Nice, dry bunks in wooden boats

[Guest]

Hello - I'm after some of that cellular foam that you put under bunks to ventilate beneath the mattress and so stop damp destroying the wooden base.

Does it work? Does anyone know of a good supplier (London, East Anglia or online) or, indeed, the proper name of the stuff? Or otherwise, a good alternative solution? (Suggesting the purchase of a plastic boat is, sadly, not a practical answer). Anything else I should know?

I know drilling holes for ventilation is sometimes done but, call me peculiar if you like, attacking perfectly sound planks with a brace and bit just isn't my idea of fun.

All help most gratefully received - and your reward is the knowledge that you will have assisted in the preservation of that little bit of boating heritage represented by my yacht...
;- ))

The Fruitbat

 

[Mirelle]

Ho, hum, Fruitbat.....

I don't know where youn get it. But here are some other thoughts.

1. Is the underside of the bunk planks or plywood? If the former, take a couple of them out and space out the remainder.

2. If the latter, replace with slats, with a half inch or so gap between each slat.

3. You have'nt got those old fashioned nasty vinyl covered mattresses from the 1960's still, have you?

4. How much ventilation is the boat getting when you are away? A HOWLING DRAUGHT is the ideal to aim at!

 

[Trevethan]

We have used closed cell foam laminate floor underlay (not the cheap polystyrene but the good pinky grey stuff from B&Q). Cost is minimal (about £15)

We laid it out, (you'll likely need to join a couple of lengths, over lapping about 30%.

Once cut to shape spray mount adhesive holds the panels together. Duct tape would do the trick too I suspect.

Its very effective on our slatter benches.

We then have coir over this to lift the foam matress from the underlay foam and allow some air to circulate between the two foam layers.

Regards,

Nick

 

[mikewilkes]

We had similar probs with our mattress last year and just changed that. Under our bunk is solid ply with a gap under that, so there is some ventilation but not of the forced variaty! The mattress we got was from Sherlock Foams (advertise in PBO) and it did not cost an arm and leg. We do not suffer condesation now and have a damm good nights sleep, and we are in Spain.
Mike

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all for your ideas. Coir matting is a great idea which I hadn't heard of before and will definitely think about.

So is moving one of the planks out - but unfortunately I think the fact they are pretty wide and equally solidly fixed means that this is not the answer.

Slats would probably be my preferred solution in the long term, but she's just gone back in the water after months of carpentry, so I'm really looking for an easy fix - at least until the winter comes.

 

[DanTribe]

I've used some stuff called Ventair. It looks like plastic Brillo pad material, about 12mm thick. sandwiced between two layers of plastic gauze. It has made a big difference to keeping bunks dry.
The phone nr for Ventair is 01553 617791.
I can't say how much it cost because a friend originally bought a pack of the stuff and passed on the leftovers.He bought it through TCS Chandlery @ Thorruck.
Regards
Dan