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Alternative heater core location? 23 LSV


Brandonloos21

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Just ordered our 2021 23 LSV, we ordered it with a heater through our dealership (not malibu) such that we could place the heater vent outputs wherever we prefer. I will be taking the boat to a stereo shop for a custom fabbed subwoofer box and faceplate under the helm as soon as it gets in and finished up by the dealership. Has anyone heard of of know of any alternative locations for a heater core? I would hate for it to interfere and they tell me that I can not fit the proper size subwoofer box (for a Revo xxx 12) under my helm. Thanks

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Based on the size of the 2 outlet core on my 19 there may be some room in the aft portion under the drivers seat base. You really could mount it almost anywhere if you extended or rerouted the hoses from the pump and the wires for the fan switch. The only limiting factory that I can see  is going to be the outlet clearance for the the tubes. If there is going to be any room left in that area after the new sub install, IIWM, I would just make a bracket for the core to be moved to relocate it in the area above the sub. You might have to modify the little black tub to gain some clearance. But based on the amount of room available in mine I wouldn’t think much if any modification at all. JM2C

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2 hours ago, wdr said:

Based on the size of the 2 outlet core on my 19 there may be some room in the aft portion under the drivers seat base. You really could mount it almost anywhere if you extended or rerouted the hoses from the pump and the wires for the fan switch. The only limiting factory that I can see  is going to be the outlet clearance for the the tubes. If there is going to be any room left in that area after the new sub install, IIWM, I would just make a bracket for the core to be moved to relocate it in the area above the sub. You might have to modify the little black tub to gain some clearance. But based on the amount of room available in mine I wouldn’t think much if any modification at all. JM2C

How is under the drivers seat base accessed? This may be a good solution. 

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Is the seat base THAT big?  I think it'd be real tough to get the core (which includes a not-small blower), feed hose, return hose, wiring, heat hoses and vents all packed in there.  The heater feed and return hoses are heavy and thick and don't take to radius-ing very well (i.e. can't turn tight corners).  

It has been a while but I recall someone running two cores in the past... one in the rear of the boat near the back seat and one up by the observer's compartment.  

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If the upper deck build is the same for the 19-21 MYs which it outwardly appears to be then all you have to do to access under the seat is to remove the carpeted HDPE divider that blocks access to that area. Mine has 2 aluminum “L” brackets screwed into the panel and the deck. Access for the front of that area can be reached by going thru the deck access by the drivers seat. Routing the hoses will be a breeze on it compared to say my 2010 LSV was. There is a ton of room in the Fibecs fore to aft where the hoses are run on my 19. I can get my whole arm in there. The hoses insert into a hole on the starboard side Fibecs behind the aft bilge pump on my ‘19. The heater recirculating pump sits high on the port side behind the alternator.

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1 minute ago, shawndoggy said:

Is the seat base THAT big

I said might be. 😁 If I slid my 2 core back aft a little and hugged the hull. I haven't actually measured it just spit balling here. A cardboard mock up would definitely be in order before cutting and drilling. The best bet would be to use the existing space unless the box wont allow it.

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8 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

Is the seat base THAT big?  I think it'd be real tough to get the core (which includes a not-small blower), feed hose, return hose, wiring, heat hoses and vents all packed in there.  The heater feed and return hoses are heavy and thick and don't take to radius-ing very well (i.e. can't turn tight corners).  

It has been a while but I recall someone running two cores in the past... one in the rear of the boat near the back seat and one up by the observer's compartment.  

Very good point about the hoses. Because of the hose orientation that would pretty much crush any hope of getting it placed in that area unless you give up the space underneath the flip up seat. I obviously wasn't thinking 3 steps ahead like I should have been. Sorry for the confusion.

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Having offered a suggestion for the heater and ending up feeling kind of dumb for not thinking it completely through. I thought I would go check to confirm the working dimensions. If the boat has the adjustable seat shown, (top photo) you would a working space of @  13” D x 13”W x 8”H. IME this will most likely vary between 1/4” to 1/2” on any given boat. The 13” Depth is between the seat shaft and what would be a vertical line up to inner lip of the flip up seat base. 13” W between the inner seat base and the in deck storage pit. With out the adjustable seat you will have @ 26” L x 13”W x 8” H seat base bolt interference dependent. 

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Edited by wdr
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43 minutes ago, wdr said:

The 2 core heater is basically  9” W x 9” L x 7” D to the bulk head. So probably mathematically possible to get one in there, but mechanically a PITA.

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Probably a pain to winterize too I would think! Thanks for the insights!!

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6 hours ago, wdr said:

No winterization needed its closed cooling full of antifreeze.

Oh that’s great then. This is our first boat with a heater, did past ones need winterized? I thought I read that somewhere. 

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I added a 3 place heater last winter to my 18 LSV 23 same architecture as yours. Mine is a full on 3 pull out hot tubes not the 2 plus small y jumper usually found from dealers. I also have modified my storage box where the main heater core goes so had less room than normal and still got it done.image.thumb.png.842986403caf2e9e76ab0f70eef1b3f3.png

 

Edited by dalt1
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1 hour ago, Brandonloos21 said:

Oh that’s great then. This is our first boat with a heater, did past ones need winterized? I thought I read that somewhere. 

Some boats that have an open cooling system i.e. an engine that is cooled solely by raw water would need to have their heaters winterized/drained. My buddies 2019 PCM H6 in his FI 25 is still an open cooling system which was kind of surprising when I went to winterize it for him. Those raw water heater cores have absolutely ZERO tolerance for freezing temps! 

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@Brandonloos21 The previous owner of my 2015 23 LSV moved the heater underneath the right rear corner seat. He didn't leave much for outlets so I modified it and added two hot tubes, one for the driver and another for passengers. I can get pics this afternoon, if you're interested. 

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1 hour ago, Sixer said:

My friend just put a 5 outlet into his 2020 23 LSV.  I'm not sure where all the hoses ended up but that's a lot of heaters!

Some of us don’t even have enough friends for a 5 heater... hahahaha

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33 minutes ago, Kojak said:

@Brandonloos21 The previous owner of my 2015 23 LSV moved the heater underneath the right rear corner seat. He didn't leave much for outlets so I modified it and added two hot tubes, one for the driver and another for passengers. I can get pics this afternoon, if you're interested. 

That would be awesome

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11 minutes ago, Brandonloos21 said:

Some of us don’t even have enough friends for a 5 heater... hahahaha

Me either.  That's why I stuck with the 3 vent from the factory!

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@Brandonloos21

So the previous owner moved the heater core underneath the right rear seat. It's a three outlet heater core and is mounted to the box lid (for lack of a better term) where the ballast hoses come through. He also blocked off the outlet for the bow. He then installed a hot tube on the starboard side of the cabin and two stationary vents in the cup holder area. With the heater core in this location you may loose a little storage but it hasn't been a problem for me.

I kept the hot tube in the cabin area and installed a Y fitting on one of the outlets going to the cup holder area. Then I changed one of the stationary vents to a hot tube. I also ran hose up to the driver side panel and installed another hot tube. 

Because the hot tubes are so long, I had to break away the tube portion in order to have enough clearance behind them. If I had to do it again, I'd mount the driver hot tube lower because it does seem to get hung up once in awhile. Other than that, it's been a good mod as there weren't enough hot tubes to go around. 

Hope this helps. :thumbup:

 

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