: I already have a small room heater with fan, but that thing uses at least
: 1000 Watt of power. That`s way too much for this purpose and I need it
: over a period of hours or even days. The secret of the
: "1-lightbulb-idea" seems to be the even distribution of the
: heat. A lightbulb with glass covering (available for car repairs) will
: cost not more than $10. I will test that tomorrow !
: -Joachim-

Such lightbulbs are often available at hardware stores and eletric supply shops under the label of "rough service" or 'severe service" light bulbs. In addition to the heavy covering on the bulb the filament inside the bulb is supported in more places, which protects it from shocks.

Until a few years ago, Commonwealth Edison, the electricity supplier in the Chicago area offered their customers a bulb service. That is now gone, but there may be other areas whih still have such a thing. Menards, and several other hardware stores offer rebates on lightbulbs. Sometimes the rebates amount to 100 perent of the pricce of the bulbs. I think it is better (eonomically) to use the cheap, or free, bulbs rather than buying more expensive bulbs. It must be Murphy's Law. It seems the expensive bulbs, which are designed to withstand great trauma, are the the ones you ruin by stepping on, or you drip varnish or paint on them.

You can use fluorescent bulbs to heat your kayak. The tube does not get hot enough to cause problems, you can buy prewired fixtures whih are ready to use, and they produce even heat over a large area without needing a fan. Ignore the light value and shop for the electrical wattage. A 4-foot-long fluorescent fixture which uses 2 40-watt tubes will produce 80 watts of heat. But the temperature of that fixture will be only about 110 degrees (cool enough to hold in your hand for quite a while). That heat will be spread evenly over about a 6 foot area, even without a fan. A 4 foot long fixture frequently comes with the tubes, and is ready to install for under US$15. The fluorescent bulbs whih screw into standard lamp sockets can be used, too. Just use enough of them. with a 14 watt bulb you would want 5 to 7 of them, and just space them out over whatever distance seems good. Menards has these on sale at $1.99 each this month (October, 2003), with a $1.99 rebate, so except for the sales tax and the stamp to mail in your rebate, these would be free. They have had similar sales before and I expect such deals to show up in the future. See their flyer. www.menards.com

Just some thoughts.

PGJ