Last updated 12/03/2009

Trying out the Bosun's chair at Fairlee Creek

Broken daggerboard - trip to Annapolis 3/18/06

TabbyCat’s First Winter

So after we tell people we are living on a boat, the first reaction we get is either,  “Cool (Kewl, for those who read Lats & Atts), I would really like to do that one day.”       

“There is no way I could do that! You guys must be crazy!”

The third or fourth question is,  “Aren’t you cold all the time?”

The answer is an emphatic NO! We have heat on board, similar to what you might have in a land-based home. Yes indeed, we have heat, and in some ways it is better than what a traditional home might have, especially if that heating is a heat pump. Now I am not really knocking heat pumps, they work well when designed correctly; we even have a heat pump on the boat (that’s another story). Anyway, the real point is how do we heat the boat?

We use a diesel-fired system called “Hurricane Heating”, which is more accurately a “hydronic” heating system. This system has a diesel furnace that performs a heat exchange with tubes of anti-freeze. The heated anti-freeze runs through the engine compartments to keep the engines warm and easy to start on the winter-time, and then to the hot water heaters. From the hot-water heaters the tubes run to a box that is approximately 4”(h) X 5”(w) X ?”(d). This box has a fan at the back which blows over a mesh filled with the heated anti-freeze, blowing warm air into the cabin. The best part of this system, besides being a dry, multi-functional heat and running off the same fuel source as the engines, is the blown air is warm; hot even. Ahhhh! Warmth!

It is the second best heating system I have ever lived with; the first being in-floor radiant heating, which just won’t work on a boat where you can remove the floor. All-in-all our hydronic system is wonderful, … but … we did not put enough vents on board to evenly heat the boat from bow to stern. This is the beauty of being the first Maine Cat 41 with hydronic heating – everyone gets to learn from our mistakes.

In the cockpit, the heating vent is blocked from reaching the dining table by the helm station.  In each hull, the stern to middle of the boat is nice and toasty, but the bows (where we hang our clothing) can get pretty frigid. We have placed space heaters in each of the cold places, but frankly they strike us as kinda klugy, and Susan is worried about starting fires with them. I am not worried about that since the heaters have thermal fuses and thermostats and we are not using extension cords. I am more worried about the number of space heaters we are likely to go through in a season, not to mention the cost to run the darn things – plus they are noisy and seem to be very inefficient in the heating department, oh and did I mention they are noisy?

So, in the interest of staying as warm as possible, we will add additional vents. We hope to place one in each bow and one facing aft in the cockpit under the dining table. The port side will also have one facing aft under the queen sized berth. Of course, I haven’t seen the price yet…

Note: In 2007, we updated the heating system by adding new vents in the cockpit and in each hull. We also added a "defroster" for the front windows.

Now the real problem we are having is with condensation. See, with all this great heat, coupled with minimal insulation (especially at the hull to deck joint where the insulation is ZERO!) and showers and people, there is a lot of water in the air. Each morning when it is below freezing, we have to wipe down the inside of the hulls as best as we can, knowing that water is running down into the bilge, under the cushions, up against the clothes in the bows, etc. The result is mold and mildew…YUCK! Fortunately, this winter has been very mild and it is almost over – YAY!

~ Mike