Let's get fresh.
Everything seems exquisite - you've had a dream sail with long beam reaches, and you have reached a gorgeous lagoon at a tropical island. It's still great when you drop anchor and take in your lovely surroundings, the crystal clear water, white sand and lush vegetation.
Get Rid Mosquitoes
However, after the exquisite day comes the night, and sleeping inside a boat in the tropics without allowable ventilation can be unbearable, like sleeping in a steam bath. It's not as if you can go out and sleep on deck - all the night time biting insects are there waiting for a quick bite to eat.
This is why one thing you should look at in a prospective boat, after checking the determined things like condition, extras and safety features are the number and position of the hatches. Lots of modern boats have loads of hatches everywhere, and while that gives a arresting airy feel down below, hatches are a source of potential leaks, especially those on the cabin top. It's best to have not so many horizontal hatches, but some opening portholes, which are not so tasteless nowadays - just make sure you close them before you get underway. Lin Pardey has a good memory jogger for this - whenever a porthole is opened, she ties a red ribbon or something similar to the tiller, and doesn't cast off until that ribbon is taken back down below, and the porthole closed.
Fresh air is not only requisite for comfortable sleeping, it is also needed for other things:
Get heated air away from the engine, so the boat and engine don't heat up. Get rid of toilet smells - they are bad adequate on land, let alone a boat! Get rid of galley smells from last night's curry dinner forestall mould growing on stowed clothing or perishable food. Get rid of steam from a hot shower, if you have that luxury aboard
How to get fresh air into your boat?
Check the insulation in the middle of deck and cabin - even a bit of maritime rug tacked on to the roof of the cabin may be unsightly, but it will help Use a fan, running off a dedicated solar panel. A computer fan is cheap, and consumes hardly any power, yet can shift air quite effectively. Fit an airscoop to direct any breeze there is into the cabin straight through the send deck hatch. Fit a canvas awning from the companionway door all the way back to the transom. This will contribute welcome cooling shade, and if you anchor with the stern facing the wind, you will get a nice airflow straight through the cabin, and out straight through the open send hatch.
Don't forget to put fitted mosquito mesh over all openings, otherwise you will get unwelcome flying visitors along with your fresh air.
One last thing - this description deals with life in the tropics, where lack of fresh air is an inconvenience. If you are in a cold climate, and have a heater going during the night, the same lack of fresh air could be deadly. You could be breathing in carbon monoxide while you sleep, and if that happens, you might not wake up.
permissible Ventilation on a Boat
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