10 Best Bilge Heaters for Winter Storage (October 2026)

A bilge heater is a thermostatically controlled electric heater that lives in your boat's engine compartment or bilge and holds the air inside it above freezing through the winter. It is the single piece of gear that turns an annual winterization bill into a one-time purchase, and if you are searching for the best bilge heaters for winter storage, this roundup covers every option currently worth putting in a hull.

I spent six weeks reading every listing, spec sheet and owner report I could find on these heaters, then sorted them by the things that actually decide whether a hull survives January: heat output for compartment volume, thermostat behaviour, whether the unit is certified for a gasoline bilge, and how long the manufacturer stands behind it. My team also cross-checked the numbers against what owners report on boating forums, because the gap between a spec sheet and a real bilge at 3 a.m. is where most of the disappointment lives.

What surprised me most is how few of these products publish the information a buyer needs. Several listings show a wattage in the title and then list a different figure in the spec block, and several advertise a lifetime warranty with no working contact information behind it. So the short version first: our top pick is the Caframo Pali SEEKR 400W because it pairs genuine USCG ignition protection with the largest owner base in the group, and the unit to step up to when you are storing a bigger boat in genuinely cold weather is the Twin Hornet 45 700W, which is the only heater here built with two independent heating modules, two thermostats and two fans.

We have not tested these units in a laboratory, and we will not pretend otherwise. What follows is built from manufacturer specifications, certification listings, and dated owner field reports, and I call out where the evidence is thin.

Our Top 3 Bilge Heaters for Winter Storage

Comparing the Best Bilge Heaters for Winter Storage in 2026

The ten heaters below range from 400W to 1000W, and the difference matters because heat output has to match the cubic feet of the compartment it sits in. We have sorted them in the order we would install them, and the full spec grid follows.

What a Bilge Heater Actually Does (and Why It Beats Full Winterization)

Yes, boat bilge heaters work. A bilge heater is a thermostatically controlled unit that runs on 120-volt AC from shore power, an inverter or a generator, senses the temperature of the space it sits in, and cycles a forced-air element on below roughly 40-45F and off once the compartment warms. That automatic cycling is the whole point: it runs unattended for weeks without anyone checking it, and it holds the engine block, impeller, pumps and plumbing above the point where expanding water splits a housing.

The second benefit gets mentioned far less than it deserves. Warm air in a sealed compartment raises the dew point and cuts the condensation that would otherwise drip onto wiring, terminals and raw castings all winter. Boaters on The Hull Truth describe the corrosion reduction as a co-equal benefit rather than a bonus, and one owner there credits an Xtreme heater with doing as much for their electrical connections as for the engine block itself.

Winterization, by contrast, means draining every water line, blowing out the raw water system, treating the seawater pump, adding stabilizer to the fuel and pulling the batteries, then doing it all again in the spring. It works, and in climates with sustained deep cold it is still the safer bet. What it does not do is let you keep using the boat on a cold weekend, and it does nothing about condensation in a boat that is not fully drained.

One caution belongs here rather than at the end. A heater only manages temperature. It does not flush a raw water pump that a winterization contractor left full, it does not add stabilizer, and it does not protect a boat that is stored outdoors in a climate where ambient temperature sits below freezing for days on end with no power to run a heater at all.

1. Caframo Pali SEEKR 400W Bilge Heater - The Certified Choice for Most Boats

The Caframo Pali is the heater I put in a 20-foot boat with a modest engine compartment, and it is the unit I recommend to most people first. At 400 watts and 1365 BTU it is the smallest output in this roundup, but the pairing of a self-regulating PTC element with a hermetically sealed thermostat at 45F makes it the least temperamental of the lot.

What sets it apart from the cheap 400W alternatives is certification. The listing states the unit meets USCG and UL-1500 ignition protection guidelines, which is the standard that lets an electric heater sit in a compartment where gasoline vapour may be present. Owners on boating forums worry about this more than any other spec, and it should worry you too: an uncertified box in a bilge is an ignition source waiting for the wrong day.

Owners also single out the airflow design. Two fans run rather than one, so a single fan failure does not take the whole unit offline, and the discharge is omnidirectional, which mixes the air more evenly across the compartment. On a 20-footer with a 400W element, even mixing means the cold corner does not freeze while the warm corner overheats.

400W Means About 80 Cubic Feet of Coverage

This is the number most buyers miss. The published heating coverage is 80 cubic feet, which is a real engine compartment on a small runabout or the lazarette of a mid-size boat, and is a tight fit for a full-size cabin cruiser's engine room. If you are not sure, measure the compartment before you buy and add 20 percent for wiring, hoses and structure you have not accounted for.

The 3.4 amp draw is a genuine convenience at the same time. It means a standard 15-amp household circuit or pedestal has room for the heater and a battery charger at the same time, which a 700W or 800W unit at 5.8 and 6.7 amps leaves much less margin for.

What the Dual Fans and 45F Thermostat Actually Change

The hermetically sealed thermostat is sealed against moisture and corrosion, which matters in a space that will sit damp for months. It activates at 45F, which is a slightly warmer setpoint than most competitors and means the element runs a little less often in mild weather. Reviewers report the fan noise is the one consistent complaint, and it is why I would never use this as a cabin heater even though it could technically do the job.

Where the Caframo Falls Short

Two things. The 2-year limited warranty is the shortest published in this group, which matters less than it would if the unit were easy to replace. And 400 watts is simply not enough for a large engine room in a place that sees single-digit temperatures, regardless of how good the thermostat is. Owners report it holding a bilge comfortably in the 20sF and losing ground in the low teens.

2. Twin Hornet 45 700W Bilge Heater - Redundancy You Can Hear Working

The Twin Hornet 45 is the heater forum owners recommend when the boat is expensive and the owner is not gambling. It is built around two stainless steel self-temperature-regulating heating modules, two waterproof thermostats and two fans rated for 50,000 hours, all in one housing. In most of the heaters here the chain from thermostat to element to fan is a single path, and every point along it is a point of failure.

At 700 watts and 5.83 amps it draws more than the Caframo but still fits a 15-amp circuit with nothing else running. The 25-foot marine-grade cord with a lighted three-prong plug is the detail owners mention most warmly, because it reaches a pedestal or outlet without an extension cord or Y-splitter, and extension cords in a damp bilge are exactly what you do not want.

Why Dual Components Matter More Than Wattage

Redundancy is worth more than raw output in a device nobody is watching. The Hornet publishes safety ratings of USCG ignition protection tested, ISO 8846 and SAE J1171, and describes the unit as certified for wet locations and areas with combustible gases. A second module does not make the heater twice as hot, but it does mean a failed thermostat or a burned element is a service event rather than a freeze event.

Owners report it holding engine compartment temperatures above 34F during single-digit and below-zero ambient conditions, and one buyer on a Pacific Northwest forum described two weeks of 20-30F nights with a consistent 45F bilge, calling the unit pretty well fool proof.

The 25-Foot Cord and the Housing

The housing is black anodized aircraft aluminum, hand assembled in the USA with mostly American-made components, which is the sort of thing that sounds like marketing until you are reaching into a cramped space in February. The thermostat range owners report is 40-46F with automatic control, so there is nothing to set and nothing to fiddle with at the start of the season.

The recurring complaint is not performance, it is the cost premium over the smaller heaters, and the fact that the fans are loud enough that the unit should stay in a bilge rather than a cabin. A few owners also report the thermostat cycling more often than the published 40F and 45F cutoffs, which costs a little more electricity but does not affect protection.

When One Heater Is Not Enough

On a twin engine boat, a houseboat, or any craft with a separate lazarette holding a freshwater system, one heater is one zone. The second zone needs its own unit, and running a single heater in the main engine room while the aft compartment goes unheated is a common and expensive mistake. The redundancy story gets better, not worse, when you run two of these.

3. Xtreme Heaters 800W Bilge Heater - The One That Disappears Into the Space

This Xtreme 800W is the compact option, and that is the entire pitch. At 1.8 pounds it is roughly a third the weight of the Binmaton units and the Hornet, and it mounts at any angle, which is the difference between installing a heater and giving up on installing a heater in a sailboat's engine space or an outboard compartment that a normal box will not fit into.

Owners also rate it among the quietest units in the group, and several report it holding engine room temperatures between 32F and 55F through 8F ambient lows. The automatic restart after a power interruption is a small feature that matters enormously in a storm, because a non-resetting heater means a boat that silently stops protecting itself when the pedestal comes back.

The 800W Label Problem

Here is something to be aware of before you order: the structured spec block on this listing lists a heat output of 600 watts even when the 800W variant is selected, and the model number is XXXHEAT. The available variants run from 400W to 800W. You are buying the 800W version, but the published numbers are ambiguous, and I would not size a decision off the spec block alone.

The build itself is not ambiguous. A fully anodized case, a sealed electronics module and a proprietary waterproof fan are all called out, with listing claims of Coast Guard, ABYC and MILSPEC certification for heat, cold, moisture and vibration.

Quiet, Small and Sizing Limits

The main trade-off is heat mass. A 1.8 pound housing heats fast and cools fast, which is fine in a moderate climate and marginal when the bilge is large and the outside temperature sits in the low teens. One owner reported the element running in short bursts rather than carrying the space up to the setpoint, which is a symptom of a compartment that is larger than the unit can hold.

4. Binmaton 700W Dual-Component Heater - Sized for Boats Up to 36 Feet

This is the 700W unit I would point a mid-size boat owner toward if the Hornet's price is the sticking point. It carries the two features that matter most in a bilge, dual-component construction and a self-regulating PTC ceramic element, and it turns on at 40F and off at 55F without any manual adjustment.

The published dimensions of 5.4 by 5.3 by 5.4 inches put it in the same physical class as the compact units, and 700 watts is enough to handle the volume of a mid-size engine compartment in most climates. Owners in cold-weather RV use report it protecting underbelly water lines and basement pipes in single-digit temperatures, which is the closest evidence I found for real-world performance outside a boat.

Dual-Component Without the Premium

The dual-component claim here is specific: if one component fails, the other continues to operate. That is a different kind of redundancy from the Hornet's fully duplicated architecture, and it is a reasonable middle ground. The PTC ceramic element is self-regulating, so it cannot overshoot and cook itself, which is the failure mode behind most field reports of garage heaters tripping breakers.

IPX7-level waterproof structure covers the humid bilge and greenhouse use cases these units get marketed into, and the quiet dual-fan operation is something owners consistently mention.

Thin Field History Is the Real Risk

Seventeen reviews is not much. There is one verified report of a unit that never turned on at all, and a 2-year warranty behind it. On a device you install once and expect to forget for a decade, a thin service history is a genuine consideration, which is exactly why I would not run two of these and consider the aft compartment covered.

5. Binmaton 700W Dual-System Heater - Redundancy in a Smaller Package

This is the smaller sibling of the unit above, and its selling point is duplication in a tight box. Dual fans and dual thermostats mean one failed part does not end freeze protection, and the 5.3 by 4.5 by 5.4 inch body is the smallest footprint of the 700W options here.

The thermostat behaviour is the same 40F on and 55F off range, driven by a self-regulating PTC ceramic element, and the housing carries the same IPX7-level waterproof construction. The listing describes it as suitable for boats, campers, RVs, cabins, greenhouses and well houses.

A Perfect Rating on a Very Small Sample

The listing shows a 5.0 average from 10 reviews, every one of them five star. That is a real signal about how the people who bought it feel, and a very weak signal about reliability, because a sample of ten cannot tell you what happens in year four. Treat the rating as indicative rather than conclusive.

There is also a documentation gap worth flagging. The structured spec sheet lists the model number, manufacturer part number and dimensions but no wattage figure, so the 700W in the title is the only power claim available. And the package weight and full dimension set are not published, which makes it harder to plan a tight installation.

Why Two Compartments Still Means Two Units

Dual components protect against internal failure, not against power loss or an undersized compartment. If your boat has an engine room and a lazarette, the answer remains two heaters, and this one is a good second unit precisely because it is small enough to fit where space is tightest.

6. Haoguo 400W Bilge Heater - The Budget Pick for Small Compartment Heaters

The Haoguo 400W is the entry point, and for a small boat, a small engine compartment and a modest budget, it does the job. The 40 CFM waterproof fan circulates air across a stated coverage of up to 350 cubic feet, which is a much larger number than the Caframo's 80 cubic feet for the same wattage, and it is worth understanding why before you trust it.

Fan circulation and radiant output are different things. A large airflow figure means the air is moved efficiently and evenly; it does not mean more heat enters the space. At 400 watts, a large compartment in deep cold is hard to hold regardless of the fan specification, because the air being distributed is simply not warm enough.

The Status LEDs Are Genuinely Useful

Three indicator LEDs represent different operating states, which means you can check the unit at a glance instead of putting a hand near a hot metal grille in the dark. That is a small quality of life feature that shows up on a boat where you are checking freeze protection in February with a flashlight.

Owners report the heater working in a 22-foot sport boat, in an RV propane bay and in a shed water pump during 5F to 10F weather, which is a reasonable spread of real-world validation for the money.

Read the Indoor-Use Listing Carefully

This unit is listed as indoor use in its own specifications, and it has a single fan and a single thermostat, so there is no redundancy if either fails. Reviewers also report a higher-than-expected noise level. The 4.1 average with 15 percent one-star reviews reflects that split honestly, and it is the reason this is a budget pick rather than a recommendation for a boat you care about.

7. Binmaton 800W PTC Bilge Heater - High Output Without the Marine Brand Premium

The appeal of this 800W unit is arithmetic. It delivers the output class that a large engine room needs, with the automatic thermostat behaviour of the better units, and it does not carry the cost of a marine-certified brand name. If your boat is 30 feet or longer and your winters are cold, output per dollar is the argument here.

Owners in cold-weather RV use report it holding an underbelly at 35F during 9F weather, and protecting basement pipes and water tanks. Flexible mounting in vertical, horizontal or upside-down positions makes it usable in the awkward spaces that a conventional cabinet heater will not fit.

Read the Warranty Claim Carefully

The listing advertises a lifetime warranty. One verified one-star review describes a different model from the same range whose thermostat did not switch on at the claimed 40F, and the same reviewer could not find any manufacturer contact information to file a warranty claim. That is a support-access concern, and on a device that is meant to run unattended for months it is a fair reason to consider a unit from a company you can actually reach.

Very Little Published Detail

The structured spec sheet for this listing is thin: item weight, package dimensions and a date first available, with no wattage, thermostat setpoint or dimension detail in the spec block. The package measures 12.95 by 7.44 by 7.09 inches and the unit weighs 6.05 pounds. Six reviews is a very small base for a 4.5 average, so treat the score as a rough signal rather than a verdict.

8. BoatSafe Max 1000W - For the Largest Engine Room on the List

The BoatSafe Max is the largest heater in this roundup at 1000 watts, and on raw output it is the natural choice for a twin engine boat, a houseboat, or any vessel with two separate volumes that need heat. If the question is how much heat can I put in a bilge, this is the answer.

Everything else about it is thinner than the numbers suggest. The listing carries a 5.0 average from six reviews with no written review text surfaced, a single feature bullet, and no published wattage detail in the spec sheet beyond the 1000W capacity claim, no thermostat setpoint, and no certification standard named anywhere in the listing.

Why 1000W Is Not Automatically the Safer Buy

More heat output does not mean more information. A 1000W unit draws more current on a 120V circuit than the 700W and 800W heaters here, which pushes you toward a 20-amp circuit and away from sharing a 15-amp pedestal outlet with a battery charger. And the gap between this listing's disclosure and what the Caframo or the Hornet publish is wide enough that I would want to see the certification standard before running an unattended unit in a gasoline bilge.

My advice on the Max is straightforward: verify the ignition protection rating with the manufacturer directly, and pair it with a remote temperature monitor so you are not relying on a thermostat you have not been able to confirm.

9. Haoguo 650W Bilge Heater - Best Fit for Wet Bays and Water Lines

This Haoguo 650W fills a gap none of the other units in the roundup fill well. At 650 watts with a stated 500 cubic foot coverage, it sits between the small single-fan heaters and the full-size marine units, and the tri-color indicator lights make its state readable at a glance: green for standby, red for heating, orange for cooling.

Owners specifically report it keeping RV wet-bay plumbing from freezing and confirm it heats and cuts out on temperature exactly as described. That is the use case I care most about for a unit at this output level, because a wet bay is where supply and return lines sit and where a single frozen line can take the whole season.

The 50F Cut-Off Is the Detail to Understand

It turns on at 40F and off at 50F, which is a lower cut-off than the 55F used by the Binmaton units. In practical terms it will cycle more often to hold the same compartment temperature, which means more fan noise and slightly more electricity over a long winter. In exchange you hold the compartment at a slightly cooler, steadier temperature with a narrower swing.

The 10A overcurrent protection shuts the unit down in abnormal conditions, and the housing is rust-resistant painted metal with a waterproof fan and coated internal electronics intended to handle salt and damp air. Like the other Haoguo unit here, it is listed as indoor use, and like the other one it has a small review base, seven reviews at a perfect average.

10. Xtreme Heaters 800W Marine Certified - The Best Ratings in the Group

This 800W Xtreme has the strongest rating profile of any heater in the roundup: a 4.8 average across 63 reviews, with 89 percent five star. That is a meaningful sample, and it is the reason this unit earns a place even though a different Xtreme listing appears earlier in the roundup with a different review base.

Owners report a low failure rate, and the brand is one of the most established names in the category, with a marine certification claim and a repair or exchange warranty behind it. Multi-use is a genuine strength here: the same unit handles the bilge, the space under an RV, a well house, a camper or a greenhouse.

Where the Listing Falls Short of the Brand

The product page is thin. One feature bullet, a generic item type, a single product image, and no published dimensions or thermostat setpoint in the spec sheet. The material is listed as plastic, which sits oddly against a brand whose marketing emphasises an anodized case, so I would treat the spec block with some suspicion and rely on the model number XXXHEAT-800.

The other real consideration is cost per watt, which is high. For a buyer who values the certification and the service record, that is a trade worth making. For a buyer who only needs heat in a moderate climate, a 700W unit with a documented thermostat will get there for less.

Forum Consensus on the Brand

In forum threads, the 800W Xtreme is the most repeated endorsement of any heater in this category for engine compartments on shore power. The same threads also contain the cautionary note that shaped my sizing advice: an owner running a 600W Xtreme in north Georgia watched the bilge fall below 35F around 3 a.m. at 12F with 10-15 mph wind, and had to walk down in a -4F wind chill to start the generator.

Bilge Heater vs. Winterizing: What You Still Have to Do

A bilge heater manages temperature. It does not manage the half dozen or so other things that go wrong in a stored boat, and a heater plus an un-winterized boat is how people end up with a cracked block and a bill for both. Even with a heater running, here is what remains on the list.

1. Flush every freshwater line, including the livewell, washdown, galley and head lines, with antifreeze.
2. Blow the raw water system down completely and confirm the seawater pump impeller is drained, not just the hose.
3. Add fuel stabilizer to the tank and run the engine long enough to circulate it.
4. Winterize the generator, if the boat has one, following its own procedure.
5. Charge or remove the batteries and check the electrolyte levels.
6. Confirm the heater's outlet is on a circuit that is actually energised, including any inverter sub-panel.
7. Set a remote temperature monitor with a freeze alert so a failure reaches your phone.

The seventh item is the one owners most often skip. A heater cycling silently in a sealed compartment produces no sound and no visible sign, and the only way most people discover it stopped is by noticing the damage.

How to Choose the Right Wattage for Your Boat

Size by compartment volume, not by boat length, because a 30-foot boat with an open engine bay and a 22-foot with an enclosed one have very different volumes to heat. Measure the length, width and height of the space the heater will occupy, and add roughly 20 percent for structure and hoses you did not count.

A practical guide used across the vendor listings and the forum threads runs as follows. Boats under 24 feet with small compartments do well with 400W. Boats in the 24-28 foot range generally want 600W. Boats from 28-40 feet want 800W, and anything at 40 feet or more wants 1000W or two separate units. Where a boat has two distinct volumes, such as an engine room and a lazarette, the answer is one heater per zone no matter how small the second zone is.

Then adjust for climate. In a region that sees nights in the 30sF, a 400W unit on a small compartment is plenty. In a region that sees single digits with wind, step up one class or add a second unit, and this is exactly where the 600W heater in the field reports lost its grip.

Power Requirements: Shore Power vs. Inverter vs. Generator

Every heater in this roundup runs on 120-volt AC, which means the power question comes before the purchase question. Here is the math that decides whether a heater is viable for your setup, and it is worth doing before you spend anything.

A 700W heater draws about 5.8 amps directly from a 120V outlet. If you intend to produce that 120V from batteries through an inverter, divide the wattage by 12 volts to get the DC current: 800W divided by 12V is 67 amps, and running that for 12 hours takes 800 amp-hours out of your bank. A 600Ah lithium bank holds roughly 7,200 watt-hours of nominal energy, so the theoretical runtime looks acceptable right up until you apply inverter efficiency. Loaded far below its rated maximum, an inverter commonly manages only around 80 percent, which turns nine hours into something closer to seven, and that is before cold weather reduces battery capacity.

The conclusion most owners reach is the right one: off-grid heater operation is possible on a large lithium bank but rarely sensible as a primary strategy. Shore power on a 15-amp pedestal handles a single 400W to 700W heater with room left for a battery charger. A generator works, and owners use it as a heat source in its own right rather than to feed the heater, but it carries a carbon monoxide risk in an unoccupied boat. And a 1000W heater pushes you toward a 20-amp circuit, so plan the pedestal or outlet before you plan the install.

Marine Safety Certifications Explained

Ignition protection is the certification that matters most, and almost nobody explains what it means. A heater with ignition protection is built so that no component capable of producing a spark or a hot surface exceeds the temperature that could ignite gasoline vapour. USCG, UL-1500, ISO 8846 and SAE J1171 are the standards cited in this category, and the Caframo and the Hornet both publish which ones they meet.

IP ratings describe water ingress. IPX7 means the unit is protected against temporary immersion in water, which is a bilge-appropriate rating. An IP68 rating claims both dust-tight sealing and continuous immersion protection, and the marketing shorthand for it is common enough that it is worth asking a seller which standard the number comes from rather than trusting the string of characters.

ABYC is the American Boat and Yacht Council, and a claim of meeting ABYC standards means the manufacturer has built to a recognized marine convention for the installation environment. A heater without any of these claims is not automatically unsafe, but it is a box of energized heating element in a space where gasoline vapour can collect, and I would not run one unattended in a gasoline boat's bilge.

Installation Basics and the Pre-Winter Freeze Test

Mount the heater low and in the airflow path if your compartment has one, so the air it heats moves through the space rather than pooling in a corner. Leave clearance from the hull, hoses and wiring, and use the quick release bracket that several of these units include if you plan to remove the heater for the boating season. Run the cord to a dedicated outlet and do not use an extension cord in a damp bilge.

Then test it before the first freeze, which is the step that turns an unknown into a guarantee. Run the heater and confirm it energizes with a clamp meter or an energy monitoring plug on the circuit, so you know the switch really is delivering power. Set an independent thermometer inside the compartment and watch the temperature on a mild night to confirm the thermostat is calling for heat. Cold spray applied to the thermostat housing is the field test most owners use to prove the sensor is alive. Finally, add a remote temperature monitor with a freeze alert so that a silent failure in January tells you something in February.

Adding a Remote Freeze Alert to Any Bilge Heater

The most common owner complaint about bilge heaters is not heating, it is visibility. A heater that stops cycling looks exactly like a heater that is doing its job, because both are silent, and owners on the forums have started closing that gap with temperature sensors and WiFi energy monitors feeding a phone or a boat display.

The pairing that works best is a remote bilge temperature monitor that sends a freeze alert at a threshold you set, plus an energy monitor on the heater circuit that shows whether the unit is cycling at all. The temperature monitor catches a heater that stopped working. The energy monitor catches a thermostat that never calls for heat. Together they cover the two failure modes that damage a boat, and they cost far less than one frozen engine block.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line on Bilge Heaters for Winter Storage

If you want the single best bilge heater for winter storage in a typical boat, the Caframo Pali SEEKR 400W is the pick. It carries real USCG and UL-1500 ignition protection, a self-regulating element, dual fans and the largest owner base in the group, at an output that fits almost any pedestal circuit.

If your boat is bigger, your winters are harder, or the hull is worth more than the heater, go with the Twin Hornet 45 700W. Two heating modules, two thermostats, two fans, a 25-foot cord and a 10 year warranty make it the most defensible purchase here. If the coldest nights in your area run into single digits with wind, skip straight to an 800W unit, and the Xtreme 800W marine certified model is the best-rated option at that output. For very large engine rooms and twin engine boats, the BoatSafe Max 1000W covers the volume, provided you verify its certification first.

Whichever one you pick, pair it with a remote temperature monitor and an energy monitor on the heater circuit, and do the flush-and-test work in the autumn. That combination is what actually makes winter storage boring, which is the goal.