Keeping your cool as you struggle to keep cool in the warmer, wetter season can be difficult. This Technical Corner looks at ways to ventilate your boat and avoid crew mutiny.
Classic yachts, cruising boats, hotshot racers and fishing vessels all require different types of hatches. If you don’t find what you need within our range, Budget Marine can source and order hatches and hatch parts specially for you.
Portlights have a maximum and minimum hull/wall thickness to which they may be fitted. Portlights fitted to hulls approaching the maximum thickness may have restricted opening. Portlights require different fastenings to suit different thicknesses. If the fastenings supplied with the portlight do not suit your hull thickness, it will be necessary to order the required fastenings separately.
Additional fittings like these can enhance your cruising pleasure and protect your health, especially in areas where heat, humidity and insect levels are high.
The Breeze Booster is self supporting and does not require lines or halyards to keep it in place, making it perfect for any powerboat or sailboat, monohull or catamaran – regardless of hatch placement.
It can be installed over your hatch in seconds and faced in any wind direction, which is especially important if the boat is in a marina. It can be left in place with the hatch open, partially open, or even closed in the case of sudden rain showers.
The Dorade Box/Vent developed by Olin Stephens in 1929 permits the passage of air in and out of a boat cabin while keeping rain and sea wash out. Refinements have since been made to this design, including those with low profiles and spring-loaded closing mechanisms.
Mounting considerations: A cowl that is taller and placed higher on the boat will move noticeably more air than a lower vent. Caution re aesthetics: a flat-bottomed dorade box will tilt the cowl slightly outboard if fitted to a curved or slanted surface. In extreme cases they may stick out at an angle like the antennae of some large insect.
Manufactured from top quality materials and engineered to withstand the elements, these ready to install units are sold with the frame, fabric tops and storage boots packaged separately. Frames are available in bright dip-anodized aluminum or stainless steel. Stainless steel frames come with stainless steel fittings. Bright dip-anodized aluminum frames come with marine grade nylon hardware.
Taylor Made’s Selection Guide will help you find the size, design and fabric color to fit your boat.
For dimensions of the range stocked by Budget Marine St Maarten go to:
Caframo’s clever 2-speed, low draw ULTIMATE FAN has an open, soft-edge, finger-safe propeller that can be easily cleaned and replaced when necessary. Caframo’s variable speed MAESTRO FAN builds on the popularity of the BORA FAN with the addition of a dual LED light and wired remote pendant control.
Hella’s well-respected TURBO FAN, with its protective grill, can be turned and pivoted in all directions, and locked in position.
The 3-speed SIROCCO fan’s clever foldaway gimbal mechanism directs its output in any direction and permits it to fold away flat against the bulkhead when not in use. Its battery-saving timer feature can be set at 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours.
The KONA 3-speed fan has a watertight motor and extruded aluminum and UV stabilized plastic construction, ideal for environments such as the wheelhouse dash or an exposed bridge or cockpit where spray would spell disaster for other fans.
If you are looking for powerful total re-circulation of your boat with fresh air, check out the versatile 4-speed TAKU HATCH-FAN that can be installed on most hatches 19″ across and larger.
Keeping cool is not only about ventilation. Being able to have a freshwater shower without traipsing salt or mud down below into a hot cabin after swimming, snorkelling, or hiking is a great advantage. One can use a pump spray bottle, a deck hose nozzle, or even a bucket, but these practical fitted units are very unobtrusive and convenient.
