Hi everyone, thank you for all the comments and for posting those wonderful stove pictures!

I am planning on making 3/4" mineral board heat shields spaced half an inch from the bulkheads and half an inch from the stove. And a 1.5" mineral board heat shield underneath also spaced half an inch... I'm thinking of covering all of the heat shields with ceramic tiles.. I've never done this before so I'd appreciate any recommendations.. Right now I'm looking for a supplier that can ship 3/4" mineral board to me in NC... I'm planning on just burning regular firewood.. I do have a charlie noble deck iron that I bought from Navigator Stove works in Washington state.. You fill the top with water for extra heat protection around the deck..

Those espar heaters are awesome too.. I had an espar D3 when I lived on my Hunter 30 year round in Boston back in the mid 1990's.. Then got a D5 on my Westsail 32.. I can't imagine how cold my sail from Boston to Bermuda in December would have been without that Espar D5... I loved those heaters when they worked, but unfortunately kept running into failures... fuel problems, exhaust problems, electrical problems... I think they need to be rebuilt every couple of years and was always frustrated that you couldn't do that yourself but instead had to be ship it to a company that was specially trained and authorized to do this service..

I've just installed a Hurricane II Combi hydronic diesel boiler heater (from ITRHeat in Canada) with 2 heating zones and also instant domestic hot water heating on my Westsail 42. So far I absolutely love it..

Here's a mock up of what my wood stove might look like with some tiles I've been looking at online...