moisture problem inside your boat and want to fix it?
- Thread starter centerline
- Start date
so how do you propose to solve the problem....
on our boat we had condensate problems overnight in the vberth only.
this was with the bulkhead heater on... without the bulkhead heater, it would condensate on the salon hatch, side windows and portlights as well.
the bulkhead heater caused some, but very little ventilation in the salon, but the vberth area was much colder, and we exhaled moisture with each breath, so it was much damper up there.
recently I have installed a wallis forced air diesel heater... this brings outside air in, heats it, pushes it into the living areas of the boat, and forces the old, moisture laden air out....
we no longer have any condensate in the vberth, or elswhere, but the vberth was the issue that i was most concerned with and i have always feared mildew getting started in the bed covers....
one vent of the heater exits into the salon below the drawers in the chart table, and the second vent, which is the hottest, runs all the way to the front of the vberth and exits at our feet.... this flow of air as it is being pushed thru the vberth and out to the salon, evaporates the condensate and carries it away... to be pushed out of the boat thru the gap at the top of the companionway boards....
I know I could have done as well with just a fan moving the volume of air thru the boat, but as we are in a cooler area during the winter, we wanted more heat also.... so now we have a fan with a heating option.... we still have the bulkhead heater, and with it on its lowest setting, the forced air furnace running on #5 (of 6 different settings), we can have both companionway boards out, the slider closed, with the wind blowing 10-15mph in 30degree weather, and be over heated inside....but the boat is DRY.
and its a more even warmth, from top to bottom, rather than the heat hanging out at the top of the cabin
in adding more heat, i wanted better ventilation also, primarily because the force10 bulkhead heater would shut off when it sensed an oxygen drop of 2%.... so that left us without heat.... other than turning on the stove/oven, which actually defeated the purpose of having the O2 depleation sensor on the bulkhead heater.
with the forced air furnace keeping the cabin supplied with good fresh air, the bulkhead heater does shut off due to any low O2 levels.... and there is no need to run the stove/oven to keep warm when the temps drop down into the twentys......
The problem that can occur with heating is that the heated air is able to hold a lot more moisture than the unheated air which is OK if it is vented from the boat before meeting any cool surface. If there is a stagnant area where the hot moist air meets the cool hull, for example, condensation can occur. The trick is to have good ventilation. Of course, if the heat was not needed, ventilation on its own would be better. The concept of heating to avoid condensation is flawed unless sufficient venting accompanies it.
Exactly!... with good enough ventilated air movement over the cool surface, the condensate will be carried away before it forms to droplets.