Installing Xtreme htr in my 260 Dancer

[LtCdr. Augs]

From the search engine I noted that Dave S. at least has installed this unit on his 260. Looking for suggestions where to mount and lessons learned. Photos especially.

Dave S. I have it on order now. $300 for the 300W including shipping. Should arrive in a week or two so I can start pre-planning.

I noted that you wired it into it's own breaker. Did you add the breaker into the panel yourself? I didn't happen to notice on my 2007 260 if there was a blank in the panel I could replace with a new breaker.

Also any 'wish I had done's' now that it's been since January this year that you did the install?

Perhaps we can partner up and write a tutorial for the site using your install and my soon to happen install to document.

I've a 260 S'Dancer with generator. 350 BIII.

BSEEAugs

 

[Dave S]

I installed the larger Boat Safe heater on my 260DA. I am not sure which thread you found that said I had an Xtreme heater.

I installed mine on the platform intended for the generator right in front of the engine. That way it is centralized in the engine compartment and was one of the few places such a large heater would fit as well. But there should be plenty of room on either side of the engine for a smaller heater like the Xtreme.

I did add the extra breaker in the panel which I obtained form our dealer. It is fairly easy to do the wiring once you get past the idea of having to take out a bunch of panels in the mid cabin to feed the wiring to the breaker box. You have to remove several of the trim panels so you can remove the port side panel. Then you can drill a hole in the bulkhead close to the port side so you can feed your wiring into the mid cabin. From there it is fairly easy to feed the wiring up to the panel. Sufficient wiring came with my heater to do the install right up to the panel. If you have to buy wire, you need to get marine grade wire at a place like West Marine as well as the correct marine grade terminal clips to use in your breaker box. Be sure to secure all loose wires with nylon wire ties or the equivalent and be very carefull the wire will not get chaffed on anything. Also use silicone to seal around the hole you drill in the bulkhead after the wire is pulled thru. It took me about four hours to do this project.

 

[LtCdr. Augs]

Thank you Dave. Now I await delivery. I searched on Bilge Heaters and made the wrong assumption on the Xtreme inre your install.

I'm wondering if it might be better to wire an extra ac outlet in the engine compartment to plug into, off of a new breaker, vs. taking the heater directly to the new breaker. Since I'll be running wire anyway I might as well have an extra outlet in the engine compartment.

Not sure what I'd need it for, but a dual outlet is pretty cheap if I can find a good place to safely mount it.

BSEEAugs

 

[Dave S]

Thank you Dave. Now I await delivery. I searched on Bilge Heaters and made the wrong assumption on the Xtreme inre your install.

I'm wondering if it might be better to wire an extra ac outlet in the engine compartment to plug into, off of a new breaker, vs. taking the heater directly to the new breaker. Since I'll be running wire anyway I might as well have an extra outlet in the engine compartment.

Not sure what I'd need it for, but a dual outlet is pretty cheap if I can find a good place to safely mount it.

BSEEAugs

I asked Frank Webster for some advice before I installed mine. Frank had a number of suggestions for me but one thing he pointed out was it is not safe to put a 110 outlet in the engine compartment of a gasoline powered boat because of the chance of a spark. If you are looking for an easy "shortcut" for now, there is something you can do that requires no wiring at all. Before I permanently wired mine into the breaker box, I had it plugged into that 110 outlet in the cockpit. I drilled a hole in the removable panel below the seat right in back of the captains chair. I fed the wire from the bilge thru that hole and was then able to plug into the outlet by the Captain Chair. When you don't need the heater, you can then roll up the cord and store it under the seat. Here are a couple of pictures.

The reason that I finally wired it into the panel was to make it permanent. Also, all the 110 outlets, including the one in the cabin and the refrigerator are on the same circuit breaker. So nothing else can be plugged into the 110 while you are using the bilge heater or you will trip the circuit breaker. You also need to make sure that you won't exceed 15 amps total draw with everything else running or you will pop the main circuit breaker. For example, I never leave my hot water heater turned on in the winter because the combination of that HW Heater, the refrigerator, the heat pump, and a bilge heater all running at once puts you right on the edge of the 15 amp max.

 

[thunderbird1]

I installed the 450 watt Xtreme heater on my 260 -- very easy to install. 4 screws secure the unit to the wood generator platform, starboard side, fan pointing toward the engine. I run the long 20' power cord that comes with the unit up through the access hole under the rear seat cushion and then plug it in at the helm power receptacle. When I'm not using the heater, I coil the power cord up, secure with a velcro tie, and set it next to the heater.

You may also wish to purchase a wireless thermometer (with memory) to monitor temperature in the engine compartment. A link to the Oregon Scientific product we purchased appears below. We leave the main unit in the cabin so that I have a record of minimum cabin & engine room temperatures. During the boating season, I move the wireless probe to the helm so I can monitor the outdoor temperature while sitting in the cabin.

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/product.asp?cid=2&scid=5&pid=672