Hatch Vent Detent

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pkeyser
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Joined: 5/18/13
Posts: 663
Hatch Vent Detent

It's taken me six years to notice this, and only so because of a single sentence in an article in the last Mainsheet. The hatches have a vent setting and it does make a difference in cabin odor. We left the head hatch and the two hatches beneath the dodger in this detent setting and discovered a world of difference in cabin smell. Additionally, despite heavy rain (and modest wind), there was no water entry. I haven't been brave enough to try it with the main hatches, or in wind swept rain conditions, but even a small amount of air flow makes a big difference when leaving the boat for a week.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but not for those of us who have owned several older boats without this feature and assumed all hatches were the same.
   

Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B

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Pgutierrez
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Posts: 224

Our top suggestions for odor control:
- buy $10 cheap clip on fans from hardware store.  When we leave boat, leave one fan on in aft cabin, one fan in front cabin with doors exiting bathroom. 
- suck out bulge water, (we use a “water blaster” toy water cannon made out of PVC type tubing.
- add 2-3 cups vinegar and paint the bilge with vinegar (or mild bleach water solution).  Idea is to kill off bacteria that might be growing in bilge.  If you use bleach solution, thoroughly flush out bilge well with fresh water (bleach is hard on gaskets & pumps.
- Always suck out bilge as much as possible before leaving for more than a few days.  Dump in 1-2 cups vinegar in bilge, no need to flush out.  
- use desiccant bags such as DAMP RID.
- never poop in toilet (“if it’s brown do it in town”)
- only use fresh water to rinse toilet, not lake or river water.

peter g

2000 C36, MK2, Hull. #1897
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful ! ! !.   5 th Catalina

 

 

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KevinLenard
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Joined: 1/28/15
Posts: 211

More tips to eliminate odours:

  1. Good tips from Peter Gutierrez!  I now suspect I may have done in two Whale SuperSubs by leaving bleach in the bilge...
  2. Try the new "Eva-Dry" 'rechargeable' drying units. We got ours at Costco but the chandleries are starting to carry them.  Orange when dry, green when wet, plug in to 110 volt to dry the crystals out again.  We use one in each hanging locker.
  3. Make sure your Dorade style cowl vents are open.  You must screw the control knobs CLOCKWISE all the way to open them and they should point in OPPOSITE directions to vent properly (one scoops air in while the opposing one sucks it out due to the vacuum effect of wind passing around it -- most people leave both facing forward and reduce the volume of air flow significantly).  If you have them set this way, you have no need of solar powered fan-vents.
  4. Use a bleach spray once a year in every nook and cranny under and behind all the drawers, doors, floorboards and cubbys to eliminate the black mould.  After drilling (not through the hull!) out drainage holes from every cubby to the bilge, I actually bring a hose inside and spray everywhere after the bleahing, then leave things open for a warm, sunny day or two to dry out.
  5. I similarly shampoo the engine with degreaser once a year and spray it off and spray aft under the sink.  Gives the bilge pump a workout. 
  6. Use Concrobium's Moldex (or similar) in an aerosol to get up under and behinde all the liner panels throughout the boat to help prevent black, white and red moulds from forming. They sell it in an aerosol can for fogging in tight spaces.
  7. Consider buying a cheap, small sized wet-dry vac to suck ALL the water out before leaving the boat.  I use a BridgeNorth "Boat Hook Bailer" hand pump, but the dollar store water gun idea is great!
  8. If you don't have the fridge drain going through the foot pump to the galley thru-hull, make sure the hose reaches all the way to the bilge to avoid water spreading everywhere.
  9. I'm adding a drip tray with a drainage tube leading back to the bilge under the prop shaft packing ring to further reduce the constant stream of water running under the floor boards.  6" paint roller tray with 1/4" plastic tube and the appropriate fittings through the hole I drilled to make the set up watertight.
  10. Check all your water fittings for leaks.  I have found a few drips over the years.
  11. BUY A BIG ORANGE waste tank vent hose filter and enough sanitation grade white hose to add a loop that goes up from the lower cubby up and back down the cubby behind the settee cushions aft of the port chainplate.  Just needs a new bag of charcoal once a year and does an amazing job of eliminating the odour.
  12. Also check/tighten all the hoses on the waste tank and vent for leaks.  I replaced the odour-saturated original vent hose with sanitation grade white hose.  The original standard reinforced clear hose eventually gets stinky.  When it's brown, I now just flush it down!  No noticeable odours.

 

Kevin Lenard
"Firefly"
'91 C-36 Mk. "1.5" Tall Rig, Fin Keel, Hull #1120, Universal M-35 original (not "A" or "B")
CBYC, Scarborough, Lake Ontario, Canada

pkeyser's picture
pkeyser
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Joined: 5/18/13
Posts: 663

Many good suggestions- have been doing some but not all. We have no dorade vents on our MKII and I think that was a major issue- having the cabin bake in the sun with no airflow until discovering the hatch detent. Also, we are on a mooring so unless we installed a solar powered vent, we can't leave a fan running. Maybe the newer solar vents have improved but on our previous boat we could only get 2-3 years of life out of them, and, I don't like sacrificing a small hatch or cutting a hole to install. We have a rule of no solids in the head and fresh water flushes only. That has helped, as well as replacing all the hoses with expensive low permeation ones. Every year- I spray diluted bleach or some other mildew/mold killer spray into every accessable hull cavity- that helps. Vinegar in the bilge is also better smelling than stagnent water. I try to minimize the use of bleach in the bilge because of the potential reaction with stainless keel bolts. I also don't use it in the head because of the rubber parts, but do occasionally dump some in through the deck pumpout.

Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B

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