Condensation issues with our Jeanneau SO 33i

[Halo]

Agree with dehumidifier - I would not be without mine in winter
Read the PBO review of them. For your application (sleeping on board) get one with low noise (see review) .
For other readers note that ALDI have a special offer on one this Sunday.

 

[NPMR]

For those people that have mains leccie, a dehumidifier is no doubt great.

Here in the West Country, we anchor or swing to a buoy, mostly. So any other non-electricity ideas?

 

[maby]

For those people that have mains leccie, a dehumidifier is no doubt great.

Here in the West Country, we anchor or swing to a buoy, mostly. So any other non-electricity ideas?

Then I guess you'll have to rely on heating with some ventilation. And it needs to be heating that does not generate any humidity - these ill-advised things that burn fuel within the cabin are only going to make things worse, I think!

I have to say that although we spend most of the winter aboard with the boat in a marina, I don't think I could face January afloat on a buoy!

 

[RupertW]

For those people that have mains leccie, a dehumidifier is no doubt great.

Here in the West Country, we anchor or swing to a buoy, mostly. So any other non-electricity ideas?

I wonder whether bringing a some large resusable desiccant canisters may be a partial help for a weekend sail as they can be dried out in an oven at home and used multiple times - along with ventilation and heating of course. They are easy to buy online but you'd have to buy a couple of large ones or a lot of small packs, then bring them out sealed to your boat ready for overnight use.

 

[maby]

I wonder whether bringing a some large resusable desiccant canisters may be a partial help for a weekend sail as they can be dried out in an oven at home and used multiple times - along with ventilation and heating of course. They are easy to buy online but you'd have to buy a couple of large ones or a lot of small packs, then bring them out sealed to your boat ready for overnight use.

I'm very skeptical about the desiccant canisters. Our dehumidifier will suck several litres of water out of the air in our boat over a weekend - the moisture traps generally claim far less than that - and without the fan assistance, I don't see how they can dry out the main body of air in the boat. If we turn the dehumidifier on in the evening before we go to bed, it will have more than a litre in the tank the following morning.

 

[RupertW]

I'm very skeptical about the desiccant canisters. Our dehumidifier will suck several litres of water out of the air in our boat over a weekend - the moisture traps generally claim far less than that - and without the fan assistance, I don't see how they can dry out the main body of air in the boat. If we turn the dehumidifier on in the evening before we go to bed, it will have more than a litre in the tank the following morning.

Ours drains into the sink (as we can leave it on for many months unattended) so I don't know how much it produces every 24 hours. That's why I think the desiccant canisters would have to be used just for a day or two when onboard and of course could have a fan nearby too. Obviously not as good as a mains one but (and I'm guessing of course) it would surely be better than just heating and ventilation

 

[maby]

Ours drains into the sink (as we can leave it on for many months unattended) so I don't know how much it produces every 24 hours. That's why I think the desiccant canisters would have to be used just for a day or two when onboard and of course could have a fan nearby too. Obviously not as good as a mains one but (and I'm guessing of course) it would surely be better than just heating moist wire.

We used to leave ours on, draining into the sink, while away from the boat, but more recently I've become concerned about it going flying when the boat gets bounced around. In bad weather or as a result of a large ship passing nearby, the boat can be bounced all over the place and I'm not confident that the dehumidifier will not get knocked off the worktop - with the corresponding risk of serious damage to the boat! These days, we just leave it on, standing on the floor, while we are aboard. In practice, that is more than 50% of the time, so the interior remains pretty dry.

 

[RupertW]

We used to leave ours on, draining into the sink, while away from the boat, but more recently I've become concerned about it going flying when the boat gets bounced around. In bad weather or as a result of a large ship passing nearby, the boat can be bounced all over the place and I'm not confident that the dehumidifier will not get knocked off the worktop - with the corresponding risk of serious damage to the boat! These days, we just leave it on, standing on the floor, while we are aboard. In practice, that is more than 50% of the time, so the interior remains pretty dry.

Fair enough - for us there is a stainless column (to hold the stays) from worktop to ceiling right by the best place for the dehumidifier, which also has high fiddles in a corner so we strap it to that. Once when we forgot to take it off we went on a beat on both tacks for 8 hours through a lumpy sea and only then were a bit shocked to spot it still on the worktop - and secure to our surprise.