Re: [VAC] AS as cottage, anyone?

["Dan Weeks" <dweeks@xxxxxxx>]

I have just bought and started using a 26' Argosy as a 
home office which I will use daily, year-round, and will 
occasionally take on week-long trips to client locations. 
I've just been working in it nights for a couple weeks, 
and am very pleased—it's a really well-built, 
well-thought-out rig—except to note that the thing 
is a heat sink!

Infiltration isn't the problem--it's very tight--it's 
conduction! Aluminum is one of the best conductors of 
heat there is, and on 40-degree nights, I have to keep a 
1500 watt ceramic heater going continuously, and pointed 
right at me, to keep warm, insulation (both the 
trailer's, and the sweat suit and fleece jacket I wear) 
notwithstanding, and as soon as I turn it off, even for 5 
minutes, the temperature plummets. The furnace works 
fine, and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how long 
you can heat one of these things on the two gas bottles 
on the tongue, and if anyone knows whether running the 
furnace would be cheaper than running an electric heater. 


Annie, I've  checked into marine heaters at the advice of 
folks on this list, and dickenson marine 
(www.dickensonmarine.com) has a great little propane 
fireplace that's looking awfully good to me right now. It 
is direct vented, so uses exterior air for combustion, 
has a view of the fire, and a convection fan. I like the 
idea of radiant heat in addition to convection, as you 
can fire it up and feel warmth right away. Has anyone 
installed any of these in an A/S? Any comments on your 
experience/fuel costs/installation process/comfort? Can 
you vent it through the roof opening used for the range 
exhaust fan, I wonder, and avoid having to hack into the 
skin?

Annie, from wood heat experience, I'd guess that a 
woodburner would drive you out, and that the trailer may 
be too tight to allow a good draft and prevent oxegen 
depletion. Even the fellow at dickenson I talked to did 
not suggest using their solid fuel heater, for those 
reasons. 

Dan Weeks
1975 26' Argosy