Death Valley Encounter

A

AKMel

New member
I don’t have much to contribute so decided to remain a lurker. I did register recently, but summers we must travel to a library to get internet, and that wifi is slower than slow, and not conducive to forum interaction. A chance meeting in Death Valley, CA…. of all places to encounter a C-brat, got me to post. My wife and I took a walk around a Furnace Creek campground. Two gentlemen were standing in the drive aisle between RV sites and we exchanged pleasantries. Questions ensued. That opened the door for further conversation and my ear caught the word “dory.” I asked whether he meant C-dory. He responded in the affirmative. In amazement I replied that I just bought one. C-brat Wandering Sagebrush (which seemed appropriate for someone you might met in Death Valley), AKA Steve, was one of the two. We talked several times over the next days. He urged me to post here that I am the new owner of C-Girl, a 22 cruiser. (We plan to re-name her soon. Seems all the good names involving “C” are taken. Being a serious minded fun enthusiast I’m working on something original. Stay tuned.)
Our summer residence is a cabin in Gustavus, Alaska, which is bordered by Glacier Bay NP. I had been looking for a cruiser to range around our neck of the inside passage. If all goes according to plan we will get our 22 north this spring.
 
Welcome to the collective.
My son did a school kayak trip out of Gustavus 2 years ago up into Glacier Bay NP.
On returning to Juneau he and his class mates were picked up on two 26ft C-dorys. They hit some really nasty seas on their return, these boats handled it well.
Your new to you 22 will be a great way to experience the many wonders of this secluded Alaskan area.
Meeting up with Cbrats in Death Valley, curreal to put mildly.
My son informs me you have a great Harbor in Gustavus so should be a nice birth for your new boat.
 
Welcome Aboard,
Steve is a great person to talk C Dorys with. You live in a great part of the World. Another Steve, is Steve (a veterinarian in Juneau) and his wife Colleen Torrence. They moved up from A C Dory 22, but live on the water just North of Auke Bay marina. He is a great resource for c Dory issues in the area.
 
Welcome to the Brat site (C-BRATS). It is a great place. Great for everything C-Dory. Great for the great people (as you already know, meeting Steve), and great for being with and about and for those of us who have a love for boating and being on the water. Some of us cruise, some of us fish, some do both, some spend most of their time working on their boats, and all of us enjoy talking, sharing and learning here.

And you are right, names are special. It is hard to find something new and different, original as you said. If you have been lurking around for a while, you may know of the "member list" button in the line just below the Logo banner. Directly next to that is one called "Our C-Dorys". Click on that and the far right column will list the "Vessel Name". You can cruise through that.

Another place is the BoatUS website has a boat name list. That one you will have to peek around for a bit because I don't remember the exact location. Look for something like "Naming my Boat". They also have a vinyl service to pick your font, name and color and they will send it to you for a $$. NO, you don't have to be a BoatUS member for either of those services.

GlacierC, Glay-C- er, eyeC, just seeds for thought. There is even a thread or two about naming. Some advice that was given to me was to say it three times in a row (Like making a VHF radio call) and see what it comes out like.

Best to you in your searching, and again, welcome.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Thanks Gents: The 22 was somewhat set up for Alaska, having relatively new touch screen electronics, digital radar, and a cockpit enclosure, but also lacking in aspects. No kicker. One needs a get-home backup motor as we are remote. I can swap the 10hp kicker off our fishing boat, but need to research the best bracket for C-dory with trim tabs. The VHF antenna was 3' short range so a new 8' is on the way. Also the existing anchor is fine for inland waters, but much too small for the tides and winds of SE Alaska. No heater. It has a butane KISS stove, but I've read they can have leak problems. Thinking about a Mr Buddy for daytime use. Only one battery too. I'm pondering whether to buy a small lightweight generator (boat has shore power and charger) and keep an eye on the existing battery, or add a second battery. I realize I can research those questions, or personal experience on any of the above would be appreciated. Thanks, Mel
 
I would suggest a remote control kicker motor without bracket. It will have tight clearances, but will work with tabs, without a tiller. Use rremote control box to shift and throttle, and tie the motors together with a removable tie bar mounted on front of motor bracket. I have had great luck with a wallas 1300 furnace running on kerosene on several boats -- zero problems. You can see examples of both the motor and heater in the Snoopy-C album. Ron
 
I would suggest a remote control kicker motor without bracket. It will have tight clearances, but will work with tabs, without a tiller. Use rremote control box to shift and throttle, and tie the motors together with a removable tie bar mounted on front of motor bracket. I have had great luck with a wallas 1300 furnace running on kerosene on several boats -- zero problems. You can see examples of both the motor and heater in the Snoopy-C album. Ron
 
During the last 14 years we have cruised much of SE Alaska in a CD22. Both a 2nd battery & small generator are good ideas. We have used a Buddy Heater there as a back up to the Wallas on all our cruises & it became the primary on several due to Wallas failures. The Buddy Heater will keep you warm, but certainly not dry. Condensation with its use is a severe problem. Around Gustavus & all SE Alaska with a inclosed cabin type boat, dry heat in my opinion will become a priority once you spend some time without it. Wallas diesel & kerosene burning heaters are chosen most often by PNW boaters, but there are other options too. Along with the Buddy Heater as a back up we also use a small electric ceramic powered by a Honda 2000 generator. The ceramic also provides good dry heat when at a dock with shore power available.

Jay
 
Welcome aboard Mel, congrats on the C-dory, and cool story of a chance encounter!

Regarding input on the Mr. Buddy - I've been using one during my first winter of cruising in the C-dory 22, and with the door wide open, temps in the 30's, and the heater sitting back near the table on Low and pointing forward it is plenty of heat. It gets several hours on a propane cylinder. Can't really cruise with the door closed because the windows will fog up quickly, but no fogging issues with door open.
Previously I tried a Little Buddy on a couple of trips, which I don't recommend (the propane cylinders do not fit securely enough in the base for my liking. Also the Little Buddy is just ON or OFF, no adjustability like the regular Mr. Buddy). Only drawback to the Mr. Buddy is that one of it's many safety features is if you hit a wave too hard it shuts off, and in the C-dory 22 it doesn't need to be a big wave at all, any insignificant pound or slap of the hull...but that's OK because I'm mostly cruising at 10 kts or less, at which speed it's almost impossible to pound. I consider it a temporary solution until a more permanent Webasto or Espar is installed.

Also on the Butane stove - I'm using a $20 portable Coleman camp stove, I just remove the cylinder when not in use, as the instructions indicate. Store the cylinder outside if you are worried about leaks.

You mentioned the plan is to get the boat North this Spring...Are you taking it North TO Gustavus (if so, where is it now?), or going further North FROM Gustavus? (and if so, how far North?)

-Mike
 
Gustavus- I was there last summer on a 25ft cdory ( not mine) Great place to see but I am not sure I would call it a town. Three buildings and two are liquor stores. ;) :wink:

I had to catch a bus in to "town" and use the wifi to check on a few house deals and it was a very long and painful transaction.

We saw a few cdorys in the bay. Mostly older offshore models from the 80's. We anchored under the glaciers at night and it was wonderful.

As for heat I love the espar that we put in the 27CD. It will drive you out and always starts ( knock knock). Susan even drys clothes and hand towels in front of it. Easy to install and just works. We use a Origo Alcohol gas cook top. It is simple and easy to use and always lights. match , lighter, , flaming spaghetti noddle will all work. Never have to worry about having enough voltage.
 
Wow, great active site guys.

MikeR":36m9axas said:
Are you taking it North TO Gustavus (if so, where is it now?), or going further North FROM Gustavus? (and if so, how far North?) -Mike
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The boat is currently in So Calif where we winter. We hope to haul it to Gustavus end of April or early May. This will be our 8th summer there.

Digger said:
I would suggest a remote control kicker motor without bracket.
Will that work if I swap the kicker between boats occasionally? I currently have the kicker on our 20' Alumaweld and use the tiller. Eventually I may get another kicker. But for now....

hunkydory said:
The Buddy Heater will keep you warm, but certainly not dry. Condensation with its use is a severe problem
Great info! Several of you made me realize I need a heater that does not produce water vapor as a by-product, or if it does, expels exhaust outside the cabin.

Tom: I'll check out the Espar on Craigslist. Thanks.

On the Gustavus front, we are normally there early May through mid September (health permitting.) Is there a way to provide c-brats my phone number without advertising it to the world? We practice Alaskan hospitality and our door would be open to brat passers-by. Internet is not an option for us as we only check email about once a week. Sometimes less.
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That's Life
A place for friends and family. This Forum is open to registered C-Brats Online members only, and is invisible to anyone not logged on.

Is going to be your best bet to put your phone number. Also I believe that you have to be a registered member to view profiles..Check that out.

I have to second those who say " get a diesel heater", with external exhaust. We have had good luck with our Wallas, and it worked for a month in AK. But when we had our Cal 46 in AK for 4 years (April thru Sept)--we had a circulating hot water system, diesel fired--and it was fantastic. The size of the C Dory makes the hot air systems better; not enough room for the burner, boiler, etc for hydronic heat. The one Tom linked to is a good buy. I would strongly consider it. I don't like the cartage propane/butane, type stoves. We have one only for back up if our Wallas ever fails.--

The generator--mostly for battery charging. We can run a 30 amp charger on an Honda EU 1000 i. Also will run an electric heater on 600 watts, as well as an induction burner on medium. Definitely get the Honda or Yamaha....in the long run these pay off!
 
That's Life
A place for friends and family. This Forum is open to registered C-Brats Online members only, and is invisible to anyone not logged on.

Is going to be your best bet to put your phone number. Also I believe that you have to be a registered member to view profiles..Check that out.

I have to second those who say " get a diesel heater", with external exhaust. We have had good luck with our Wallas, and it worked for a month in AK. But when we had our Cal 46 in AK for 4 years (April thru Sept)--we had a circulating hot water system, diesel fired--and it was fantastic. The size of the C Dory makes the hot air systems better; not enough room for the burner, boiler, etc for hydronic heat. The one Tom linked to is a good buy. I would strongly consider it. I don't like the cartage propane/butane, type stoves. We have one only for back up if our Wallas ever fails.--

The generator--mostly for battery charging. We can run a 30 amp charger on an Honda EU 1000 i. Also will run an electric heater on 600 watts, as well as an induction burner on medium. Definitely get the Honda or Yamaha....in the long run these pay off!
 
One tip on the install of the espar if you go that way is this. Remember that these unit s were made for trucks and camper which are are more air tight then a boat. so the instructions tell you to route the " combustion air intake" from out side . But if you do that then you either have to have two holes in the boat, One for intake and one for exhaust, or you have to find a way to combined the two thru one thru hull. I could not find a way to do that and I did not want two holes. So what I did was route the Combustion air intake, thats the air going to the fire, from the low point in the boat. This not only saved me from two holes BUT it keep the boat drier. It sucks all the moist cold air off the bottom of the floor and burns it. When we are on anchor and run this heater the boat dries out in a hurry. You can feel it. The exhaust air, after it is burned is going out the side of the boat with any moisture.
 
The Espar will definitely supply dry heat but you can't cook on it, the Wallas cook top stove will do both. I had a Wallas cook top on my 22 and also on the 25, have cooked many good meals over the years on these wonderful ceramic top stoves.
On both boats I used Diesel exclusively, right out of the pump. We put close to 2000 hours on the 22 Wallas before it gave us problems, the fuel pump gave out.
No problems so far with the 25 Wallas, but we only us it for cooking; I installed a Wallas furnace for heat.
Propane stoves are great for cooking but put out lots of moisture, not good in our neck of the woods.
Granted the Wallas can be temperamental at times, and they don't come cheep, but they serve a need in cold climates and small boats unlike any other.
If you choose to install one make sure it's slaved directly to one of your batteries, preferably not the one used to start your motor or run a pot puller or windless. The extra draw can put the stove into shutdown, a low voltage safety built into the unit.
The Wallas instalation instructions are easy to follow, and Scan Marine in Seattle will walk you through any problems.

You definitely need to toss a second battery in that starboard Laz, tight fit but doable.
 
Hello Mel. We are over in Juneau. Would love to get over to Gustavus one day on our boat. Maybe soon :)
I just love it when the Gustavus kids would come over to play basketball. They are the Gustavus Foxes! Just makes me smile.

Jules
 
The input is appreciated! Yes I'd love a Wallas (I was hoping to buy a boat that had one already) but can't justify the price. Espar sounds like it pretty much does the same thing heater wise, but at 1/3 the cost. I'm going to get a butane can and see if the existing stove has any problems. That will influence a decision.

Julie: Would love to connect if you do. 35 Parker Dr. Will send you a PM
 
I have a butane stove on my 22'. In warm weather it works ok. In cold weather you have to keep the canister warm. The boiling point of butane is 30-34 deg F. On cold mornings you'll find that you can't get the stove lit until you warm up the canister (I put it under my arm for awhile). My stove has a metal piece that is supposed to transfer heat from the burned to the canister. When it is cold and after you get the stove working, it will heat ok on high. But if you turn the flame down, there is less heat transfer to the canister and the canister is cooling because the pressure is dropping. So depending on how cold it is, turning the burner down to less than half will usually cause the burner to eventually go out as the canister cools off.

I have also found that even in warm weather my stove is prone to blowing out if the burner is turned down due to wind gusts in the cabin. I don't know if this is because of the butane burn characteristics or the physical design on my stove. Also, the color of the butane flame can make it hard to see in bright light at lower settings. We usually have to look under the pot/pan periodically to make sure the flame is still on.

Propane is supposed to work better because the boiling point is lower. If I could get a similar styled propane stove as my butane stove that used the 1# canisters, I probably buy one as soon as I could. My butane stove fits into the counter top and has a fold down cover.
 
It is hard to get Butane in volume here in the USA...everything is Propane because Butane has one more carbon molecule than Propane and burns with more smoke......it is not at all rare to see a motorhome with a soot stripe up from the heater exhaust...you know they have been to Mexico where you can not buy Propane...

I have a propane heater and stove in my boat and my tank is in the Port Lazarette ....never been in any really cold weather to see how it works...but it is an interesting thought... might be a bit cold.

Joel
SEA3PO
 
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