Comments on: Why does safety take practice?

By: John

John — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:18:44 +0000

Thank you Darce for your questions. Te read more of my sailing adventures, you can visit this link; http://www.lifestylesailingblog.com/johns-bio/

Regarding boat heaters, the first question I have is how much time will you spend on the boat?
If it it is only weekends then you can do what most people do and that is not go sailing in the winter except on sunny days. However if you plan to spend extended time on the boat, then you will find you appreciate the heater for many months of the year, as it is always cool on the water (except in the tropics).
When I sailed into BC, Canada from the tropics in early October, the first thing I did was find a $50 tiny woodburner stove and installed it into the boat. It only lasted about a year, but I used it every day. I then replaced it with one I built with the help of a friend with a welder, which lasted much longer.
You can often survive sailing without a heater (put on more clothes), but the delight of coming below into a warm boat when it is cold outside is one of sailing greatest pleasures, especially as it also means a dry boat to boot.

If you have a diesel engine, then a diesel heater is the most practical way to go and you can probably buy a good one second hand. Diesel heaters last.
Wood fired heaters are an option, but you do have to always collect pine cones, drift wood (which is tough on the fire box as the salt eats the steel) or coal. While collecting can be fun, storage of sacks of firewood is an issue. But it worked for me.
Because propane makes water, as you said, you need to have a flue. In fact what ever heating system you use, you need a chimney to take the water out of the boat. My chimney also could be removed and replaced with a very good bung for sailing across oceans.
Electricity is nice when in a marina, but that is all it is good for.

Keep me posted how you get on.
Fair winds John

To answer your questions about heaters; the best solution is a diesel heater assuming you have a diesel engine and already have diesel onboard.

By: darce

darce — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:18:19 +0000

We’ve been looking at heaters, but don’t want to spend a whole lot on something we’re only going to use for a couple weeks. But since we can’t support an electric heater, the only logical option is propane - and burning propane leads to more condensation. So yeah, we’ve got some puzzles to figure out. Any ideas?

Can you tell me a little about your sailing experience? I’ve never really sailed before, and this boat just sort of dropped into Kyle’s lap, which is how we hatched the plan for this trip (by which I mean I have very little experience).

By: John

John — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:58:06 +0000

Hi Darce and Kyle, I read your post ‘Tales of Woe‘ and loved to hear what you learned. Darce, you may doubt that you will ever take your yacht sailing on your own, but with that magic ingredient ‘practice’ you will amaze yourself how your confidence and ability will grow. Even on that one aborted voyage, I can tell you learned so much. Good on you for going sailing in the middle of winter, though in your lattitude, i’m sure you will agree a heater is a must.
I also realized that having a fiberglass boat that supposedly does not leak, does not mean that your books don’t get soaking wet and that there is condensation every where. Again, you immediately got to see ‘what is so’ with sailing, which is often very different from what you are being told ashore by well meaning ‘experts’.
Personal experience is the best by far learning place when it comes to sailing.
Best wishes with your next adventures.
John

By: darce

darce — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:07:36 +0000

I agree - right now I’m trying to absorb all the sailing info I can get, and I’ve been pretty wary of rough waters. But always sailing in ideal weather isn’t going to prepare me for an unexpected storm.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I’m comfortable to take the boat out on my own, but it’s a really good goal to have.

By: John

John — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:41:49 +0000

@ number_6
You are spot on, preparation and practice is the key to safe sailing.
I trust you will be able to organize your life so you spend lots of time sailing. Most sailors theses days (myself included) would probably agree that we don’t get as much time sailing as we would like.
That is the first challenge, to have sailing as our number one pursuit.

By: Number_6

Number_6 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:28 +0000

This makes perfect sense. It’s just like driving in winter weather with ice and snow on the roads. If you learn how to do it and do it often, then you know what to do if something goes wrong and how to avoid having things go wrong in the first place.

I want to learn to sail, because my wife and I would love to live aboard a sailboat someday. I wouldn’t go out and buy a boat and then decide to learn. I’m going to make sure I know exactly what I’m doing, and then make sure my wife knows what she’s doing before we ever buy a boat to live on.

Thank you for this blog as it is one of many resources we are using in our preparation process. It is still going to be a few years before we get to the point where we will live aboard, but preparation is key and we want to make sure that we’re fully prepared before we do it.