To vent or not to vent?

Marcdohc

Hello Owners! I have a question. We keep our 2005 300 Fiesta Vee at a private residence located in southern Massachusetts. The dock is on a salt water river about 1 mile from the ocean and does not have power so I shut of all battery switches off. The boat sits in 2' - 4' of water depending on the tide. My question is should I leave my two bow and bath windows open for ventilation while the boat is docked? My wife thinks having them open allows the moisture in and she's afraid it will cause mildew. The boat has been at this dock for 4 seasons and we always shut the windows. The boat does not have mildew and it does not smell. My argument is if we opened the windows it would probably smell better. Your thoughts Please?

floater212

they do make these packaged boat mildew eliminators to place inside that keeps it mildew free and eliminates any smells while closed up. I think they are made by star-brite.

LaRea

Wouldn't salt fog accelerate any corrosion issues inside the cabin?  As @floater212 said, I think you'd be better off with closed windows and moisture traps such as Damp Rid. 

Marcdohc

I probably should have mentioned that. We hang up moisture rid bags in the aft cabin and head.

Liberty44140

Keep them closed. 

Dream_Inn

Definitely keep closed.  Believe it or not, your cabin maintains a decent temperature just because the water it is sitting in.  Opening windows will allow it to change quicker and cause condensation.  & in a salt environment, that is not good.

Marcdohc

Damm, that means se's right again. Thanks for your imput, Marc

Handymans342

I keep my main hatch open. No problems for 9 months but maybe because I have a covered slip

Michael T

Keep windows closed use damp rid if you want or open margarine container filled with baking soda. You get a muskrat, rat, weasel, chipmunk, squirrel etc. in through one of those windows even with a screen on and you'll be looking at a full-blown reno!

Handymans342

Come on you guys! You don't put damp rid in your attics. Geeez

Ian

True. Nor do I sleep up there and it's not sitting on a base of water. All closed with damp rid bags or those tubs inside and store as around some bounce dryer sheets to keep here scented nice. 

randy56

I keep them closed with damp rid, I'm not in covered slip.  she is correct.
 Don't you hate it when that happens. 

LaRea

I had an interesting experience with open windows.  Had some kind of odd temperature inversion, filling the cabin with super-moist air, and then we had an overnight freeze ... I had half-inch icicles hanging from the entire headliner.

Oh, and I discovered it 20 minutes before showing the boat to a prospective buyer.

@Marcdohc - leave 'em closed, and be sure to let the Admiral revel in the glory of being right.

duane.mosley

shawnmjr said:

Marcdohc said:

Damm, that means se's right again. Thanks for your imput, Marc

They are always right...

whether they're right or not,  you at least have to let them think they're right! lol but in this case you've heard, she's right!

Liberty44140

I find that she is most often right just after I hit my breaking point during a project that is really going badly. You know, one of those projects that didn't need to be done in the first place but you were going to make it better but instead made it much worse. That is really where she earns those stripes! 

NavyCTRC

windows- I leave mine closed.  If the boat sits very long I will wait until we get a breezy day and open everything up for several hours to overnight.  We keep a fan in there circulating air and the AC is on if in the water. 

Michael T

Handy - our attics are ventilated (soffit, gable and roof venting). Is yours?

Handymans342

Of course!

TonyWalker

A solution we use is a Wal-Mart type table type dehumidifier.  It collects tons of water.  I have it on my project list to run a drain from its catch bucket into the galley sink to keep it from shutting down because the catch bucket is full.

MarkB

Closed. It's better to keep moisture out than worry about how to let moisture out. 

By the way when you say you shut off your batteries,  you don't disconnect right? 

Marcdohc

No I just turn the switch is off

MarkB

OK good, because you absolutely need to keep your mercathode system running or your drive is going to dissolve before your eyes.