installing the vent. When the hatches are
closed, the vents work well. The drawback
is that you effectively lose the vents when the
hatches are open. I’ve installed lots of vents
in hatches, but wherever possible, I prefer to
install them on the deck (or cabin side)
proper, so both the open hatches and the
vents work with the hatches open.
Staying Alive
Another absolutely vital consideration is car-
bon monoxide. I can’t stress this strongly
enough. Be very, very careful not to locate
vents where they can suck in exhaust gases
from the engine, gen set, cabin heater, or
stove. Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide
are silent killers. Every season I read of a
family who went to sleep aboard some
evening and never woke up because of CO
poisoning. This is serious business. You
should review a copy of ABYC’s standard TH-
22, Educational Information about Carbon
Monoxide.
Ventilation of Storage Spaces: Forepeak, Lazarette, Lockers
A sure way to gum things up is to neglect ven-
tilation of the storage areas on a boat. Fore-
peaks and lazarettes are frequently neglected
when it comes to ventilation. Table 14-1 gives
the VCRs required for the forepeak and
lazarette as 5, but 8 for storage compart-
ments. I tend to use 8 for both the forepeak
and lazarette as these are really storage
areas, but a VCR of 5 is acceptable.
Neglecting to install vents here can be lit-
erally sickening. In one case, I was surveying
a boat that had no ventilation in a separate
forepeak. The durn thing had been sealed
closed for months, with soaking wet lines,
fenders, and anchor gear festering in the hot
sun. The stench that wafted off the greenish,
yellow mildew made me ill. It had also ruined
the fender covers and life preservers.
Figure 14-12 shows the foredeck of
Imagine. The forepeak is completely walled
off by a watertight bulkhead. It’s entered thor-
ough the flush hatch to port. The circular
object forward of the windlasses and between
the chains is a 4-inch (10.2 cm) Nicro solar
day/night vent mounted on a 4-inch-high
(10.2 cm) riser and set on exhaust. Behind the
louvers and behind the fashion plate is a pair
of gooseneck pipe vents, which provide the
intake air. This peak has stayed pleasant and
mildew-free.
Individual lockers should be ventilated as
well. Deck lockers, for instance, can have
clamshell vents port and starboard angle
down and toward midships (Figure. 14-13).Chapter 14:Ventilation of Passenger and Storage Areas
Figure 14-12.
The author on the
foredeck of
Imagine. Note the
solar vent amid-
ships between the
anchor chains.
Note the louvre
vent on the star-
board bulwark.Figure 14-13.
Clamshell vent on
a locker