Tag Archives: damp

Drying Out the Inside of Your Boat After Sailing

Leave a reply

After a pretty wet day’s sailing, I pulled the bung off the F6 Marblehead and let the water out, as you do. This prompted a couple of discussions with Clubmates, LT and GH. It seems that when they get home, they pump dry air through their boats to keep the electrics dry. Good thinking.

As an aside, my IOM has a massive wide pot aperture, so I thinking airing the hull and electric is less of an issue with that. You can almost put your hand in, it’s that big. If you have a 60mm pot in your IOM, you might think about this though.

We had a great discussion in the bar about whether it is best to push dry air in, or pull damp air out. I decided on the latter for me.

Prompted by LH, I ordered the bits from Amazon : 40mm USB powered computer fan with 3 speed switch, a hygrometer to measure progress, (total less than £20 I think) and for my spare room, a 2m USB extension cable. The pot in the F6 is the ubiquitous Sailsetc 60mm pot, so I ordered an extra pot and lid for £2.50 plus postage. Although you can get a pot lid separately and save £1, I reckon you need the whole thing so that when you drill a hole in the lid to suck the air out, you can hold the whole affair by the pot as you drill.

This is what it looks like with the fan in situ. Note I have glued it on the lid for now, but I suspect in the longer term I’ll bolt it on using M3 bolts. There is a 3 speed switch on the fan and in initial tests I ran it on the lower speed. You need the bung out obviously so that dry air gets in to displace the damp air coming out. The hole in the lid exactly matches the fan diameter.

LT also suggested a hygrometer to place in the airflow to monitor progress. Amazingly it costs about the same as London coffee.

This is what it looks like, when it’s running. Fingers crossed it works fine.

This was the fan we used from amazon:-

ELUTENG Mini 40mm 5V USB Fan Desk PC Fans with L/M/H 3 Adjustable Speed Portable USB Computer Fan USB Case Box Electronic Cooling Fan 5300 RPM with Metal Grill for Laptop/TV Box/AV Cabinet/PS4/Router

This was the hygrometer:-

Goabroa Mini Hygrometer Thermometer Digital Indoor Humidity Gauge Monitor with Temperature Meter Sensor Fahrenheit (℉)

What’s In Your Toolbox? For Water in the Electrics…

Leave a reply

If you get a boat a little bit damp inside, then at some time you’ll likely get erratic electrics. It’s a general radio sailing challenge of course, not just Marbleheads. If you’re new to this radio sailing sport then you’ll be wondering what can be done about it.

Not being funny, …but since I started racing a loan boat this year, the owner thrust a jar of vaseline into my hand and said that I should always smear a little of the grease around the thread of the pot-lid. I’ve done it religiously before each race session and I must admit, his boat sails bone dry every day.

What if water ingress is not through the pot-lid? A Datchet member revealed that he uses a water repellent spray called “Corrosion X” on the electric terminals and absolutely swears by its effectiveness.

You can read all about Corrosion X by clicking on the link below. Interesting – I suspect I’ll just have to get a small can to try out and keep in the tool box.

CorrosionX