Ventilation for cruising yacht

[LittleSister]

. . .Your dorado orientation is any which way but depending on the wind and rain your dorades (or some and at least one of them) will accept rainwater. If you are on board when its raining the dorades can be orientated by hand (so that they are not rain scoops), if you are not on the yacht the dorades need to be plugged - as the wind and rain can then, again, come for any which direction.



Jonathan

I disagree.

Any dorado vent (including Plastimo ones) should be able to easily cope with rain and light spray without a problem regardless of orientation - the water drains out of the bottom of the 'box' onto the deck without entering the vent into the boat. That's the whole point of the design surely?

You should only need to plug the vent if you are expecting 'solid' water coming over them, and IIRC Plastimo supply/sell plug caps for this very purpose, which temporarily replace the removable funnels.

In 'normal' use underway, orientating the funnel opening aftwards and/or leewards should avoid even fairly heavy spray overwhelming the vent. When moored/anchored the funnels can instead be orientated to best effect given the wind direction at the time, bearing in mind that to create best flow you need some boat openings (whether dorados, other vents, hatches, companionways, etc.) acting as air intakes and others as air outlets.

You certainly don't want to be having to close your vents when you're not on the boat. Ventilation is the key to avoiding damp and musty odours in a boat.

By the way, IIRC Plastimo have (or had) different shaped funnels - a lower-profile, flat-topped type (which I think is what the OP's photo shows), and a more upright, circular mouthed traditional ship vent shaped one. The latter would be a bit better at shifting air, but also at catching ropes etc. There are/were also at least two different sized dorados, I think.

 

[mhember]

Well if useful I settled on these:
https://air-onlyventilators.com/air-only-low-profile/
They are very well made, and low profile so less of an obstruction on deck. They also have the ability to be closed from the inside.
I've fitted one of four so far and surprisingly (given the shape) I seem to be getting more air not less (the deck penetration is larger).
The remaining three will be going on soon and I'm looking forward to fewer obstructions and repairs when they get a careless seaboot when reefing (as last night!).

I'll post photos when done.

 

[mhember]

As promised, photos as fitted. All four now on and I'm very happy. Cheaper than the plastimo version, better made and clever design leads to perfectly good air flow.
I've got one more to fit and a fan to add to a couple of locations ('breezy' on this website).

 

[mhember]

Images from the manufacturer on the 'ejector effect' and how this makes the low profile vents so effective.