warm weather but humid and raining

[Pennie]

How do you guys combat the internal humidity aboard when it's wet in the summer time. It's easy in the winter - just keep the fire stoked up. But in the summer when it's almost too warm on the boat anyway but chucking it down outside what should I do to lower the moisture aboard?

 

Wiping down windows a few times a day only helps so much and I've only just combated the mould issues around the beds.

 

Given in and lit the fire today as the dampness on the walls is getting noticeably bad but now I'm melting in a puddle despite keeping the door open too. if I were hooked up to mains I could have a dehumidifier but while travelling I have to make do with the moisture traps but they on do so much

 

 

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

[Guest]

How do you guys combat the internal humidity aboard when it's wet in the summer time. It's easy in the winter - just keep the fire stoked up. But in the summer when it's almost too warm on the boat anyway but chucking it down outside what should I do to lower the moisture aboard?

 

Wiping down windows a few times a day only helps so much and I've only just combated the mould issues around the beds.

 

Given in and lit the fire today as the dampness on the walls is getting noticeably bad but now I'm melting in a puddle despite keeping the door open too. if I were hooked up to mains I could have a dehumidifier but while travelling I have to make do with the moisture traps but they on do so much

 

 

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Sounds like you need to get some air moving. We have a 12 Volt desk fan which shifts some air, but is not too hard on the battery/solar setup.

[Pennie]

That is a plan Im soon to implement. My partner has gone back to his for a few days and hopefully trying to find in the pile full of "could be useful but don't need on boat" pile the two USB desk fans we have

But I may just get a low wattage normal desk fan too if they're not powerful enough

[Bunny]

Have a small dehumidifier also one of those window vacs , the windows collect the water and I hoover it off . Bunny.

[spadefoot]

Sounds like your boat has ventilation issues. Not breathing, is probably not practical. Do you have windows open? Are your door vents and roof vents open/unobstructed? Do you have a cratch cover or pramhood closed up?

Open front & rear doors, condensation on your windows & walls in summer is ridiculous.

[spadefoot]

Did you solve that water in the bilges problem yet? There could be a connection.

[Ally]

Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation! And yes,a 12v computer fan works wonders to help it along the way.

[Peter X]

Yes, ventilation especially in the bathroom and galley is a lot of the answer in summer (and you need some in winter too). Also, you probably won't be moving the boat when it's raining heavily, but when you are moving in summer if you have doors open all the way through that should blow a nice 4mph breeze through the boat.

[Chewbacka]

Did you solve that water in the bilges problem yet? There could be a connection.

If you have lots of damp wood and maybe washing drying and cooking, then the humidity will be very high.

You need to change the air in the boat rather than using a desk fan to just move it about.

For me the first step would be lots more ventilation which hopefully is temporary (do not want that in the cold weather) while you get the source of the damp sorted out.

[Naughty Cal]

We keep the windows and hatches cracked open to keep the air flowing around the boat.

 

We also tend to keep the rear door of the canopy rolled up to let some more air through the boat. Yes some rain does get into the cockpit via this open section of canopy but it is designed to get wet so no great problem.

 

We occasionally turn the Webasto on on a cool setting to blow some cool air around the boat and keep the air moving and also but the bilge blowers on to keep the bilge air moving as well.

[junior]

Do you have a gas fridge and if so, does it vent outside or just into the cabin space?

[Pennie]

Need to stop breathing really that will solve it lol. I'm only eating cold food atm and shower is currently out of use as it's a storage room whilst I refit the kitchen. All windows are open, both front and back door, all vents are unobstructed. Breathing! That's the problem lol

12v fridge

[RichM]

Need to stop breathing really that will solve it lol. I'm only eating cold food atm and shower is currently out of use as it's a storage room whilst I refit the kitchen. All windows are open, both front and back door, all vents are unobstructed. Breathing! That's the problem lol

12v fridge

 

You may have already thought of it but are the mushroom vents on the roof fully open? Some can be opened/extended to allow for more ventilation by rotating them externally.

[Pennie]

Yep they're all open, took them off in the spring to give them a good clean and set them all to the same fairly open (but not letting rain in) height

[tree monkey]

Has no one else noticed the damp walls comment? I dont know if this points to a bigger issue, what I do know is my walls dont get damp

[spadefoot]

Yeah, there's more going on. In another thread Pennie mentions water in the bilge. There's either plumbing leak(s), or window leaks or something contributing to the amount of free moisture in the boat. I can't see how a ventilated boat can have condensation in summer, just from breathing.

You see it on hireboat windows in the morning, when they've shut the windows overnight, (don't do this Pennie), but they might have 6 or 8 people on board.

Don't know the boat, but is it old & poorly insulated? Maybe the whole thing is wringing wet, the summer warmth pulls the moisture out of the linings which then recondenses on cooler days.

[Pennie]

There are quite a few issues happening aboard currently. Water in bilge, condensation, a leak (which had only come about subcellular refitting the kitchen last month, so I think it's something I gave caused)

 

Rose has been a very damp boat for years as far as I can tell, cold too. This is because she had a very lovely but totally impractical stove which was only warm to the touch because it was a 1950-60 safety stove designed to heat radiators and water tanks. The only radiation heat the stove gave off was really only from the flue. Since installing a boatman stove she gas been exceptionally warm and humidity dropped significantly. The tongue and groove has been splitting apart because it hadn't been thus dry in years.

 

What I may do, while I'm stuck in Stourport waiting for the river to go down is pip to see Ken at the lime kilns and ask for advice. I'm learning very quickly in the last year and half but I far from being experienced. Something clearly isn't quite right, a pennie and a different shouldn't breath enough to make the wall paper bubble up and the windows to steam up when the fire is off but all windows abs the stern door being open

 

Thank you, experienced guys. I do hope to learn as much one day :-)

[Naughty Cal]

Have you got rid of all the bilge water now? And fixed the leaks?

 

If you have then you need to dry her out and get the air moving. Light the stove and keep it in and open the windows and doors.

 

It may well take some time to fully dry her out if she has been a wet boat for a long time but it will eventually dry out.

 

It does sound like you need to address some additional ventilation throughout as well though.

Yeah, there's more going on. In another thread Pennie mentions water in the bilge. There's either plumbing leak(s), or window leaks or something contributing to the amount of free moisture in the boat. I can't see how a ventilated boat can have condensation in summer, just from breathing.

You see it on hireboat windows in the morning, when they've shut the windows overnight, (don't do this Pennie), but they might have 6 or 8 people on board.

Don't know the boat, but is it old & poorly insulated? Maybe the whole thing is wringing wet, the summer warmth pulls the moisture out of the linings which then recondenses on cooler days.

It isn't just hire boats. We have seen many private boats with the windows streaming with condensation.

[Athy]

There are quite a few issues happening aboard currently. Water in bilge, condensation, a leak (which had only come about subcellular refitting the kitchen last month,

 

Blimey, that's my first new word for today. Wot it mean in this context?

[spadefoot]

 

It isn't just hire boats. We have seen many private boats with the windows streaming with condensation.

Yeah, I was just using them as an illustration because of the number of people they often have aboard.

[nbfiresprite]

Get yourself a Punkhawallah to increase air flow.

[Pennie]

A fan that doesn't run off my batteries would be good ;-)

[markgregoryuk2000]

You can get what they call a humidity absorber from b&q etc. no power required

 

http://www.diy.com/departments/unibond-humidity-absorber-refill/272121_BQ.prd?gclid=CP6RycfOz80CFdYV0wodwkcI8Q&ppc_type=shopping&ecamp=SEAPLA272121_BQ&ss_kwcid=AL!3454!3!{creative}!{matchtype}!{placement}!{network}!{product_partition_id}!{keyword}&CAWELAID=120147360000319468&CAGPSPN={ifpla:pla}{ifdyn:dyn}&CAAGID={adgroupid}&CATCI={targetid}&ef_id=Vz3hMAAABYdV25aY:20160630110955:s

[Pennie]

I have a few dotted around the boat, they do a good job :-)

[Loafer]

Blimey, that's my first new word for today. Wot it mean in this context?

 

sub-cellular? Maybe she's referring to her husband or summat!