Bertram33 User Forum

The old Raritan water heater on my boat has seen better days. It still works, but the outside case looks like it is rusting away. I'm assuming there is a leak somewhere, but ir doesn't seem to loose pressure. I'm looking for some input about tankless water heaters. Has anybody installed one? How well do they work?

From all I've read about them, they just do NOT work on boats. They require way to much current & the rate of rise is way to slow. About 8 years ago I put in a 11 gallon Sea (something or other cheapie) & have had no problems. Someone else on the board put in an Isotemp from Defender & said it works great. Al

I put in an Isotemp one last summer. A bit pricey at around $600 but it looks great and comes up to temp very quickly and holds it for a long time.

I put in an Attwood 6 gal and it works great. Little use except for showers and hair washing. Lynn

Mike: I replaced mine with a heater from West Marine after my wife kept complaining about cold showers in the winter in florida. Don't get it. Anyway, mine sets just strboard on the platform accross the water tank. You can also connect your fresh water cooling to it as well as a breaker. It takes about 10 min to heat up to all you can stand. I can get you the model if you want. I think it was 189 to 239, something like that. Took about a hour to put in Kurt

Kurt, I've been thinking of putting in the one from West (11gal.model). I tossed around using a tankless heater, but I think I've bagged that idea. I like the idea of having the heat exchanger for heating the water.

In my opinion I think the heat exchanger in Fl would not help much because while you are running the bilge is warm enough to keep the water pretty warm and the heat exchanger will not help at the dock.

When mine needed replaced I just went to Home Depot and got a little 12 gallon job for right around $100 bucks. Just googled Home Depot. No dice. Lowes has a 12 gallon for $239.00 Damn inflation. What the hell is the government talking about deflation and the need to print 600,000,000,000 billion dollars of new money.

Crazy, isn't it.

Mike: I thought about the tankless but they dra more curent than any breakers will handle on the boat. You can hook up the engine coolant circuit but I have still found that when we run to the Islands the water is still hot enough to shower from the engine room temp. alone for me. The West Marine deal is as easy and cheap as you can get.

You guys just saved me about $400! Thanks!

That is a lot $ingles you could use wisely................

Frank: How did you save the $400? Were you thinking about the on demand heaters?

I have been thinking about a new water heater, (my old one never worked), but now realize I don't need one that uses engine coolant as a heat source, I realize from above comments that I probably don't want an on-demand one, and I don't think I need a marinized one either. I might try a regular small consumer unit... cheaper!

I put in a Ho Depot water heater about 5 yrs ago. Yeah it isn't marine approved, but works just fine for about $100. One thing I noticed is that when it sits for a few weeks, the water coming out the hot water side smells like rotten eggs. Must be the liner. I never had the problem with the Raritan. If I run the tank dry and I refill it, I'm good for the trip. It just aggrevates me, so I plan on changing it out in the spring. I can keep the old heater for hot showers after the next hurricane. Gene Dugan Boca Raton, Fl. "Nauti Marie" 1989 33 FBC 2007 8.1 Crusaders