Dear readers,
on Thursday our article on the topic of on-board heaters I felt cold again. Memories of Easter came flooding back.
Easter! The first long weekend of 2025 on the boat. Long awaited, looked forward to, planned. The weather? Never mind! The boat is tight, has heating, we love each other. There's asparagus, the bar is stocked, the first (nice) dock neighbours have arrived, nothing stands in the way of a great day even without sailing, if the weather forecast is unfortunately right. And with the planned transfer of our friend's new boat, I have at least one short excursion on the programme.
You guessed it, it turned out differently. Thursday evening. Everything is tidied up. The long weekend can begin, with the ceremonial flick of the heating switch. Just like the opening of a new power station. Everything is fine so far, the unit starts up audibly - and switches off with the error message "ERR" on the control display. It is also clear that repeating the process (which is completely irrational anyway) does not bring any improvement. Fan heater out, at least it's there as a backup. The heater had already broken down months earlier, so the work should still be covered by the workshop warranty. A small consolation, but a consolation. The fact that I'm not alone with this issue doesn't help either. I had already brought my neighbour some exhaust assembly paste because his heater was leaking exhaust fumes into the interior.
So we continue on board: the next day we remove the part, which is great fun on a large-scale production boat, where most components are installed when the deck is not yet on and everything is so easy for the shipyard workers to reach. Not so in the finished state. Through the stern hatch into the forecastle, with both legs stuck through a hatch in the aft cabin, I have some room to manoeuvre. Neither my physiognomy nor my age give me the characteristics of a contortionist that I must now have.
The heater sits on a nylon board that has to be separated from its support in order to access the clamps and hoses for the hot air outlet, the combustion air and the exhaust outlet as well as the fuel supply. The old pain of such work: With the hand of the arm I have to support myself with, I have to simultaneously loosen screws that I can't see. It's clear that more and more bits and small parts are clattering their way under hoses and can't even be reached with the claw gripper.
After an hour, the heater is removed. Let's see what happens next. Great, so now it's time to sail, get the new boat from Laboe, I'm delighted, also for the new owner Frank, who has switched back from a motorboat to a sailing boat. It stops raining slowly, off to Sonderborg. Of course, the boat hasn't been refuelled and the petrol station is closed. So off we go through the doldrums under sail. We have enough to eat and there is also a heater.
There is, but it does not start. Error code "ERR". So no more taking it in turns to warm up below deck. The wind comes up, the direction is right, we can't see anything, but it's still nice to be underway again. I'm freezing like a pig. We arrive after six hours. Fan heater out, welcome committee on board, gin and tonic for everyone. After a quick round of drinks, the neighbours get back on their boats, as it's getting cold.
"Shit!" comes from the 34-foot yacht opposite. The heating won't start. Oh! It's hard to believe. Within a radius of 4.5 metres, four heaters on three boats have failed in two days. A gigantic failure rate. It must be a coincidence, what else?
Why I am writing this: On the one hand I want to get rid of the frustration, on the other hand I want to shout to everyone: Be happy when everything works on your boats or at least the vital things are in order. Put everything through its paces in good time, keep Maintenance intervals have spare parts on board. And above all, don't get annoyed.
Fridtjof Gunkel
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of YACHT
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