solar vents

[DanaDCole]

It's pretty early in the game for me to be thinking about this (i.e., just finished gluing CB trunk) but I've been kicking around the idea of installing solar-powered vents instead of cowl vents. For one thing, I've heard of two instances where the cowls were accidentally knocked off the hull and immediately sank, never to be found. Also, the solar vents would provide powered ventilation during the day without any battery draw. Some models also include rechargeable batteries to keep them going at night.

Can anyone recommend the best and most reliable brands?

Any other thoughts?

[JonLee]

Just to set the record straight, mine actually sank really, really slowly. I could see it just beneath the surface of the water, slowly descending into the deep as I sailed by.

[truenorth]

Solar powered vents would work well, functionally. I just don't think the boat looks as good without the vents sticking up. Maybe you could put the solar vent in the anchor well (sealed of course) and permanently install the cowl vents? That way you get your ventilation and maintain looks? Another option is for flush mounted, such as these:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... entilators

I've no experience with them but the limited reviews seem promising. No idea how well the "baffle system" keeps water out.

I'm looking at solar vents for my other boat project. However, they're universally panned for not lasting very long (1-2 years). I think that's partly because they tend to run outdoors 24/7 and nothing that runs 24/7 outdoors runs very long. With that, I'd go pretty cheap on these knowing that the $40 ones will last just as long as the $140 ones. Northern Tool has the best prices; the Marine store has the highest prices. I don't think there's much difference in quality otherwise as they all fail within 2 yrs.

For the record, I'm going with traditional vents as described in the manual and looking at a battery-powered solar vent in the anchor well.

[DanaDCole]

Replying to the JohnLee post--the other lost cowl I know about belonged to Captain Charlie. I think he said his disappeared pretty fast, but the water was probably murkier (lake).

Truenorth, yes everything I've read says they are pretty flimsy and unreliable. I'm not all that enamored of the way the cowl vents look--more of an affectation to me. Hope I didn't offend anyone with that comment--it's a matter of personal preference, not judgement.

I am planning to add a solar panel at some point and I will probably install flat vents with electric fans I can turn on and off. They would be powered by the boat's solar/battery system. None of the fans are electrically reversible because of the blade design, but I have found one or two that can reverse direction by removing and reversing the blade. At least that's what they claim--doesn't make sense to me because if you reverse the blade it still tilts the same way. Maybe they meant to say you can change one blade out for another that has reverse tilt. I'm thinking of one vent pulling air in and one pushing it out, but that might not be a good idea because they are so close together.

Not worried about the vents leaking into Dorade boxes.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

Follow my progress (very little so far) at http://danacolepocketshipbuild.blogspot.com