Some of you have done some fantastic work on this site adding framing, decks and carpeted or vinyl-covered decks to your boats. Years ago I got to thinking about how to 'vent the bilge' area to keep the deck substrate nice and dry and to eliminate condensation … which can soak up into the wood if not totally encapsulated or even into any floatation foam.
Here's what I’ve done in the past, on my frp hulls, to keep condensation from building up in my bilge ... which also makes for a LONG life of a below deck aluminum fuel tank, if you also have one installed.
Buy an extra deck plate/inspection port to ‘match’ what you already have on the boat. Or for the tin boat guys, possible put the vent pipe out of an unused seat base (that goes to the bilge)? Buy some 1.5" PVC tube plus a 180-degree "U" fitting and a screw-type fitting for PVC to bulkheads. Then get a small piece of f'glass or aluminum bug screen material.
I took the extra deck plate cover and bored a hole in it to match the screw fitting used to attach PVC pipes to a bulkhead fitting. This was glued in place with 3M 5200. Onto that was placed a tube of PVC and then the 180-degree "U" fitting. But ... before the fitting was placed on, I glued in some bug screen material onto the top of the tube so bugs can't make a nest in the bilge, lol!
Whenever I leave the boat unused ... I'd unscrew the flush deck plate and screw this one into it's place. It helps vents the bilge and keeps it nice and dry!
Remember ... a dry bilge is a happy bilge!
Here's what I’ve done in the past, on my frp hulls, to keep condensation from building up in my bilge ... which also makes for a LONG life of a below deck aluminum fuel tank, if you also have one installed.
Buy an extra deck plate/inspection port to ‘match’ what you already have on the boat. Or for the tin boat guys, possible put the vent pipe out of an unused seat base (that goes to the bilge)? Buy some 1.5" PVC tube plus a 180-degree "U" fitting and a screw-type fitting for PVC to bulkheads. Then get a small piece of f'glass or aluminum bug screen material.
I took the extra deck plate cover and bored a hole in it to match the screw fitting used to attach PVC pipes to a bulkhead fitting. This was glued in place with 3M 5200. Onto that was placed a tube of PVC and then the 180-degree "U" fitting. But ... before the fitting was placed on, I glued in some bug screen material onto the top of the tube so bugs can't make a nest in the bilge, lol!
Whenever I leave the boat unused ... I'd unscrew the flush deck plate and screw this one into it's place. It helps vents the bilge and keeps it nice and dry!
Remember ... a dry bilge is a happy bilge!
