Condensation problems?

[black sheep]

I just spent a week on my boat in sub zero temperatures. One night was particularly cold and there was ice on the inside of the windows despite the stove being kept in all night. I can live with that, but when it started warming up a bit there were trickles of water running down the timber wall linings from the ceiling. Is this normal or do I have a problem? It has obviously happened before as there are brown streaks running down the walls and it looks like the previous owner has tried siliconing the join between the ceiling and the walls (the boat is 12 years old). Second question – what might be in the water to colour it brown? Rust? If I knew what it was I might be able to get rid of the brown streaks without damaging the varnish on the wood. I also noticed that the bit of wood underneath the timber linings is very damp at the end of the boat furthest from the stove – again is this normal? Is it just a condensation problem? I don’t know whether it was damp before we arrived or whether it only became damp in the week we were there as I only noticed it on the last day.

[BargeeSpud]

I don't want to frighten you, but we had similar problems & it was down to poor insulation along with bare patches of steelwork beneath the lining. You don't need large areas either, even fairly small areas of bare steel will produce condensation. Unfortunately for us, the condensation stained the lining so we bit the bullet & stripped the superstructure back to steel, re-insulated & relined. Our case was down to a crap builder cutting corners who went bust. If your insulation is polystyrene, this degrades over time apparently.

 

Check the frost on the roof & sides of the superstructure & you mght find that the areas affected won't be frosted.

 

Hope it's not as serious as ours was, good luck sorting it.

[PaulJ]

Yes you do have a problem but only in the winter:-)Sounds like your boat has been badly insulated behind the linings. Maybe it has plenty of insulation between the internal angle/box sections but this steelwork has been left bare. Brown streaks suggest rusty water as you say.There was a thread on here recently by some one who had similar problem and how to go about curing problem you would find helpful.

Topic started by Odana here My link

Edited January 23, 2013 by PaulJ

[Ex- Member]

Almost a certainty there's bear steel behind linings. When we insulated we were exttremely careful to completely fill every gap and cover all steel. In one small area though i bit of seel was missed less than 4 sq inches, this condensated and dripped on to and ruined a section of lower lining. It really does only take a small amount of poor insulation to cause big problems.

 

If you're not in a position to fully strip linings and all the mess and costs involved, you could inject spray foam in to cavity areas where the condensaion is bad, this might work really well and at around a fiver a cannister a fairly cheap fix, I would inspect a secion to find out exacly what insulation is in place, If here's lots of missing or sagging insulation, You can use spray foam that's supplied in cannisters that require a gun to operate, drill 10mm holes in areas that may require filling but have 10mm wood plugs at hand to plug the holes.

 

Fire resistant spratfoam will be dearer than standard, the injection guns are around a tenner, some times you can get a free gun if you order a quantity of cannisters, Screwfix used to do a regular deal free gun with 6 cannisters. We recently purchased a cheap endoscope camera that fits inside 10mm holes so you could inspect suspect cavities with that. The cannisters hold a good quantity of foam, around 15 cubif f/ i recall.

 

Hope you get it sorted, must be aweful!

[nb Innisfree]

If you do remove any lining to gain better access scrape any loose rust from steel then use a good quality metal primer before foam application,nit will adhere better. If you use a gun applicator buy plenty of gun cleaner unless you want to keep dumping blocked guns.

[black sheep]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I shall investigate further next time we go to the boat. The boat is a Reeves hull and was fitted out by Aynho Wharf, so I thought it would be fairly good, but the insulation is polystyrene so it may have degraded. Just hope it doesn't involve too much work, or should I say expense!

[BargeeSpud]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I shall investigate further next time we go to the boat. The boat is a Reeves hull and was fitted out by Aynho Wharf, so I thought it would be fairly good, but the insulation is polystyrene so it may have degraded. Just hope it doesn't involve too much work, or should I say expense!

Oh dear! So was mine. I know they used polystyrene for all their builds, except mine as far as I know, where I specified rockwool wall bats. They didn't buy in enough & so scrimped on the superstructure which gave me thin & bare areas of steel. Hope they didn't do the same to yours.

[black sheep]

Thanks so much for that cheery news and why am I not surprised?!! I presume this is your crap builder that went bust? Any more horror stories about them? I tried to find out about them before buying the boat but got nowhere - I didn't know about this forum then. I must admit, the fitout looks fantastic at first glance, but the workmanship is a bit lacking when you look closely. It's not the end of the world, still love the boat!

[system 4-50]

If you do remove any lining to gain better access scrape any loose rust from steel then use a good quality metal primer before foam application,nit will adhere better. If you use a gun applicator buy plenty of gun cleaner unless you want to keep dumping blocked guns.

I've used 13 cans of fire grade foam in my gun so far without it clogging up over a 9 month plus period. Am I lucky or what?

[nb Innisfree]

I've used 13 cans of fire grade foam in my gun so far without it clogging up over a 9 month plus period. Am I lucky or what?

 

I'm amazed. When I have fixed a cleaner canister to the gun it's pushed foam through the outlet, this foam would have cured and been impossible to remove. Did you empty the canister and let residual pressurised air flush through?

[bastion]

I'm amazed. When I have fixed a cleaner canister to the gun it's pushed foam through the outlet, this foam would have cured and been impossible to remove. Did you empty the canister and let residual pressurised air flush through?

as long as you leave the canister on the gun and close the nozzle the foam within the gun will not cure, cleaner is only used when when taking and leaving the canister of the gun

[nb Innisfree]

as long as you leave the canister on the gun and close the nozzle the foam within the gun will not cure, cleaner is only used when when taking and leaving the canister of the gun

 

Yeah obvious when you think about it, I can be a bit thick at times.

 

Never too old to learn.

[Ex- Member]

You don't necessarily need the cleaner if you have cellulose thinners available, I'v cleaned and even revived guns with it.

 

Just leave the gun soaking in it for an hour, undo the nut at the pointy end and it will soak through the barrel.

 

The cannisters I used originally I couldn't remove until finished, otherwise if removed all the foam would seep out, I left cannisters connected for months on end and the gun simply worked the next attempt.

[system 4-50]

I keep the time when no can is on the gun to a minimum, about 3 seconds when changing them, and always leave a can on until it is exhausted. They can stay on for months at a time. But I believe the cans themselves have a shelf life.

[BargeeSpud]

Thanks so much for that cheery news and why am I not surprised?!! I presume this is your crap builder that went bust? Any more horror stories about them? I tried to find out about them before buying the boat but got nowhere - I didn't know about this forum then. I must admit, the fitout looks fantastic at first glance, but the workmanship is a bit lacking when you look closely. It's not the end of the world, still love the boat!

I do, but I won't put it up here for obvious reasons (you don't know who's reading, that might've be connected with them at the time). When I get a little time, I'll PM you with the details of my experiences with them if you seriously want me to, probably next week sometime. Let me know.