5 old solar vents, what to replace with?

[steve yates]

My longbow has 5 solar powered vents on the coachroof, 3 are very old, just screwed into the grp and the little solar panels inside have crumbled away. Two look newer and appear to be through bolted, the solar panels look inbetter nick but havent dismanteled those yet to see if they are actually working.

Assuming they are not, I have 5 old vents, and it appears replacements are around the £50 mark. Now I don't want to spend £250 on these at all, I have plenty other candidates for spending on.

So do they need replaced? Do they still work as vents without the spinning fans or not? And if they need replacing, what would you recommend? I have seen the plastic mushroom ones on ebay for £15 each, but I can just see them getting kicked or stood on and breaking, so I've discounted them. Are the butterfly (?) types any good?

I want ones which will keep water out if waves are coming over the deck.

Thanks.

 

[JumbleDuck]

My longbow has 5 solar powered vents on the coachroof, 3 are very old, just screwed into the grp and the little solar panels inside have crumbled away. Two look newer and appear to be through bolted, the solar panels look inbetter nick but havent dismanteled those yet to see if they are actually working.

I don't believe myself that the 1W (absolute maximum) one could hope to get from the panels on thse things does a blind bit of good. My boat came with one which I replaced with a Vetus "Athos" (I think - may have been a Portos) which is strongly made, screws down and seals well, includes a mesh filter (you've met our Scottish midgies) and fits the same hole with just a tiny bit of enlargement with a flap wheel.

The only downside is that they are £45 each (Vetus ATHOS Stainless Mushroom Ventilator). If that's too painful, you could buy ECS Ventilites for £18 each (E.C Smith Deck Vent - Ventilite Clear) and save up for the stainless covers. It may even be that the stainless bits of your solar vents will fit. If you want to check, let me know and I'll measure up the Ventilite on the Hunter on my driveway.

 

[steve yates]

The ventlite may be a good idea jd, if you could measure it's cover that would be great,
thanks

 

[JumbleDuck]

The ventlite may be a good idea jd, if you could measure it's cover that would be great,
thanks

Hasty look with a vernier caliper (it's raining and we're about to watch a DVD) ... the hole in the middle of the metal bit appears to be 88.5mm diameter and the outside edge is 229mm according to the datasheet at https://seamarknunn.com/acatalog/2065509.pdf. I can send The Crew on board tomorrow if you need any more detailed measurements. By the way, I have the version with a push-to-close sleeve on it, like this:

and had the same on the forehatch of my Jouster. It worked well at keeping water out.

 

[William_H]

Would it be practical to run the vent fans from the ship's battery. It would need wiring to the vent which may be difficult. The vent motor almost certainly runs on quite low voltage. Get some tiny buck converters from China. These have adjustable output voltage so you could set the fan speed to what you want. Far better (cost wise) I think to run one big solar panel and ship's batteries than those individual solar panels. Just a thought ol'will

 

[MarkCX]

I currently have cheap plastic mushroom vents that degrade in uv and are easily broken when trodden on. I’d like to replace them with basic ventair or ventilites but the hole in the deck is slightly wider in diameter. Can anyone suggest a relatively simple way to narrow the aperture?

 

[JumbleDuck]

I currently have cheap plastic mushroom vents that degrade in uv and are easily broken when trodden on. I’d like to replace them with basic ventair or ventilites but the hole in the deck is slightly wider in diameter. Can anyone suggest a relatively simple way to narrow the aperture?

Does it actually matter? As long as the holes in the mounting flange are above solid material, a gap round the spigot part shouldn't cause any problems.

 

[steve yates]

Thanks jd, I'll take a look and measure tomorrow. That metal over cover looks exactly like mine!

 

[Graham376]

I have the ECS vents and use computer fans in them for extraction, surprised the fans have lasted around 15 years.

 

[Gwylan]

Search for solar powered greenhouse vent. Expect to get at least 5 years out of them on the boat.