Further thoughts on the heater

The first job this week was to finish off the cable duct in the quarter berth I cut some 12mm plywood, I used 12mm as I had some available, and then after fitting it between the two bulkheads I covered it with lining carpet and screwed it into place.

Cable duct through quarter berth

Now that I have more or less decided on the heater installation I spent today finalising the route for the hot air duct work. As previously noted the heater will be installed in the void space at the aft end of the quarter berth in a port/starboard orientation the hot air outlet will connect to a tee so that the duct work can be led aft to the aft cabin and forward to the saloon, heads and forward cabin. The duct to the aft cabin will go through an opening to be formed in the aft bulkhead of the void space through into the under bunk space and then connect to the air terminal fitted in the redundant engine exhaust opening.

Redundant exhaust opening

The duct will come through the bulkhead in the space between the inner moulding and the hull approximately in the centre of the photograph below

The duct work going forward will be installed behind the up stand in the quarter berth inner moulding which can be accessed from the void space, I used a piece of 90mm diameter HDPE to check that the duct will fit. This will conveniently take the duct clear of the water tanks installed in the two aft under bunk spaces.

Up stand in quarter berth below the timber panel

Access to space behind the up stand

A branch will run to the saloon hot air outlet terminal through the forward under bunk space in the quarter berth, the terminal will be just above sole level

Forward under bunk space

The duct will then continue through the space below the cooker into the locker area under the galley sink, I spent quite some time checking on the positions of the openings to ensure that there was adequate clearance from the gas pipe and other fittings in these areas.

Forward under bunk area the cross marks the position of the opening for the duct

Space under the cooker duct will run outboard of the timber gas pipe protector

Once in the under sink locker the duct will run forward and through to the under sink locker in the heads.

The cross marks the position of the opening for the duct

Cross marks the position of the opening through to the heads locker

The duct will then run through the heads locker with a branch to connect to the hot air terminal mounted just above the sole.

Access to the heads locker will be below the shower drain pump

The cross marks the position of the opening through to the forward cabin

From the heads locker the duct will run forward into the under bunk area on the port side of the forward cabin where it will terminate with a hot air terminal just above the cabin sole. At the moment the timber support will take a plastic storage box and a case of beer one of these may have to go to allow the duct through. This post is a bit of a ramble but it is a convenient way of recording my thoughts. Now that I have an installation plan it's just a case of ordering the heater and all the ancillaries and installing it probably after Christmas.