I'm getting tons of inside condensation with the wild temp swings we are having this month. Are the solar powerd venters worth the cost? Looking at the specs they don't seem to move much air. thanks all! Denise.
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Solar vent
I've installed a 4" Nicro stainless solar vent on my O27 3 yrs ago and I'm very pleased with it. It runs 24/7 and is very quiet and seems effective. It's rated at 1000 cu ft / hr: that's moving a box of air 20 ft x 10 ft x 5 ft every hour ( theoretically) and your boat doesn't have that much interior volume, so you should get a complete air-change every hour ( again, in theory ) Installation is dead-simple; just cut a hole with a 4" hole-saw mounted in an electric drill. But, repeat, BUT, make sure there are no electrical wires hidden behind the ceiling/cabin liner or buried somewhere in the deck core. I neglected to check & cut thru two big fat wires when making the hole. Repairing the wires took a helluva lot longer than installing the vent.
I've installed a 4" Nicro stainless solar vent on my O27 3 yrs ago and I'm very pleased with it. It runs 24/7 and is very quiet and seems effective. It's rated at 1000 cu ft / hr: that's moving a box of air 20 ft x 10 ft x 5 ft every hour ( theoretically) and your boat doesn't have that much interior volume, so you should get a complete air-change every hour ( again, in theory ) Installation is dead-simple; just cut a hole with a 4" hole-saw mounted in an electric drill. But, repeat, BUT, make sure there are no electrical wires hidden behind the ceiling/cabin liner or buried somewhere in the deck core. I neglected to check & cut thru two big fat wires when making the hole. Repairing the wires took a helluva lot longer than installing the vent.
M
Mike
never quits
The thing with the low volume solar vents is that they never stop moving the air. It's that constant flow which keeps the boat a bit fresher than a completely stagnant cabin. I am not sure of the lay out of your 30 but on the O'day 28, my boat, I can leave the port over the head sink open without doing any water damage to the boat because any rain goes into the sink. Leaving that port open greatly helps ventilate the boat while we are away. Take a look at whether you can open that port or not. If you can it helps a lot. Good Luck, Mike
The thing with the low volume solar vents is that they never stop moving the air. It's that constant flow which keeps the boat a bit fresher than a completely stagnant cabin. I am not sure of the lay out of your 30 but on the O'day 28, my boat, I can leave the port over the head sink open without doing any water damage to the boat because any rain goes into the sink. Leaving that port open greatly helps ventilate the boat while we are away. Take a look at whether you can open that port or not. If you can it helps a lot. Good Luck, Mike
D
Denise, Oday 30
Topaz re vent
In the center of the toilet compartment ( aka the head ) , right on the CL of the boat & 12" ahead of the mast step. Unfortunately there were 2 fairly hefty electrical wires, like 10 ga., buried above the cabin liner, between the liner & the balsa core. I still don't know what the wires function was, as they didn't seem to connect to either the running lights in the bow, to any mast lighting or cabin lights. After I cut a hole for the vent with a 4" hole saw, I saw the bright shiny ends of the freshly cut copper on either side of the hole, so had to cut away an inch or so of the cabin liner to access enuf wire to make a splice. I have since experimented and found that you can get some indication of the presence of 'hidden' wires by using one of those stud detector gadgets. My boats a '78 model, so possibly earlier boats didn't have the wire in this location. One thing I didn't do, but would recommend for any holes cut or drilled in a cored deck or cabin roof, is to carefully seal the edges of the opening with epoxy so that the balsa core can't absorb any water and eventually rot. After the hole is cut, remove an additional 1/4" or so of the core without enlarging the holes in the f'glass, and fill this space with a thickened epoxy mixture. You may need to run the hole saw thru the hole again after the epoxy has cured as the vent is a very snug fit. I used liberal ammounts of 3M5200 but eventually water will creep in and I'm sorry I didn't think to epoxy seal the core first, as the Nicro vent slides into a plastic sleeve and I doubt that I can remove the plastic now that the 5200 has cured. Live & learn, huh?
In the center of the toilet compartment ( aka the head ) , right on the CL of the boat & 12" ahead of the mast step. Unfortunately there were 2 fairly hefty electrical wires, like 10 ga., buried above the cabin liner, between the liner & the balsa core. I still don't know what the wires function was, as they didn't seem to connect to either the running lights in the bow, to any mast lighting or cabin lights. After I cut a hole for the vent with a 4" hole saw, I saw the bright shiny ends of the freshly cut copper on either side of the hole, so had to cut away an inch or so of the cabin liner to access enuf wire to make a splice. I have since experimented and found that you can get some indication of the presence of 'hidden' wires by using one of those stud detector gadgets. My boats a '78 model, so possibly earlier boats didn't have the wire in this location. One thing I didn't do, but would recommend for any holes cut or drilled in a cored deck or cabin roof, is to carefully seal the edges of the opening with epoxy so that the balsa core can't absorb any water and eventually rot. After the hole is cut, remove an additional 1/4" or so of the core without enlarging the holes in the f'glass, and fill this space with a thickened epoxy mixture. You may need to run the hole saw thru the hole again after the epoxy has cured as the vent is a very snug fit. I used liberal ammounts of 3M5200 but eventually water will creep in and I'm sorry I didn't think to epoxy seal the core first, as the Nicro vent slides into a plastic sleeve and I doubt that I can remove the plastic now that the 5200 has cured. Live & learn, huh?
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