Repairing wet/mouldy roof lining around mushroom vents

[Tasemu]

Hi there! A few of you might have seen some of my other threads on here regarding looking for my first boat. I've now purchased one for a price i'm happy with and am starting to scope out some of the repairs I want to do when I move on. First and foremost i've noticed that the roof area around the mushroom vents are wet in the washing room at the rear, and also very wet/rotten in the bathroom. The rest of the vents throughout the boat appear fine upon inspection. I'm wondering what is the best way to fix this. Is it a matter of replacing the roof in that room? or could this be condensation causing the problem?

 

Thanks for any and all advice!

[Tony Brooks]

I think driving rain will drive or bounce into mushroom vents. If they are not leaking at the vent to roof joint I would suggest its likely to be condensation.

 

It depends whet the roof (deckhead) is made of but even if its tongue and groove any new planks would be hard to disguise. Ditto if you cut a section out of a ply deckhead. If the rot is close to the vent maybe you could make a hardwood surround to cover it or the hole where you cut the rot out.

[PD1964]

More like a non sealed Mushroom, this is the first thing you need to repair to make it water tight, pointless doing the ceilings before these are sorted. Then just replace the whole damaged ceiling rather then patching. Depending on your ceiling and how it’s held up it may be fairly simple, the secret is to not make too much damage to the surrounding area, you can always hide the new joins with beading strips. Just take your time and find how it’s secured and don’t just rip it down.

[Tasemu]

Thanks! these are the vents it appears to have, it looks as though water could get through these quite easily, though I don't know the internals.

 

[PD1964]

UFO vents notorious for leaking, I would replace with standard mushroom type if you can. Is it a steel Narrowboat?

Edited July 4, 2020 by PD1964

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Tasemu said:

Thanks! these are the vents it appears to have, it looks as though water could get through these quite easily, though I don't know the internals.

 

Those are normally very watertight (they are  used offshore and resist waves breaking over them) but as they age the hard-plastic liner (underneath the lid) can become brittle and crack if subjected to any impact.

 

They are not widely liked on the canals but I have always found them very good, and, watertight.

 

My NB ( I also have them on the Sea Going cruiser)

 

 

[Tasemu]

2 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

UFO vents notorious for leaking, I would replace with standard mushroom type if you can. Is it a steel Narrowboat?

Yeah it is, i'll have a good look and see if I can find any leaks.

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Those are normally very watertight (they are  used offshore and resist waves breaking over them) but as they age the hard-plastic liner (underneath the lid) can become brittle and crack if subjected to any impact.

 

They are not widely liked on the canals but I have always found them very good, and, watertight.

 

My NB ( I also have them on the Sea Going cruiser)

 

 

I'll have a look at the internals and see what I can find. Perhaps it is just condensation, since its in the washing machine room and the bathroom. God knows how i'm supposed to stop that though haha.

[Iain_S]

We have these on Gamebird. We had a slight problem when the drainage slots in the top (chrome) cover got blocked. As the one in question was fitted on a cambered bit of the roof, it was really only one drain that was operational.

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Tasemu said:

I'll have a look at the internals and see what I can find. Perhaps it is just condensation, since its in the washing machine room and the bathroom. God knows how i'm supposed to stop that though haha.

Open the window whenever using hot water. (shower, washing machine kettle, washing the pots etc etc)

[Tasemu]

Ok, i think it is likely to be leaks, as the boat has been sitting in the marina for months not being used.

Not sure if i should make another thread for this, but another issue i've found is that on the rayburn 212s installed, the fire door wont fully close. It goes 99.9% of the way closed but wont click in place. Does anyone here have a rayburn on their boat?

[roland elsdon]

Is it a solid fuel rayburn?

[TheBiscuits]

3 hours ago, Tasemu said:

I've now purchased one for a price i'm happy with and am starting to scope out some of the repairs I want to do when I move on.

 

Never mind the leaks, where are the pictures? 

 

Congratulations on getting the boat, but we want to see it now ...

[Tasemu]

2 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

Is it a solid fuel rayburn?

Yup, its a rayburn 212s I believe.

2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Never mind the leaks, where are the pictures? 

 

Congratulations on getting the boat, but we want to see it now ...

Definitely, deposit is going in on monday hopefully then i'll take a bunch and post them here.

[David Mack]

15 hours ago, Tasemu said:

Thanks! these are the vents it appears to have, it looks as though water could get through these quite easily, though I don't know the internals.

 

My UFO vents leaked. I removed them.

 

[KenK]

I have an ongoing topic relating to the same problem on the maintenance part of the forum. In general the answer seems to be these UFO vents are old fashioned and yes they leak. Internally there is a plastic fitting which is supposed to prevent the ingress of water into the boat, like everything made of plastic over time it fails hence the leak. The solution is obvious remove them and fit something which works, on narrowboats that is normally mushroom vents, simple robust and generally leak free or replace them and wait for the next leak. Next problem removing the old vents and fitting the new ones, they might come off without problems but more likely the fixings were stainless steel and the hull is mild steel so the fixings are jammed solid, how do I know this? So unless the original fixings are easily removed chop the heads off remove the UFO vents,  clean up the rust as far as possible, use Vactan to kill the remainder, repaint, fit the new mushrooms. 

Welcome to the fun world of boating. Good Luck

[mrsmelly]

On 04/07/2020 at 16:48, Tasemu said:

Ok, i think it is likely to be leaks, as the boat has been sitting in the marina for months not being used.

Not sure if i should make another thread for this, but another issue i've found is that on the rayburn 212s installed, the fire door wont fully close. It goes 99.9% of the way closed but wont click in place. Does anyone here have a rayburn on their boat?

I think Peterboat has a Ray urn fitted?