boatbilgeheaters.com and Boat Bilge Engine Compartment Heater

M

mrsrobinson

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2006
7,704
Virginia
Boat Info
2001 380DA
Engines
Caterpillar 3126
I researched boat heaters (engine compartment in my case) by reading threads here as well as the internet. My research led me to the Twin Hornet 45.

I had a great experience with https://www.boatbilgeheaters.com/ and want to share.

When I asked them "which size for my boat?" the reply was:

"Due to liability concerns as well as too many variables to possibly provide an educated calculation, we do not make any claims in regards to sizing. I can tell you that our Twin Hornet 45 700 Watt heater actually delivers 830 Watts and if the boat is kept on the water, the extra 170 Watts that the 1000W heater delivers won't make much of a difference"

When I saw this unit on Amazon, no shipping cost/charge, I asked if they would waive shipping because they had helped me, answered my questions, and I'd rather give them my money. His reply:

"Yes, we can waive shipping and we do not charge sales tax, so this will save you even more money"

I called them, spoke to Bryan, and placed my order. He said to to ask for him, give him my name (Greg) and he will waive shipping and sales tax for you.

Thanks
 
Bryan is a great guy. They make several items for the aviation industry which requires redundant controls. He basically adapted that mentality to their boat heater options.
 
We have 5 of these on our dock. Use the peco 115 thermostat and it works great
 
The t-stat I referenced was actually recommended by Bryan, but that Peco looks interesting.
 
Yeah there are a bunch of options. I opted to hardwire them and I like the capillary thermostat and I love the peco housing as it has room inside to make watertight connections.
 
I just ordered my new boat heater from Bryan. He is a great guy and gave me free shipping and no sales tax. Thanks, Greg! Now my boat will not explode, and my engines will be warm.
 
mrsrobinson said:
I researched boat heaters (engine compartment in my case) by reading threads here as well as the internet. My research led me to the Twin Hornet 45.

I had a great experience with https://www.boatbilgeheaters.com/ and want to share.

When I asked them "which size for my boat?" the reply was:

"Due to liability concerns as well as too many variables to possibly provide an educated calculation, we do not make any claims in regards to sizing. I can tell you that our Twin Hornet 45 700 Watt heater actually delivers 830 Watts and if the boat is kept on the water, the extra 170 Watts that the 1000W heater delivers won't make much of a difference"

When I saw this unit on Amazon, no shipping cost/charge, I asked if they would waive shipping because they had helped me, answered my questions, and I'd rather give them my money. His reply:

"Yes, we can waive shipping and we do not charge sales tax, so this will save you even more money"

I called them, spoke to Bryan, and placed my order. He said to to ask for him, give him my name (Greg) and he will waive shipping and sales tax for you.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Hey Greg - Hope things are well with you folks. Thanks for doing the research on these, just placed one on my Christmas list. We are planning on staying over at Spring Cove this year after Washburns gets my maintenance list done sometime in early May. Staying until just after July 4th and then back to the Potomac. Have a great holiday season and hope to meet up a few times this summer. K
 
Where do you place your heater? I was thinking about the bilge floor between the engines.
 
Just installed the 500w block heater pads on my engines. Needed a mirror to see what I was doing on the bottom of the pan. About a 45min job in total. They will be ready to be plugged in tomorrow afternoon but it'll be Monday afternoon before I can get to the boat again.

The Twin Hornet is (was) on the diamond metal plate between the engines. I'd love to keep in plugged in but I am not sure if the draw will be too much for the one breaker. Each block heating pad draws 4.2a (1000w combined) so I doubt there is enough for the Twin Hornet to be plugged in as well.

This was a good opportunity to crawl around the bilge and see what little projects need to be done. Engines need a little bit of paint here and there, wires for the swim platform need to be wrapped and secured better, etc.,
 
So mad at myself for being impatient as usual. Decided to order the block heaters, then read some of the suggestions to get the ones with the thermostats, so I quickly ordered the thermostat ones too. Then immediately did more "research" and decided the constant on pads are the way to go. The thermostats go on at 170 and off at 200. So, I go back on Amazon, cancel the order and feel good about going with the constant on pads.

Easy and quick install on Saturday and I head to the boat yesterday to plug them in and let them do their thing. Funny thing, I plug them in, they immediately get hot then I hear a click and they go off. About 5 seconds later they go back on. Hmm, seems odd to me but whatever.

Laying in bed last night and I start freaking out about the pads. Sure enough I look on my Amazon account this AM and come to find that I cancelled the wrong order. MF'er. I am positive the thermostat on/off pads will work just fine but that's absolutely NOT what I wanted.

Sometimes my impatience really really sucks and gets the best of me. Like taking the boat, in the first week of April, with the swim platform not working because my guts tells me it's an easy fix. Easy fix my ass. Took me till August to get it fixed and cost me about $7,000. All because I had to have the boat asap.

Knocking on 50 and I still haven't learned to chill out.
 
56 here and I'm just as impatient. Welcome to the club. I think mosquitoes have more patience than I do.
 
Why not stick with the thermostat models? Should save you some coin on electric. Once they're up to temp, it's going to take a while to drop.
 
I keep checking the temp of the engine room and it's about 55 during the day and 46 at night. Now we have not had any cold nights yet at all to really see how these block heaters really do. My buddy's 84 46 Ocean Yachts has 671ti with block heaters and it's like a sauna in his engine room and I was kind of hoping for the same.

I'm going to add a ceramic space heater to the bilge via an extension cord to the 50a dock power because I don't think the single breaker in the engine room can handle the (2) 500w block heaters and the ceramic space heater. Even at the lowest setting which is 600w it could be too much of a draw. And if the space heater (the one from West Marine) has 600, 900 and 1500w options why would I ever pick the lowest setting???? Go big or go home!

Pretty sure I can run the extension cord right into the same hole the boat power cord runs. Should be able to find that hole in the bilge so I can keep the engine hatch closed tightly. Also going to shrink wrap the engine vents and use the recommended preservation tape.
 
Happy to report the Twin Hornet is performing well, Engine compartment staying around 50 degrees, even with the single digit temps recently.
 
I have the Twin Hornet connected to an external thermostat and two 500w pads like @SeaNile does. The 500w pads do not have enough power to handle the bilge by themselves. So the Twin Hornet picks up the slack. My bilge during that cold snap was 55* and the cabin was at 50* with two heaters going on external thermostats. I use a GoVee heater to bring the temp up when I am going to be on the boat. I just turn that on a couple of hours before I down to the boat. Works like a charm.
 
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