Wood Stove

    After a month or two or measuring, searching the internet, and worrying about burning the boat down, we finally went and got a wood stove. We decided on a Morso 1440 "Squirrel,"  which is essentially a 14"x14"x27" box made of cast iron and fitted with a small window and frilly little legs. Morsos are made in Denmark, and have a whole bunch of complicated little combustion chambers that allow them to meet European emissions standards (and allow us to burn wood without our neighbors finding out). It also has heat shielding on the back, so we were able to put it only 6" away from the wooden cabin wall. Unfortunately, all this fanciness comes with a bit of a downside- weight. The little bugger weighs somewhere around 200 pounds, and it was a bit of a struggle to get it onto the boat and down the narrow side deck to the cabin.

    Once we got the stove onto the boat, I cut a rectangle out of the carpet, and my mom laid down some tiles. My dad then cut a nice big hole in the ceiling on a miraculously non-rainy day, and everyone spent a few hours grappling with the chimney. Eventually, everything was aligned and properly assembled, and after waiting a few days for all the caulk and sealant to dry; we fired it up. Unfortunately, we didn't know that new wood stoves are typically rubbed down with oil, and that your supposed to start them outside to let it all burn off. Instead, all that oil burned off inside Misogi, and the entire boat filled up with a foul-smelling blue haze. We had to open all of the doors and windows on a 40 degree day, and the boat smelled vaguely like burning oil for about a week afterwards.

   Now that all the oil has burned off, the little Morso is looking like the perfect stove for Misogi. It's pretty efficient with wood once it gets warmed up, it keeps the wall behind it fairly cool, and it gets the salon up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit when the temperature outside is around freezing. We now only use the diesel furnace in the mornings, which is very nice considering that it managed to burn through 30 gallons of fuel last month. The only disadvantage to wood heat so far has been that only the salon and pilothouse are properly heated; the staterooms and heads stay down around 58 degrees. I now end up staying awake as long as possible to avoid getting into a refrigerated bed.

Tile

Temporary Skylight

Everything Put Together

The Chimney

My Dad with His Chimney

It Lives!