Curtain or Bulkhead?

[Squire]

I think it would work . A lot would depend where the heater pumps out the heat into the cabin and if you can more the air around. It is nice to have warm/hot air blowing on the inside of the windshield in damp cooler weather for defogging porpoises .

Our boat has aluminum walls with no insulation and the air gets toasty inside within half an hour or so. . It taskes more time to heat up the surfaces. When we are tied up at a Marina we have one of those keep your boat warm in the winter electric heaters we run on low on ocassion (fall and spring)

There are no drafts with the rear door shut and we open the side windows to keep some fresh air coming inside.

I think the heater venting plan would be key and depending on the age of the women on the boat it is either "Freezing" or "Oh my gawd, I' m burnig up, I can't breathe in here. So there is that to manage as well. (no humour intended -it must be f'ing awful)

If the air gets sucked out though the curtains I think the heater might need to be located more forward

My heater blows across my feet at the helm seat and out the top of the dash toward the windshield. I also have a third vent blowing in to the cuddy which I latch open on colder days to let that heat into the cab as well.

I don’t think there is a right answer to this question because it depends on your intended use as well as the size of the boat. I am full utility in terms of cruising, fishing, prawning etc. and never sleep on the boat so my setup is all I need.

 

[CIVANO]

Do what you are ok with and more importantly makes the wife happy

 

[BC Coast Pilot]

I switched from a bulkhead hourston to a canvas back whaler, thought it might be a problem for security but really theres nothing to steal up top without cutting it out. I really enjoy having the back open and it affords some shelter from the elements for everyone on those rainy days. Theres also a PILE of room down below. I don't open the rest of the canvas just the back panels and its really great in the summer! The ability to still use your main nav and sounder screens from the back deck is great too! We let the diesel heater run down below and everything stays nice and warm, if its really cold we drop the back but rarely happens.

 

[Aquaholic]

I switched from a bulkhead hourston to a canvas back whaler, thought it might be a problem for security but really theres nothing to steal up top without cutting it out. I really enjoy having the back open and it affords some shelter from the elements for everyone on those rainy days. Theres also a PILE of room down below. I don't open the rest of the canvas just the back panels and its really great in the summer! The ability to still use your main nav and sounder screens from the back deck is great too! We let the diesel heater run down below and everything stays nice and warm, if its really cold we drop the back but rarely happens.

A similar Whaler was my first reference. I thought it worked very well too. (love those 300's)