Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[larry]

Tony,
We had an extreme winter here last year and my girl wasn't inside. I was able to maintain a good temperature inside by just wrapping her good and tight with tarps. I was really surprised what heat I absorbed from the sun this way, even with snow on top. I had one small heater and a type of brooder bulb I use to keep my chickens warm. At freezing temps it would be 65 degrees by 9:00am. Under twenty and/or the wind blowing I didn't even try though. At 14 that certainly is a challenge when trying to spare expense. But being at 30 in the shop you should be able to get the inside cabin warm.
Stopping escaping heat will benefit mostly I think, and closing off the berth and access to other areas where your not working whereby minimizing the space.
Your right the tiki says it all.

[Tony G]

Stopping escaping heat will benefit mostly I think, and closing off the berth and access to other areas where your not working whereby minimizing the space.

I tried to do a multiple quote reply because all three of you hit the nail on the head. "Move South"! For some reason I never thought of just sealing off the area we're working in. This deserves a closer look to find out what kind of impact just filling in those big holes would make. I think we may need the assistance of a low/high temperature recording thermometer. I wonder if it will be necessary to insulate the hull? Would it be better to insulate the outside vs. the inside of the hull? My reasoning is, will the cold hull "wick" the heat away if just the inside is insulated? Will I have to heat both sides? I could use heat lamps on the outside directed at the hull but eventually I'm going to have so many lights burning I may have been better off to get another energy hungry heater...

It looks like progress may take a back seat to investigation for a bit here as the cold weather hasn't really hit yet. Even though it is bright and sunny this morning it is only 1 degree above zero! I'm confident the hot box is doing just fine but the shop is going to be cold and we're going to burn through some gas today!

[Commander 147]

Tony

You might be surprised on how little it takes to keep the inside of the boat toasty warm. Blankets over open hatches or uninstalled ports would probably be all it takes if you use heat lamps directed on the work. I've been overnighting on my boat in some pretty chilly conditions and body heat was enough to keep her comfortable inside.