Tomcat owners,
There has been some previous discussion about condensation in the sponsons below the berth and in other areas of the boat. When I store the boat for extended periods of time (say 1 month), I leave a heater on inside the cabin and that keeps the cabin dry but many of the other areas of the boat stay moist and there is considerable growth of mold/mildew in the sponsons (both fore and aft). So, I'm looking for ways to provide active ventilation to these enclosed spaces. In particular, I'm looking for ways to move air when I have 120v available as the boat is usually connected to shore power when I'm not fishing (or when it's on the trailer). Given that the aluminum fuel tanks are also in these enclosed areas, I'm also thinking it would be a wise investment of time and money to do what I can to help keep them drier.
For the area under the berth, I'd like to put a fan/vent combination on the vertical space near your feet just before you crawl into the berth. There's several inches of fiberglass face there that forms the aft end of the enclosed space under the v-berth. If I could draw air from under the berth and exhaust it out the aft end of this surface, I could then provide some venting under the mattress near the bow. With the hypervent I have under the mattress, the air flow would then be, under the mattress, into the sponsons and back out the the aft end of the enclosed area. I'm hoping to find something like a residential toe-kick electric heater that would not only draw air from under the berth but that would also provide heat when on shore power. At present, I use a space heater to provide heat while on shore. So far, the residential toe-kick heaters I've found appear to draw both draw cold air and exhaust warm air through the front. I may be able to modify one of these to draw air from the back or side of the unit.
Since the primary goal is to move air from under the berth, heating is not absolutely necessary. Hence, I'm also looking at floor register fans that could be flush mounted to the surface. The downside to these is that most are designed to only turn on the fan if there is airflow through the register (driven by a furnace or aircon). Hence, I'd have to modify the electrical setup of these to achieve what I want.
So for venting the berth, does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/sources of products that might do what I want?
For the aft end of the sponsons, I'm less clear on how to provide ventilation. I'm thinking about buying additional hatch doors for the transom hatches and putting in computer or bathroom style vent fans. I'd keep the hatch doors in my garage and just swap them in for the winter. At a bare minimum, I need to add additional passive venting to the sponsons towards the stern. When I pull out the the coaming boxes on the gunnels, it's amazing how much mold/mildew is behind there. So again any ideas from the crowd to improve ventilation back there would be appreciated.
There has been some previous discussion about condensation in the sponsons below the berth and in other areas of the boat. When I store the boat for extended periods of time (say 1 month), I leave a heater on inside the cabin and that keeps the cabin dry but many of the other areas of the boat stay moist and there is considerable growth of mold/mildew in the sponsons (both fore and aft). So, I'm looking for ways to provide active ventilation to these enclosed spaces. In particular, I'm looking for ways to move air when I have 120v available as the boat is usually connected to shore power when I'm not fishing (or when it's on the trailer). Given that the aluminum fuel tanks are also in these enclosed areas, I'm also thinking it would be a wise investment of time and money to do what I can to help keep them drier.
For the area under the berth, I'd like to put a fan/vent combination on the vertical space near your feet just before you crawl into the berth. There's several inches of fiberglass face there that forms the aft end of the enclosed space under the v-berth. If I could draw air from under the berth and exhaust it out the aft end of this surface, I could then provide some venting under the mattress near the bow. With the hypervent I have under the mattress, the air flow would then be, under the mattress, into the sponsons and back out the the aft end of the enclosed area. I'm hoping to find something like a residential toe-kick electric heater that would not only draw air from under the berth but that would also provide heat when on shore power. At present, I use a space heater to provide heat while on shore. So far, the residential toe-kick heaters I've found appear to draw both draw cold air and exhaust warm air through the front. I may be able to modify one of these to draw air from the back or side of the unit.
Since the primary goal is to move air from under the berth, heating is not absolutely necessary. Hence, I'm also looking at floor register fans that could be flush mounted to the surface. The downside to these is that most are designed to only turn on the fan if there is airflow through the register (driven by a furnace or aircon). Hence, I'd have to modify the electrical setup of these to achieve what I want.
So for venting the berth, does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/sources of products that might do what I want?
For the aft end of the sponsons, I'm less clear on how to provide ventilation. I'm thinking about buying additional hatch doors for the transom hatches and putting in computer or bathroom style vent fans. I'd keep the hatch doors in my garage and just swap them in for the winter. At a bare minimum, I need to add additional passive venting to the sponsons towards the stern. When I pull out the the coaming boxes on the gunnels, it's amazing how much mold/mildew is behind there. So again any ideas from the crowd to improve ventilation back there would be appreciated.
:idea: 
