"What I did this summer" or... Mildewed

[Spike38]

Hello, C-Brats... Lived aboard three months in Maine where the prevailing rain, fog, etc. had us waging a pretty much constant battle with condensation. It got me wondering how you mariners in the PNW and Alaska, where the seawater is also cold and I understand fog and wet are also common, deal with this. The fact that we were heating to keep warm didn't help matters, of course, but I'd thought the cored hull would provide some measure of insulation. Running fans might have helped some.

1. I wonder whether ventilating the space beneath the forward berths might help? As far as I can tell now there's no foam there - the only hole as mentioned in the manual is in the sole beneath the berth insert and there's nothing below. I'd like to use some of this space for stowage anyway. (Along this line is anyone aware of less pricey hatch covers than Bomars?)

2. This boat normally floats with a bow-down attitude. With two fairly hefty souls (total probably 400# or so) seated in the after corners of the cockpit I noticed she was right on her lines. Perhaps this is because we sport only one engine? I'd be interested in whether other single engined 25 owners have noticed this down by the bow tendency.

3. Docking frustrations have been covered at length elsewhere but in our slip at 90 degrees to the prevailing wind (and with an expensive Ellis sharing the slip) docking was consistently a fiasco and highly embarrassing! I've got a lot to learn!!! It was humbling in the extreme to watch other owners nonchalantly backing in (many, to be sure, with the help of bow thrusters).

Thanks for listening.

[Sea Wolf]

[Spike38]

Thank you very much, Joe! A goldmine - lots of good information here, very helpful! Obviously I need to refine my search technique on the site, though!