Ventilated deck hatches

[Bryan 2530]

Here is a project I did about 9 years ago on my old boat to keep the tanks and under the deck area dry. It was recently rekindled by my cousin Mike in his quest to keep his fuel tank lasting as long as possible.

My old boat had twist out style 6" pieplate hatches over the tanks much like Parker does. When I bought the boat I replaced them all with new ones because the old ones were faded. I took the old covers and cut a 3" hole in them to accept a Nicro Solar Vent. The vent will remain in place and constantly vent the bilge and tank area while the boat is not being used and removed and replaced with another hatch when aboard.

You can see in the pictures where the trim ring was installed, the vent presses in place and makes a watertight seal and the solar vent moves air.

When I got the Parker of course they use press in hatches which did not fit so the whole thing has been on the shelf since I got the 2530 in 07. Fast forward to yesterday and a call from Mike go the ball rolling again. He found the Temptress ones on Amazon for a reasonable price and ordered 2, retro fit to occur when they come in. Until then check out what the old install looked like and where they will go on the 2530 and will get pics of the 2320 as well.

 

[windknotnc]

Do those solar vents have a little fan that blows down into the bilge or do they pull air out? How much air do they move? Can you feel it venting out of other holes? This is an interesting idea and worth more exploration.

 

[Bryan 2530]

They come with two blades so you can blow in or out.

The specs are on the Nicro website.

http://www.marinco.com/product/daynight-plus-vent

 

[ParkerJr]

Nice!!! Your ingenuity is second to none with some of these projects. I will be taking notes. Thanks for the tip as I was thinking about getting a small dehumidifying unit for the cabin and bilge but I like this better.

 

[miky2884]

I figured while the boat is sitting and not being used why not have this on deck pushing some air around in the bilge.
I watched the owner of my marina cutting up the deck of a 2000 Grady this past week to find over 20 pin holes in the tank, and I said to myself now is the time to start taking care of my fuel tank.
We will keep this post updated as we go currently waiting on the new Tempress deck covers to come in. Once they arrive we will first buy a 12pk of Coronas and then cut out the holes and mount the Nicro vent. Stay tuned

 

[Brent]

They come with two blades so you can blow in or out.

The specs are on the Nicro website.

http://www.marinco.com/product/daynight-plus-vent

Which direction do you have it configured?

 

[Brent]

Who has the best price?

thanks

great idea

 

[miky2884]

West marine has them on sale this week. Normally $179 on sale for 99$

I have been eying this project for some time but couldn't get myself to spend nearly 200$ on a vent, at the same time fighting with myself knowing it would be a hell of a lot more than 200$ to cut up my deck and replace the tank, so when I got the West Marine flyer in the mail on Tuesday I made the decision now was the time.

As for the direction of the fan I think we decided its best to have it blowing air in to circulate air around the bilge and tank

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... bokMdiJiVE

 

[Brent]

Thanks Mike

I was looking at Sunforce fans on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-81300-St ... sbs_auto_1

I need a solar fan for the forward bilge, too but dont have pie plates inside the cabin just 2 large sections on hinges.
I might install one and remove when the boat is in use

 

[DaleH]

As for the direction of the fan I think we decided its best to have it blowing air in to circulate air around the bilge and tank...

No way!

IMHO you want to open the pie plates in the cabin, leave windows cracked at least 1/4", and have the fan exhaust out the moisture-laden air to get it OUT of there.

I also have a dorade box installed on the cabin top and being on a mooring, if there's any wind, chances are good I'll get an ample supply of fresh air into the hull.

 

[Bryan 2530]

Finally took some pics of my vent. Works great. Unfortunately Nicro changed their design so we ran into problems with Mike's 2320 install.
Stay tuned.

 

[Bryan 2530]

One more. Mine is configured to blow air out, always has been.

 

[DaleH]

Nice! FWIW I put mine on a post 12" tall so I'm less likely to trip over it.

... probably more likely to bang into it and break it, but better to break IT than ME :shock: !

 

[Bryan 2530]

Its pretty durable believe it or not, I would be afraid of the post dislodging the press in hatch in possible windy conditions.

The vent is the first thing I remove when I get on the boat for the day, so no worries with breaking it for me.

Amazing how the bilge stays dry now, the little standing water that the pump can't reach is dry after a day or so.

 

[miky2884]

Yea Nicro IMHO screwed up with there new design. If you look at Bryans install his vent came with a sleeve the he mounted to the pie plate. Well they no longer make the that sleeve anymore. So I had to do some modifications. I installed it last Thursday and went down to the boat this afternoon to find my bilge and tank area totally dry. I am very pleased with this. I will post some pictures of the install later.

 

[miky2884]

Few pictures of mine installed.

 

[Megabyte]

I was thinking of getting an extra pop-in deck plate and mounting it into the middle of the slam hatch over the bilge pumps, then adding one of these fans.
When I go out, I could pop the fan out, and pop in the plate.
That would put the fan directly over the bilge pumps.

I always have the deck plate over the forward bilge pump open when I'm not on the boat, so putting the fan all the way back would draw fresh air under the entire deck space.

Thoughts?

 

[miky2884]

Kevin that's how Bryana and I have it set up, When the boat is not in use the fan snaps into the pie plate and is 100% water tight. When the boat is in use the vent comes off and the old deck plate goes back in.
Like I said above this has made a huge difference with my boat. My tanks is 100% dry and my bilge is about 95% dry I barely have any standing water in the stern where the bilge pump sits. Prior to having the vent my tank always felt moist and I had a lot more humidity and water down in the bilge. I am very pleased I did this.

 

[Megabyte]

Sounds like I need to go shopping... :wink:

 

[miky2884]

West marine had the nicro 3in day/night on sale a few weeks or so ago for 99$ normally they are 179. Thats when I pulled the trigger. We had to order a new Tempress deck plate. We used the old one to cut the whole in to mount the vent, and then the new one goes in place when the boat is in use.

I ran into a little problem with mine, because Nicro doesn't give the same sleeve as the old style (which is what Bryan has) I had to modify mine. I used the new sleeve style that comes with it and mounted it to the deck plate with the screws provided but because there is about a 1/8 gap between the vent and the sleeve I filled the gap in with 5200 and it works perfectly. Next time I go down to the boat I will take pictures of how i mounted it to the deck plate.