re-installing the Force-10 kerosine heater

2009-12-26

Ripple came with an alcohol wick 'stove' installed that could take the chill off the interior... sort of, though I can't exactly feature boiling water on it, let alone cooking anything on it.  A Force-10 kerosene boat heater had once been installed, and the parts were all in a box (the stove, fuel line, tank, stack, and stack-hat, as well as some braces for securing the tank below the galley cabinetry).

Randy and I puzzled through the earlier installation evidence (palimpsestuous screw-holes, tank-shaped-recess cut into the ceiling slats, configuration of bent-copper fuel lines), and decided on an appropriate re-installation approach.  Some details remain to be worked out  (securing the tank), but we think we have a sound approach, and the stove itself and stainless steel tank went in with some fiddling.  The previous owner, bless him, had assured that all parts were taped in place so the copper spacers and bronze bolts and nuts were all present.

Ripple is nearly, again, cold-weather-capable.  A small electric ceramic space heater purchased for $28 at the local Ace Hardware assures a comfy cabin at the dock as well.

We thought we'd get out on the water, as the day was still young, and it was sunny, but by the time we got the boat cover off, and had some lunch, the wind picked up and made it hard enough to get away from the pier that we aborted departure.  Randy tried snubbing the stern to the dock with a forward spring line, instructing me to back down on it with tiller hard to starboard and the engine in reverse, warping the bow out into the channel, but the wind held us hard to the pier, and we sensibly decided that discretion was the better part of low insurance rates.  So, we finished our lunches in the sun, but the cover back on, put the boat to bed and called it a day.

I have a lot to learn about small boat handling, and my days of single-handing are still a ways off in the future, but I'm not shy about flipping the abort switch.

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