All this talk about dorade boxes has got me thinking again about ventilation in my Weekender.
Right now, with no portlights installed, there's a nice breeze. However, once they're in, that goes away. Also in the interestes of keeping the mess in the forepeak in the forepeak, I've put hinges on the cut-outs in the forward bulkhead. I also was originally thinking about an opening portlight, but that's not really an option now that I've got the inner rings glued and painted in place.
How have others gotten ventilation? One option I'm considering is having a snap-on netting for the companionway for those nights I'm camping aboard.
Any other ideas? I'm at a good stage to make more holes as necessary as the final finish work on the deck is yet to be done.
I was thinking of using snap on neting at the companionway as well but i was thinking if you use that at the forward hatch as well you could get a small automotive clip fan and make the breeze come through, thats my two cents
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Brian.
I bought a 1.2 amp 6" oscillating fan at "Auto Zone" for $10.00 that works real good for the price and currant draw. I also have two opening portlights that I bought from e-Bay for $20.00 each. You can also buy a hatch net that is held in place with weights in the outer edges.
Put in screw out deckplates instead of portlights. Had two on each side of my PC cabin and got plenty of breeze blowing through. On a hot day the cabin stayed nice and cool. You can buy them at
www.duckworksmagazine.com
Scot is wright,screw out deckplates instead of portlights will work, but they look about as good as argile sox with sandels. my two cents worth .
:wink: Bud.
Bud, they don't look that bad but I do agree they don't look nearly as good as something trimmed in brass! Of course, you can buy 20 screw out deckplates for the price of small brass portholes. Tradeoff between cost, looks, and comfort!
Or you could get really lucky and find them on Ebay for a bargain price like I did. I got elliptical SS opening ports for just over $100 for 4. These are the bowmar ports sold at west marine for $300 each. Keep a lookout for something like this and place your bid at the last second, you could get lucky
I used a solar power vent. I found it when Boat US was bought out by West Marine and they were clearing everything out. They had them that were direct power to the fan or that charge batteries that runs the fan at night.
Pat
I've found small square 12 volt fans (presumably out of a computer) at my local surplus retailer
http://www.princessauto.com. I'm pretty tempted, but the question comes of where to mount them. I don't want to put it on the forward bulkhead because that would just move the stink from the forepeak into the cabin (I'm presuming that the "porta bucket" and anchor rode may well compete for stink). Putting on the aft bulkhead would expose it to weather.
Ahoy Andrew,
A fan should help circulate air, but cannot give us cross-ventilation. Here's a suggestion that might work.
Why not trying opening the forepeak hatch just a few inches while under sail?
Wouldn't that act much like a cowl vent?
Apparently, you have a door on your forepeak locker. You could cut-out some nice nautical images on the door (a whale or dolphin) and that should let the air flow through the cabin.
Maybe just mount a cowl vent on top of the cabin as well? I always liked Scott Widmier's boat with its clear deckplates as portlights, but then again, I also like argyle socks. Not too much on sandals, though. I'm sure sandals are comfortable, but I just don't like them even with argyle socks.
It seems to me that you want to have as much air flowing through the cabin as you can.