A very cool stove/heater...

With the cost of oil and gas on the rise again, the idea of having a solid fuel stove/heater onboard to back up the propane system would seem like no bad idea...

Part of the problem with solid fuel heaters and stoves on boats is that, for the most part, they are more decorative than functional and somewhat pricey... Dickinson and SIG both make a bulkhead heater that is OK and produces some needful heat but falls short on the stove side but will keep a coffee cup warm...

Which brings us to the Shipmate small cast iron sort that you can really use as a stove as well as produce a hellacious amount of dry heat which is no bad thing on a boat. One of my best memories was sitting on a Benford Dory in Paris with six inches of snow on the deck drinking hot cocoa, eating skillet bread, and being warm... The boats Shipmate "Skippy" doing its thing...

The downside of the "Skippy" and other cast iron stove/heaters is that they have a rather large footprint and can be problematic space wise on a small boat as well as being a seriously heavy hit on the pocket book.

But they sure look "shippy" and inspire all sorts of confidence... Don't they?

I've mentioned before that maybe the best option would be to build a "rocket" stove and cobble together some sort of "shippy" means of mounting it within a boat  along the lines of a bulkhead or floor mounted heater.

The Stovetec solid fuel stoves developed for the third world seem to be just the thing and, truth be told, not entirely un-shippy looking when you take a moment to look at it...

Being a rocket type stove it will produce much more heat using less fuel and that makes all kinds of sense on a boat where solid fuel storage is somewhat problematic. Better yet, it is inexpensive and buying one helps a good cause... Kinda works for me!