Yeah, ashes shouldn't hurt anything [although I bet some tattle-tail could rat me out and I'd get all busted for polluting or something]! Sometimes I dump the ashes in an old coffee can along with ashtray ashes and toss it out with the trash ashore. I have a bunch of wood aboard. Funnyish story; I took the whole family out for a Christmas cruise, gosh I guess that was like 7 years ago now, and even though it wasn't too cold during the day while the sun was shining, it was FREEZING on our way back in after the sun went down. So... the ladies all went belowdeck and I showed them how to light that stove. They stuffed EVERYTHING they could find that would burn in there, it seemed pretty funny at the time. My and my dad and bros were on deck being sailorly, with embers coming out the Charlie Noble [as the chimney is called on a boat, for whatever reason] blowing in our faces. By the time we got to the dock of the restaurant we had a reservation at, ALL my firewood was gone, including a big thing of cedar shims I had been saving. for something or other. I was all, "YOU BURNED ALL MY SHIMS!" It was oddly funny... and to make it extra silly, she [my brother's mother-in-law] gets me a huge package of shims for every occasion where gifts are exchanged now... she's a goofball. I find the best fuel for that stove is demolished old furniture. Hardwood burns the longest and keeps the cabin all nice and warm for well over an hour or three before needing additional stoking. It's kind of small, though, so I have to chop firewood into really little pieces.And of course there's the endless supply of wood shims also.