Engine Compartment Heaters

Boost Deuce · Criminal Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 94 City: Fort Collins

The weather during the days here is plenty good to ride, and the water is still a nice 65 degrees.
Next week is supposed to be nice, but this weekend its supposed to dip into the mid 30s at night.

Instead of winterizing my boat for a weekend or winterizing it until next season, i'd like to be able to ride when the days are nice.

I park my boat in my driveway and it has a nice snap on cover for it that provides good insulation for heat.
Could i go to walmart or home depot and buy a small heater, and put it in the big open space in my engine compartment?
There is currently a factory mounted tub in there which has my table top and i also put the tubes in there. The tub could be removed and i would have a section thats about 3 feet by 4 feet where i could put a small heater and it would be far enough away from everything that it wouldn't damage something from extremely close heat.

And i could just run an extension cord from my garage.

Is this something that would be safe to do for a night or two, or if i let it run for a couple hours at night and then turned it off, would the engine compartment be able to keep it warm enough as to not freeze?

I don't really want to spend 300 dollars on a heater when i will only be riding for another month or so, and i wont need the heater but a handful of times

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12338795
i was thinking something like that, and run it for an hour or two at night and then unplug it, and the engine compartment i would think should hold the heat in pretty well...

STANG KILLA SS · Posted: Sep 28, 2009 11:15 am Post subject:

a simple shop light may be enough. especially in the enclosed compartment of a Vdrive.

ridininmd · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 1231

I used a shop light if it was going to get below 30 at night. Mid 30's really aren't an issue obviously. It takes a few hours below 32 to do any damage.

Boost Deuce · Criminal Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 94 City: Fort Collins

core-rider · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 531 City: Huntsville, AL

The only real issue I can see with this is when the thermostat makes contact to turn on at say 35 degrees or whatever your set it at there will be a spark. You run the risk of igniting fuel vapors and burning your boat to the ground. Of course the same could be said if you used a lightbulb and the bulb were to hit something and break.

Again I'm just trying to make you aware of the possilities... I doubt you would be that unlucky, but it is worth the caution.

Boost Deuce · Criminal Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 94 City: Fort Collins

core-rider · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 531 City: Huntsville, AL

If it has a thermostat control it will turn on/off by itself. Every time it changes state it will cause a small spark from the contacts opening/closing. If it does not have a thermostat and it is just a simple on/off switch that you manually control, you won't have the spark issue, but you will have a pretty warm engine compartment that you shouldn't have to worry about.

Boost Deuce · Criminal Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 94 City: Fort Collins

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

Remember, you don't need it to be warm, just enough to keep it above freezing.

I have an oil filled radiant heater that is designed for closed spaces and won't create a spark. It heats the fluid in the resevoir (like an old wall steam heater). It never gets hot enough to burn anything, or have any open spaces that can't be touched.

That's what I would use for this, no spark, no open heat, no worries about direct contact. These are great for a shop or boat.

SilverMustang35 · Posted: Sep 29, 2009 9:12 am Post subject:

Boost, we used a lamp from the house that we didnt need anymore. We took the top off of it, put a 100 watt bulb in it and sealed off all the vents to hold the heat in. Worked like a charm and kept everything good, but not warm or melted. Never had any issues with it moving since it had a good base to it. This year we will just be pulling the drain plugs since we are riding this winter. I am putting quick disconnects and shut off valves on the heater and blowing heater lines through with a hand air pump...

Boost Deuce · Criminal Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 94 City: Fort Collins

SilverMustang35 · Posted: Sep 29, 2009 10:21 am Post subject:

We are in Northeast Tennessee and it took care of us one winter (granted it was a warmer winter) but it worked and we didnt have any type of engine issues or freeze problems with it. I checked in occasionally to make sure the bulb wasnt blown but in the pre-winter time I would think the lamp should keep it warm as long as its not escaping. We put an old sleeping bag over the vent holes and put the trailering cover on and it was fine. Unless you are having freezing cold temps and the lows are staying during the night and day, I would say you would be ok until you winterize. Remember to drop the foot to get the little bit of water in the foot out too.

smitty1258 · Criminal Joined: 05 Oct 2008 Posts: 91 City: NW Ohio

+1 for the oil filled heater.

That would be the safest best