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.
I am in agreement with Beau. I have had the best results with immersion heaters. Thermostatically controlled like Dockmaster spoke about sounds ideal. In my experience nothing starts a cold diesel better than an immersion heater (excluding glow plugs). In other words, my experience with heating the intake air was not very effective to put it mildly.
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.
Oh, your out of paper towels. Don't forget this the next time you head back into the MAN cave (cavern).
Absolutely. I'm also impressed by the choice of giving priority to accessiblity vs. a bit more sound insulation of the genset. Or was the box off temporarily for some maintenance? Regardless, both the genset and engines look VERY clean indeed. BTW, knowing the size of the beasts, I'm surprised to see how far apart they are. How beamy is the boat?
Other than being quiet I have never liked the Gen being in a box. Can make maintenance access very tight.
I think there is a panel behind the gen-set. From this I guess the box assembly has been removed for some maintenance. However, What ever brand that gen-set is (Kohler?), I like that everything is on one side.
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!
Not painted red threw me off. However, I should of looked at the control box better. Yep, Westerbeke. I also did not recognize the Mitsubishi block in white either. I'm getting old.
I'm 18 wide and don't have that much room between my 12V71 Detroits. However, got lots of room on the outside on the engines. Are your german puppies tight to the hull sides?
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!!
Sadly, 42 years ago, Bertram wanted the props in deep water. I do wish they were a bit further apart, level and shallower. Only vented these wheels once. That story gets another thread. Thankfully 32" diameter wheels do get a bite on the water and she spins well. Not to much of hull loss further down from the gunnel to chine. I can still service the out side of the engines pretty well. Without a tape measure, I can explain it this way; I could place 3 bunks in my engine room; Center line and out side the engines over the A/C condensing stations. An average person could tip-toe around one side of either of the bunks. Humm, Could I rent that space out? Block heaters on for heat, tap water and urinal available. I've slept in worse.
Actually, that makes sense, draft and maneuverability aside. Ok, I appreciate that for SFs maneuverability is crucial, not ony for docking. But purely in terms of efficiency, the closer and deeper the wheels, the better. It's no coincidence that in very fast boats they go as far as staggering the engines. And closer props are better also whenever one should cruise with one engine down, for whatever reason. Beau, your boat is indeed beamy - about 6" more than my 56', which is among the beamier of her kind. And since our engines have exactly the same width, based on your previous photo, I would guess there's a big difference in how far apart the props are. If and when you'll have a chance to check this on your boat, I'd be curious to hear about it. For reference, I just had a look in my e/r, and the engines shafts are 63" apart. I would guess that in your installation you must have at least another 5" of space between engines, if not more. Besides, since in my boat the prop shafts are driven by asymmetrical V-drives, the props are even closer (46.5"). Makes maneuvering a bit more interesting of course, but not too bad.
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.
