You're right to worry, but with a good plan and advice the project is very doable. The heater exhaust cap thru-deck hole has been a persistent source of leaks on our boat, and the prior owner who installed it made some poor choices (and some good ones - I don't blame him for the job not lasting forever, I could've easily made the same mistakes).
- The biggest challenge in my opinion is mounting the cap on a curved surface without it ever rotting or leaking. Our prior owner layered wood (some kind not as good as teak), glued the layers together and contoured it to the deck. After 10 years or so the layers became unglued and rotted, and leaked terribly. - I replaced with a solid teak winch plate (about 1.5" thick which you can get at Fisheries), drilled with a 5" hole saw and then somewhat contoured to the deck - this was difficult and I would've been better off with a larger block of teak (~3" thick) but couldn't find any sources of teak that thick - most teak comes as sheets or trim pieces which are less than 1" thick. I didn't want to glue pieces together and have it rot/leak like the prior version. - I think the best option might be an idea Wally Bryant used for one of his projects (I can't find the link because I can't recall which project it was). But I believe he poured epoxy into a mold to make a contoured deck pad. I should've tried that, but it seemed a bit advanced for my project skills and wood is easy + forgiving to work with. - The deck will probably be cored in whichever area you pick. Make sure to epoxy coat the coring. And if you do thru bolts for the cap base, epoxy pot those. To some of your other questions: - I wouldn't rule out an exhaust run with a 45 degree elbow. Our's has two 45 degree elbows and it works fine. Plus an elbow would let you get more of the exhaust run inside the cabin, to reduce the above deck chimney. - Flat spot is preferable for the cap (easier to seal), but as you say, the flat spot isn't big enough so that might not be perfect. Also that area (winch mount area) is probably reinforced coring (plywood, and thicker) rather than balsa, which will be more difficult to drill through. - You can definitely cap the exhaust and swap in the chimney when you need to use it. Seems like a bit of a pain to me, but you probably will use the heater only a small percentage of your total sailing days, so maybe not really that bad. - Exhaust to fore of the mast will take a lot more water from waves when you're sailing. So you might need the cap in when sailing regardless of chimney height anyway. My exhaust is aft of the mast, on the port galley bulkhead, so it rarely if ever takes waves. You can find a couple pictures of my exhaust cap rebuild here (search for "cap" or "exhaust"): http://svviolethour.com/2015/10/25/projects-projects-and-more-projects/ And more diesel heater details here: http://svviolethour.com/2015/12/25/how-to-recondition-a-diesel-pot-style-cabin-heater/ -Patrick 1984 C&C Landfall 38 Seattle, WA On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 3:19 PM, <cnc-list-requ...@cnc-list.com> wrote: > From: Stevan Plavsa <stevanpla...@gmail.com> > To: "cnc-list@cnc-list.com" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Cc: > Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 13:48:04 -0500 > Subject: Stus-List Drilling 5" hole in the deck > Hi All, > > Some of you may recall I reached out to the list for feedback on heaters. > I went with the Dickinson Newport Diesel fireplace. I have an Atomic 4 so > primary fuel is gasoline and the espar/webasto type heaters, at least as > far as their literature is concerned, should not be installed anywhere > there's a gasoline tank which ruled out the cockpit locker for an install > location and pretty well ruled out the diesel furnace style heaters > altogether. > > Took delivery of the heater last week and drove the two hours to the boat > on Sunday. Right now I'm thinking, "what did I get myself into?". As I was > measuring the boat for the chimney and final install location of the heater > I had a bit of a panic: 5" hole!!!! > > Please see pics of install location here: > https://goo.gl/photos/4GYL7SXqUZE3USRCA > > Note the roll of tape is just a visual indicator, it's only 4" diameter so > the hole will be bigger. The heater will be installed along the edge of the > bulkhead where will it be close to the mast and mostly out of the way as > one has to squeeze past the mast to get into the dinette seat anyway. The > cushion pictured is from the aft seat of the dinette, I used it to > illustrate how the existing cushion back will be modified to accommodate a > lower heater install. The original cushion will be cut down, stainless > backing will be installed behind the heater and at the end of the day I'm > hoping for a pretty clean looking install, hopefully. > > My question: is that a bad place for a 5" hole? There is a flat spot on > the coach roof a little aft and to starboard (winch mount location maybe) > but that would involve elbows and Dickinson recommends a straight run for > the chimney. Seems the biggest complaint with these heaters is problems > related to draft, so I want to minimize that as much as possible and keep > the run straight. The other problem with that location is that the access > panel is only half over that location so cutting the 5" hole partway > through access panel, partway through ceiling liner seems like a hack job. > You can see in one picture there's a bit of masking tape identifying the > prefered location on the top side. > > So, bad idea? > What can I expect once I start drilling? > Any tips?!!! > > Also a question about the chimney: to get the minimum 4' of chimney I will > need about 18" above deck. That's too much to sail with so I was hoping I > could connect the 18" chimney extension and cap when I need it (ie; at > anchor, at the dock, not planning on sailing with it running). Is that > doable? Dickinson makes a rain cap so that would be on most of the time. I > would use a thumbscrew or two and tap the chimney pieces so that it would > be a solid connection, but tool-less switch from one to the other. > > Thoughts? > > Many thanks. > > Steve > Suhana, C&C 32 > Toronto >
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