Block Heaters

Everyone has their own preference. I like my immersion heaters. I have all my air ports closed and I have a small oscillating fan in the ER and every thing, including the oil, is toastie even in the coldest weather. Being covered and in the water ameliorates most of those single digit night temps. It does take electricity admittedly, but I can work down in the ER in February in shirt sleeves. Plus the immersion heaters have been a real low maintenance item for me.

Any method of heating that warms the engine, oil, fuel in the lines and er should achieve the same results. I think the problem we had in our last boat with the water heater elements overheating was mostly the thermostats failure and was a SF. In most SF 's the water heater system probably heats the entire er. Currently we have a PH MY with a stand up er and large mechanical/gen room, takes two heaters and a fan to keep warm and dry in the colder months, lots of mechanical/electrical equipment. Sorry for not clarifying in earlier post.

Just an aside, my water heater adds no heat to the ER, particularly in the winter when it has only about 5 gal of pink stuff in it and is turned off. Its all engine heaters, and a pretty large ER. Clck on the photo

Beau, that is a fine looking er. My water heater doesn't add any heat either, that was supposed to be block heaters. lol
Those later 50 post er's are roomy.

Other than being quiet I have never liked the Gen being in a box. Can make maintenance access very tight.

The way it should be. Had an older onan in a box that was in the back corner of the er. Only had decent access on two sides after removing all the covers. Never again!

It's a Westerbeke......you can hear it fairly well in the master stateroom on the other side of the bulkhead.....I'll take a sound shield any day......as it's not very often you have to take the sound shield apart to work on it.

Hi folks

Sound box is in my shop for storage. Every time I wanted to do something forward or outboard of the engines I had to take it apart to get thru.

The rear panel was PIA to remove so I just left it there. We generally don't sleep with the genny running so the sound shield effect is less important.

15 kw Westerbeke - has been very good to me.

Hull is 16'11" at its widest but carries a lot of that aft. 100 sq ft cockpit. Freeboard is also less angled and more vertical than some other hulls . The engine space also means the props are further apart which provides significant control when docking.

Ralph, during Covid, I've had to put those paper towels in a safe place, right next to my Montgomery Ward catalog.

Back to the thread, when those german puppies warm with the immersion heaters, I feel like opening a beach chair!

Capt.

Once I get around there, I can comfortably "knee walk" along the outboard side on a stringer high platform. I have no problem getting to or working on any portion of the engines on the outboard sides. For instance I remove the airseps for an annual cleaning without any constriction. I might just measure the distance for the fun of it? How is the vertical hull angle on your vessel? Does your hull get significantly more narrow as you move down to the chine? Below is a fuzzy photo of my transom width and the chines which retain significant distance between them. gives me a lot of "square" room in the ER. Apologies for hijacking this thread!!

Yes, my props, as I noted earlier, are further apart and IMO increase my maneuverability. Single engine operation sure pulls. Almost impossible to back into a slip on a single. That's what "bowing in" is made for, for me.