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Water heater on mid-engine 35-2 ??

garryh

Member III
I bought a water heater during one of the winter boat show specials… a Kuma 6 gallon ( DC with heat exchanger). Very fortunately, I bought the smaller 6 gallon unit versus the next larger. Figured I had LOTS of room, but should be safe vs sorry. Well, turns out even the small one will not fit. The most logical (and only) spot for it is in the compartment under the settee to port outboard of the engine (previously housing a really stinky ‘professionally installed’ SS holding tank).
There is lots of ‘area’, but not enough depth. The unit is 13.5” wide and 13.5” deep. By the time you get 13.5 ” outboard, the hull has risen so quickly that there is only maybe 11” of depth, and that is without any kind of stringer installed to mount the unit to. So it will be sticking up maybe 2 inches higher than the rest of the settee surface. My plan is to do what I can to minimize the extra height and then make up for it with thinner (or recessed) cushion in that area of the settee. Far from perfect, but all I can come up with.
Wondering if anyone has any other suggestions, and how other 35-2 owners with this layout have dealt with the water heater issue.
 

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Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Garry,
Until a 35-2 owner replies, we also have a 6 gal. heater on our E30+ and it fits quite well on the floor in the cockpit locker. It allows me enough room to lay down beside it with feet at the rudder post to change transmission fluid and do any other maintenance back there. It's also close to the engine to allow easy connections. Just a thought, though I don't know the layout of your boat.
Frank
 

garryh

Member III
thanks Frank. There would be lots of room there but with this layout, the engine is in the centre of the cabin right about CG. Installing the heater in the lazarette would mean taking the (hot) cooling water hose down under the floorboards and then up to the heater, then back again for injection into the exhaust system. I guess it could be doable, but very awkward and not sure how efficient it would be; as in, how much heat would be lost in transfer.
I suppose I could scout around for a lower profile water heater, but not optimistic there would be one available as thin as I would need for the space available.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
thanks Frank. There would be lots of room there but with this layout, the engine is in the centre of the cabin right about CG. Installing the heater in the lazarette would mean taking the (hot) cooling water hose down under the floorboards and then up to the heater, then back again for injection into the exhaust system. I guess it could be doable, but very awkward and not sure how efficient it would be; as in, how much heat would be lost in transfer.
I suppose I could scout around for a lower profile water heater, but not optimistic there would be one available as thin as I would need for the space available.
As Frank sez, until another sister ship owner replies....
When I moved the location for our hot water heater from port side aft (near the engine) forward to a new shelf under the nav seat I did add about 6 feet to the hose run, each way. I also added a cabin heater unit under a settee about another 4 feet forward further. This put the coolant in a longer 'loop' before it returns to the engine. I used inexpensive split foam insulation secured with tie-wraps. This covers most of the hose run.
The engine still warms up in about the same time due to the T-stat.
One other outcome was that the engine temp does drop noticeably at idle if the fan is operating on the cabin heater coil. But then it does act as a radiator.
Once over about 1200 to 1500 rpm there is ample heat from the coolant circuit. At the usual 2500 cruising rpm, we did not run that fan higher than 'low' when offshore with ambient about 50 degrees on a windless night -- the heat in the cabin was wonderful, tho.
Takeaway is that there is a *lot* of waste heat generated by a three cylinder diesel under load.

You might want to check out the large number of sizes from Isotherm if considering a change.
 

garryh

Member III
thanks Loren... I will take a look at the Isotherm units.
I was scoping out the area under the nav table... but was just going to be too awkward and would lose the utility of the nav area. This mid engine layout does have some advantages... but the more I get into it, I find disadvantages as well. Boats, as in life in general, is a series of trade offs : )
 

garryh

Member III
..are..... : )
liking the idea of the cabin heater btw... do you have a link or contact for the supplier?
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
..are..... : )
liking the idea of the cabin heater btw... do you have a link or contact for the supplier?
I bought ours at the former Doc Freeman's in Seattle, and other vendors nowadays carry it, too, I would imagine.
This model looks quite a bit like ours, which has a remote switch with 3 fan speeds, depending on how much heat you want to extract.
 

garryh

Member III
thanks Loren... liking that idea.
Looked into the Isotherms... because of the the cylindrical shape, I may be able to lay one in and not be affected as much by the rise of the hull shape.
Might need a new mortgage though ; |
 

ignacio

Member III
Blogs Author
My 35-II had a Force10 hot water heater. The PO built/glassed a small shelf just aft of the galley behind the bulkhead, so it was only accessible from the starboard lazarette in the cockpit, or from the small door under the companionway (both with some difficulty). The hoses to/from the engine were routed under the fiberglass cabin sole. I've since removed it because I haven't yet found a need to heat that amount of fresh water, it required too much space, and the runs of hoses and AC wiring further complicated things.

One more thing: When changing the engine coolant, the long runs of engine heater hose also complicated things - I ended up with several water locks that added time to purge.
 

garryh

Member III
thanks Ignacio... yes, gotta think the hoses back and forth would be a real spaghetti mess... really really do not want to get into that. Your point about not needing that much hot water did make me think. However, one of those creature comforts which 'would be nice'.
 
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