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Home Port: Chesapeake Bay
Vessel Info: 3500 Express
We use our Tiara 3500 Express on the Chesapeake Bay and want to be comfortable in cooler/cold weather. We are considering adding a HeaterCraft or Red Dot or equivalent heater at the helm area. These units are plumbed into the engine coolant and act the same as a car heater. We will be adding a drop curtain behind the helm seat so we are not trying to heat the great outdoors. Has anyone done such a job and where did you install the unit and vents?
I think that the best location might be under the helm area, although, under the helm seat might be an option.
Any ideas?
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Home Port: Lake Michigan
Vessel Info: 52 Sovran, Cat 3406
Have you considered installing a self-contained reverse cycle AC unit? That will give you both heat and AC. I installed a 16K Dometic under the helm seat in less than a day. Works great and really wasn't all that expensive.
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Home Port: Lake Michigan
Vessel Info: 2003 42 Open - Cat C12
I had one installed under the helm seat of our 42 Open last year and including upgrading the raw water pump etc, it was roughly $5-6K...
My wife and I were just talking the other day about how it was worth every penny....
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Home Port: Lake Michigan
Vessel Info: 52 Sovran, Cat 3406
I installed the system myself which really wasnt that difficult. I want to say I paid about $2,500 for the Dometic 16K self-contained system, $150 for a pump trigger/relay (my existing pump had the capacity so didn't need an additional pump), and a few hundred on hoses, fittings, wire and a duct kit. Got it all installed in a day for about $3K-$3,500. I've spent a lot on upgrading my boat and this by far has been the best money spent. Wife couldn't agree more.
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12-08-2017, 04:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-08-2017, 04:58 PM by sbw1.)
We use a small ceramic electric heater that sits on the floor beneath the helm. It plugs into a cockpit duplex. The drop curtain keeps the amount of space to be heated to a minimum. Does the job. When temps drop into the low 40's we sometimes turn the reverse cycle heat on down below and open the salon door. Helm area stays about 72 degree on a cold grey day in April when doing this. Heater costs about 90 bucks.
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Home Port: south haven
Vessel Info: 2006 3200 open 8.1 crusaders
I installed a heatercraft unit under the forward end of the port l lounge on my 32 open. It is a grill faced unit so it mounted up off the floor of the storage area and a small 12 volt circ pump is mounted on the floor right next to it. These units work much better on a boat with raw water cooling as the water temps are much higher than a motor with closed cooling. Even so its a worthwhile addition, I plan on upgrading the blower motor for more air flow. I dont have a generator so this along with the drop curtain keeps the april fishing trips on lake michigan tolerable.
