I have my fish in the driveway for a few days and have been taking the cover off and opening the ports to hopefully dry out any moisture there may be inside. Then at night I close the ports and put the cover over the boat. In the AM when I take the cover off I'm seeing a bead of condensation on the deck, under the cover. Which leads me to my question. I was under the impression that when you stored the boat outside that it was a good thing to cover the boat and leave the ports open for air flow. But now I'm seeing condensation under the cover. Wouldn't leaving the ports open allow the condensation to migrate into the hull? And yet when I open the closed stern port there was condensation inside the plastic port cover itself. Is there a better way? Or am I just obsessing too much? Thanks, Winever.
Ports open, ports closed?
- Thread starter winever
- Start date
Wayne
Member Emeritus
I think you are seeing a couple of related but separate occurrences of condensation.
There’s the outside atmosphere, even under the cover, and there’s the micro-environment inside the hull.
Regardless, when the temperature of both these environments is dropped below the dew point … as usually happens with nighttime cooling … condensation (dew) will form.
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T=Daily Temperature Shift, Td = Temperature at which dew will form
The micro-climate under the cover may also be influenced by any extra moisture escaping the boat hull through the vent (that little hole in the forward cockpit wall). This would raise the humidity under the cover and possibly show up as “dew drops” when other things nearby such as grass, shrubs, and cars are dew-free.
Daily (nightly) condensation will happen inside your boat’s hull whether you leave the port open or not, due to the air moving in and out through the vent hole. What’s important is to dry that condensation periodically so it doesn’t begin to puddle and (over many months) create a tropical environment inside the hull..., which in turn promotes osmosis of vapor into the cells of the styrofoam flotation blocks.
By condensation alone, waterlogging is a process of years, but it's still a good idea to leave ports open when the boat is stored so air can circulate and carry away any condensation before it starts to collect.
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Trueke
New Member
Huh
Wayne, just tell us to keep the darn thing open
Wayne, just tell us to keep the darn thing open
Wayne
Member Emeritus
Trueke
New Member
Wayne
Member Emeritus
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