We heat DRIVER with a Dickinson "Pacific" model, natural draft diesel stove. It works on the exact same principle as a wood burning stove. However, instead of wood for combustion, diesel fuel is gravity fed to the stove from a 3 gallon day tank. (I fill the tank using a 12 volt fuel pump bought an auto parts store. The pump is meant for gasoline and I was warned that the chemicals in diesel fuel would destroy the pump in less than two years. The pump has been going strong for 5 years. I carry a spare.)

This particular Dickinson stove is bigger than we wanted but we bought it second hand. The price was right compared to a new, smaller one. However, we are happy we bought the bigger stove. Although we wanted an appliance to be used for heating, we opted for the "stove design" instead of the typical "heater design" so that we could cook on it and have an oven. One word of advice. DO NOT, install a diesel stove and rely on it for your ONLY cooking source. If the stove is already on, great. It is very convenient. However, If the stove is stone cold it will take well over an hour to get it hot enough to boil even a kettle of water. This is not only a real pain, but if you are cruising in the tropics your cabin temperature will escalate to inhuman levels. If your are at sea with the hatches closed, you will probably die of heat stoke! Remember, when you turn the stove off it stays hot for hours afterwards. Just like a wood burning stove.

Due to this advice being passed along to us when we were rebuilding DRIVER's interior, I installed a two burner propane stove, with an oven, in the galley.

Natural draft stoves compared to a forced air heating system:

A natural draft stove does not require electricity to operate. This is a real bonus. There are also no moving parts. Forced air heaters have moving parts, therefore, they require serious maintenance. Also, if a force air system is on 24/7, keeping up with the amperage demand will be monumental. Same as having refrigeration.

On DRIVER, I have calculated that in the past 6 years our stove has run for over 30,000 hours. The only maintenance required is every 1000 hours or so I have to clean soot and carbon out of the burn pot, and clean junk out of the feed tube. This takes less than 15 minutes and does not cost anything.

(Note: the fuel consumption for our stove is the same for most all Dickinson diesel stoves products. They use the same oil metering valve and burn pot. Obviously, a larger stove body will radiate more heat, and provide a bigger oven and larger cooking surface. On the lowest setting our stove burns 6 liters (1.5 gallons) a day. Yes, we have burned almost 7,500 liters ( 2,000 gallons) of diesel for heating.)

(Note: Dickinson touts that the stove can operate on 4.75 liters (1.25 gallons) a day, but I have found that the combustion process is not hot enough and the burn pot carbons quickly.)

Facts of life using a natural draft stove:

There is no thermostat, so I have to control heat in the cabin by adjusting the oil flow, and by opening an closing hatches, or by blocking the dorade vents off. However, due to the stove needing air to operate, the air in the cabin is exchanged regularly. Also, due to the heat-radiating effect of the stove body, dry heat is put into the cabin and the moisture which is inherent in diesel fuel goes up the stack. Driver's cabin is moisture free.

Back drafts will be the bane of your existence when using a natural draft stove. What this means, is at some point your cabin will fill with cloying, noxious smoke, the scent of which will hang around for hours--even after the smoke clears. (We have a smoke detector on DRIVER in case of a back draft while we are sleeping).

Back drafts are cause by pressure differences between the air on deck and the air in the cabin. On DRIVER, I spent hours on deck experimenting with different stack heights and different flue caps. Our stack is 3 feet high and the boom clears it by one inch. We use a 'H' style flue cap. At anchor, we will get back drafts when a strong wind gust on the starboard beam hits the mainsail, which is furled on the boom. To eradicate this problem we lower the boom so that the end of it rests on the deck..

Sailing with the stove on:

Dickinson says the stove will not work on an incline greater that 15 degrees. I have found it to work well with an average of 25 degrees heel. (By this I mean in rough, knock down condition, when we might heel occasionally to 40 degrees or so.) It is VERY important to mount the stove fore and aft--this means having the oil metering valve and burn pot running parallel to the centerline of the boat.

On DRIVER the stove works fine while sailing. (There are some instances in our book when I mention it doesn't, but that was before I raised the stack). The only time the stove backs-up when we are sailing is when the the wind is on the starboard quarter, and the mainsail is not properly trimmed. As long as the wind is moving efficiently across the sail there is no problem. If the sail stalls--such as on a reach with the sail honked in too tight, the air pressure around the stack increases, and it pushes the smoke into the cabin.

When sailing in fluky winds with the stove on, we have to be extremely conscious of where the wind is. We are all very well trained on DRIVER. If sudden gust hits from abeam, we'll all dive for the mainsheet to get the sail in perfect trim to prevent a back draft. That said, during our 3 and 1/2 month cruise last summer, between Norway and Canada, the stove only backed two or three times. We are well trained!

As you can see, a natural draft stove is not a "switch it on and forget it" type of system. However, a natural draft stove is quiet, electricity-free, an it keeps us warm around the clock.