On the tiny wood stove thing....Has anyone tried a Shipmate boat stove in a
vanagon?    I recall some sailing trips on an older boat with a tiny
Shipmate stove that held just a couple of charcoal briquettes and ran all
night with ease, making us quite warm in the 36' Lapworth boat....Cute
little things, too with a tiny little flue a few inches in diameter..
   We have an Atwood heater in one of the pop top slide in pickup campers
we use and it works fine but it wakes you up if you try to let it run all
night...The blower does use plenty of battery, too.   A really good
sleeping bag is my choice for winter camping..I've slept in -20f in my down
bag, then I reach out and light my coffee to warm up the inside, get up and
get dressed and have coffee then go someplace...Skiing, driving on to the
real destination, somewhere...Camping for camping sake when it's
cold...sitting in my nice cozy van?....That doesn't really seem like much
fun...so I don't really often need a heater for prolonged sitting around in
the van...

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 8:40 PM, Karl Mullendore
<tdiguru@westyventures.com>wrote:

> This question comes up every year. Three basic options (well, truly safe
> options), from low to high in price, with my observations:
> 1) Atwood, been around forever, 75% efficiency = 9000 btu. Probably find
> one
> for $300-400. Does the job but doesn't fit so well in the stock Westy
> cabinets
> 2) Propex, been around a long time also, and continuously improved, 93%
> efficiency = 6500/9700 btu depending on model. Half or less of the physical
> size of the Atwood. $735-840.
> 3) Espar and Webasto gas/diesel heaters - well established design, multiple
> speeds and heater levels, efficiency good, half the size of a Propex, but
> 1.5 to 2 times the price. Yearly maintenance required, which the propane
> heaters usually do not.
> I've had vans with all of the above and all served the purpose. My favorite
> is the Espar diesel version as I usually install these in my personal
> diesel
> Syncros.
> What I wouldn't use is a catalytic or other non-vented heater. Sleeping
> bags
> are much cheaper. I'd sooner build a tiny wood stove. :-)
> Karl
>
>
> >On Oct 30, 2013, at 4:33 PM, Harry Hoffman <hhoffman@IP-SOLUTIONS.NET>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi All,
> >> So, it's getting cold and I just read Finn's email about his propex
> install.
> >> I'm currently using a portable propane heater and crack the windows.
> >> Propex looked really nice until I saw the price tag.
> >> Are there any other moderately priced heaters out there or am I being
> unrealistic in thinking the propex is super expensive?
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Harry
>