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Winter, wimps and wood stoves Words & pics by swim-suited for her evening sojourns, Stuart Mears, SY Velella but life was never quite the same again. Dealing with winter; there are anchorages on the Australian coast that barely experience a winter at all...and there are regions in the south where the seasons are quite pro-nounced, meaning that winters can be bloody cold. So fast forward a couple of decades and as relative as cold may be, if winter @ latitude 43 degrees south has impressed anything upon my frozen brain and chilblained fingers, it's the need for a decent heating system on the boat. But then I once had an odd experience that imparted several life lessons in the space of a moment: one being that everything on God's green Earth is indeed relative…including the It's not just the cold but the damp! Climbing into a bunk under a doona that feels like it's been pulled out of a swamp isn't the nicest experience. cold. A marina berth is one solution, but On account of chronic insomnia and my then search for an antidote, I discovered the efficacy of cold water. This is the explanation for the otherwise odd habit of swimming each night summer and winter, in a pool attached to our unit block which never felt the suns warm rays. It was rarely frequented; one or two of the residents might use the facility during a half you're going to be slugged hard for electricity usage. Power metreing, now common on marinas, has put paid to that free ride, if indeed there was ever such a thing. I recall many years ago wintering at a Sydney marina where the Mephistophelian owner would prowl the finger wharves on winters nights, listening for the signature hum of an unauthorized fan heater. dozen of the hottest days of summer, but never in winter and absolutely never, ever at night. Beyond the range of the 240v power plug there are a variety of solutions. There's the cost issue to consider but To all of life's statistical certainties there's always the exception as I discovered one evening. It was a night like any other. After the usual number of drinks too many, I hurry down to the pool wrapped in a dressing gown, even before money constraints kick in, my contrarian mind wanders to the outer boundaries of practicality, which is how I come to be discussing wood stoves one evening, with my artist neighbor. preparing my mind for the freezing plunge. I remember once visiting a Kiwi yacht that had a domestic cast iron wood manufactured; a verifiable piece of maritime archeology. But …hang on…the lights are on! This is very strange … the pool lights are NEVER on! Only I have ever turned the pool lights on at night and its July and bloody freezing! The water I happen to know is a head ache stove installed. The size and weight of this thing spoke volumes about the seriousness of the problem in NZ waters: namely how to keep from freezing to death during the hard south island winter. “I'd like to install a unit like yours”, I tell him, but nothing like it is produced in Australia. “No problem mate!” he says: “if you want a real wood stove I'll weld one inducing 12 degrees. My God… there's someone in the pool; a young blond woman doing pool laps at a relaxed leisurely pace, her Pondering this one evening and noticing the white curl of wood smoke emanating from my neighbours cabin chimney, I enquire about its source. up...no worries!” What my artist neighbour can't produce from a few bits of steel plate and scrap metal it appears isn't worth talking about. golden locks streaming behind almost to her… like she's in some Gold Coast “Jump aboard mate … I'll show you”. The next problem is: how to install the unit without burning the boat down. resort. And may a bolt from heaven strike me dead if I'm a liar…she's buck naked?! On impulse I conclude; there's some mistake. Maybe she's OD'd or been drinking. “Are you OK? Aren't you cold?” Down below in the timber lined cabin with its golden hues emanating warmth along with a faint smell of wood turpentine and Hungarian goulash. Taking in that scene, I'm instantly hooked on the wood stove thing! Although most of the time a wood stove will be tamped down in slow combustion mode, high heat is necessary during the start phase to get the draft happening and a coal base established. Once this settles down, “Cold…COLD…COLD?” she scoffed in a heavy accent. “Siberia….there iss cold!” To my eternal regret the Russian exchange student from Kamchatka Peninsula thereafter chose to arrive The unit central to this ambiance and doubling as a cook stove, is of cast iron construction fashioned in the North Sea fisherman tradition. It was he says, imported from Denmark many years ago but sadly no longer provided the wood is dry, it'll burn correctly and produce very little smoke. n fact with minimal attention in slow combustion mode, it'll burn for days. continued next page... Page 34 The Coastal Passage #50! 2011 Pics: Stuarts stove, closeup of the bronze marine ventilation vent and the chimney outside www.goodoldboat.com
(07) 4721 1554 Mon -Fri 8.30am to5.00pm Sat 8.30am to 1.00pm (Except Public Holidays) www.biasboating.com.au 15 Locations Nationwide email: biastow@biasboating.com.au FREE BIG COLOUR CATALOGUE • • • BOATING SPECIALISTS - DISCOUNT PRICES 121 121 Charters Towers Road, Hyde Park, TOWNSVILLE •Thousands Thousands of Items • Fully Illustrated •Discount Discount Prices Pick up your copy or phone and quote this ad and we will post one to you Pics: Stuarts beautiful SY Velella and Stuart, very happy with his new found warmth. I learned how to manage the process, to rip out the old ice box, cut the hole and For once, theory translates into practice. particularly when it's cold enough outside via the usual medium of mistakes. shorten a cupboard door, but this meant The vents work brilliantly. It's amazing to to produce ice in the bottom of the dingy Control is maintained via the air inlet. that the unit will be enclosed on three feel the strength of the natural draft. With and snow on the surrounding hills. The This means that the door needs to have sides. How is it possible to fire-proof no fan in place, hot air powers out of the human brain is wired to respond to heat an effective seal and a means of three sides? vents when the stove is hot and pumping. and flame in a visceral way. Fire; even of controlling the air intake. The hull meanwhile is completely itself induces a multitude of pleasant Secondly, insulation has to shield the insulated as are bulkheads. associations: warmth, security, good food For this I use a bronze marine hull. With a furnace in the middle of the and good company. ventilation vent, riveted onto the door. boat, you don't want direct heat The second problem is the cabin roof. A This allows fine adjustment of air intake transmission to hull planking. great deal of heat inevitably exits through On a boat in winter it's a wonderful thing all the way from a full throttle roaring the roof and the area is apt to get quite to come from the cold into the unique Chernobyl blaze... down to zero. If a To ensure that I neither burn the boat to hot. This problem is solved by reducing ambience of muted light and a wood wood stove doesn't have a proper seal the water-line nor induce some other the 70mm outer flue with a 50mm internal stove. In coastal cruising mode, there's there's no means of controlling form of collateral catastrophe, a 20mm air flue for the section of pipe that passes now an added reason to go ashore with combustion and on a boat this is gap is created between the tiled Victor- through the cabin roof. axe and manual chain saw: fire-wood. essential. board lining and the plywood fireplace In an hour there's enough cut drift wood structure. The section has a double set of air in the dingy for two to three days. A few But ...back to the matter of heat vents in addition to the small air gap barbecue heat beads in the first instance insulation; it's an issue for two reasons. In this way I figure air will circulate up between the external flue and the work wonders to establish a coal base; a from the cold bilge and around the tiling. wooden cabin roof. squirt of diesel and away she goes! Firstly, the only place the wood stove The air gap will insulate the unit like can be 'shoed in', is where the redundant double glazed windows. From ancient times men have known And as my ineffable friend says: “it don't ice box is located. All that's necessary is that there's nothing quite like a fire, cost nuthin neither.” www.lawriesboatservices.com.au
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