ... it=dorothy).

It works very well and there's never been a problem with draft. My son sleeps in that berth and has never complained about the loss of leg room (and his feet stay toasty warm).

David

[bcooke]

I think Britton on the forum has a Dickinson solid fuel heater

Rapco. Probably the same thing though. Definitely not over built but it works. It's just a cheesy metal box that holds a fire. Definitely not high tech. I upgraded to a decent water deck fitting after my initial test firing charred the cabin top coring. It threw enough heat but it tended to stay up high. That's partly because the stove was mounted so high on the bulkhead (which will be rectified). I think a small fan to push the warm air around should be mandatory.

By 'casual use' I think it is a function of heat output. Inside a tiny Triton mine was sufficient to heat up the cabin area but on a boat with a larger interior it might struggle too much. If I was winter sailing or something the Rapco wouldn't cut it but my Rapco has no problem taking the chill out of the fall air and gives the cabin that warm cozy (and DRY) crackling fire kind of feeling.

Robert put a heater in the bottom of the former hanging locker area on his Triton. Getting the heater down low would make it much more effective and it is a good use of the space I think - plenty of room to hang your wet socks to dry overhead.

If I had a bit more space I would definitely go with a marinestove.com 'Sardine' which is a real cast iron wood stove. I might still someday but even the tiny Sardine is pretty big in a Triton.

Now, if I had a diesel engine I would forego the homey wood burning ambience and get a diesel heater. That is something that really puts out efficient heat and makes winters in a small boat bearable.

[barrybrown]

Rachel, I looked at the deck irons and the caps and like the stoves they looked like good products but were too expensive. I also heat with wood at home and am comfortable with it and don't anticipate any problems with the Dickerson that won't be correctable.

David, thanks for the link, my planned location is just a couple of inches above yours but with a longer offset, if you are not having problems with draft I should be ok. Looking at the pictures, someone put a lot of work into altering your boat.

Britton, can you elaborate on the charring of the cabin top? What was the fitting that you replaced and how much clearance to the flue pipe? (how large of a hole in the deck?) Thanks

Barry

[bcooke]

I don't think I have any good pictures online of the deck fitting other than a survey photo. I will see if I can dig up something better later.



There wasn't much clearance between the deck fitting and the coring. Someone cut the hole just big enough to slide the fitting through. The deck fitting itself had an inner and outer skin with about half an inch of airspace between the two. The smoke went up inside the inner skin and the space provided the insulation with the deck coring.

I spent the money and bought one of these.



which is topped with a copper version of a chimney like this.

[bcooke]

My bad, I think my stove is a Ratelco, not a Rapco. Just got the names confused.

[Rachel]

Ah, thanks for correcting me, Britton. I had misremembered yours.

Just for fun, here's a photo of a Cole/Ratelco that I had bookmarked. I like the bars on the side, and would probably buy one of these if I found one.



On my wish list would be a small bit of "glass" in the door of a boat wood stove, but none of the small ones I know of have it. I used a diesel heater quite a bit in British Columbia (i.e. every day all "summer"), and it was good for cranking out the heat reliably, albeit without the charm of wood. But, what it did have was a bit of glass in the door, and there is nothing like being able to see the cozy flames themselves casting their glow around the cabin.

I see that Navigator is now putting a window in their large stoves. If the Sardine ever gets one I think my self control in not ordering one might fly out the window :)

Rachel

[Hulukupu]

Oops, my mistake as well- the picture of the Cole that Rachel just posted is identical to what I called a "Dickinson" in Mahana. It is actually a Cole, bars and all.

The only drawback of its position is that the chimney pipe exits immediately behind the port portlight, preventing the latter from opening more than a crack.

David