No, not a political statement!
Most of the projects that we have completed on Eximius over the past year have been driven either by a Safety issue or a Reliability issue (Ok, so installing the AC was a Comfort issue) but this project was driven by necessity - but it's also a comfort issue.
Boat on the water, especially here in South Florida, tend to suffer from Mold and Mildew if the air in the cabin is not circulated - vented. Eximius has a pair of cowl vents on the cabin top that refresh the cabin air when there is wind or if the boat is moving, but when tied up to the dock on a windless day, humidity can climb and mold-n-mildew are just waiting to start growing.
We wipe down the interior of the boat on almost every visit, chlorox wipes do a great job of inhibiting M-M's but if we're away from the boat for several days, quite normal, then that just won't be enough.
Not sure if the Solar Powered Fans in the head and aft berth are original, they seem like it! Not that it matters, they were both broken, old, inefficient even if they did work. So time to replace them.
After research we decided to use the Marinco Nicro Solar Vents but information on the web was confusing. It seemed like every site, including the Marinco site, gave varying specs on the fan housings and I was not sure if they would fit in the existing 4.25" holes in the head and aft berth cabin top. So I took one of broken fan units down to West Marine and compared it to the new unit still in the box. It was a tight fit, but looked as though it would work even if I had to remove the original insert from the cabin top.
Decision made, and we left the store with a shiny new pair of Solar Powered Vent Fans.
We stopped by the boat and within 15 minutes they were installed - I did have to remove the old insert, and that took most of the 15 minutes! Now they are securely installed and their batteries are charging. We'll go down to the boat mid week and turn them on.
Cool (no pun intended)
See you on the water.
Paul
Paul, first thanks so much for documenting so much of the work you have done on Eximius. I have many of these jobs to do on my new to me '86 Catalina 34 (hull 94). The solar vents on my boat are also original and shot. I'm curious how well the replacements work with a dodger in place? My canvas is darker blue, and I also have covers for the windows. Thanks again! Brian
ReplyDeleteBrian, the new vents work really well despite being inside of the Dodger. They're still running every time we are at the boat and I'm sure they help keep the head and the aft berth fresh. We rarely turn them off.
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