Sunfish must loose 70 pounds

MtlNdo

MtlNdo

Member
How long (best estimates please based on your experiences) would I expect it to take to have this boat go from 200 pounds to 130?
The ambiant temperature is about 60 F.
On a sunny day this boat s getting 5 hours of direct sunlight.
A nice breeze is blowing into the inspection ports by the dryer ducts.

NOTES:
I was not willing to install a fan nor a lighbulb for safety reasons since I will not be able to be by this boat for another 3 weeks.
Having read all your advice, I have cut 2 inspection ports and have wrapped the whole fish in black garbage bags. I have also installed two 45 degree elbows with screen so that no rain will get in.Using a hygrometer I measured at least 86% humidity in the boat this past weekend.
Thank you for responding.
 

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70 lbs, that's just about 9 gallons of water osmosed throughout the cells of the flotation blocks.

My estimation ... the first 35 lbs will be extracted in 6 to 8 weeks, the last 35 lbs could take twice that long to migrate out from the depths.

Buy one of those ball caps with the solar powered fans in the bill and adapt the fan and solar cell to your drying apparatus. A little circulation goes a long way to speed up the process.

At the same time, if the fiberglass of the hull is dried, you can fix the leak(s) and go sailing. It'll just sail like you have another person aboard.
 
Thank you Wayne. You can always be counted on for fast and smart advice.
I will take your advice and set up a solar fan systems when I am not there to speed things up. I was able to use a fan and a 60 watt light bulb this past weekend for 2 days & saw the same hygrometer that that had read 86% humidiy fall to 45% while fan and light were on. Thank you again.
 
Just remember, the light is there as a heat source to raise the moisture carrying capacity of the air (and secondarily warm the foam to re-vaporize the trapped water).

If you circulate air too rapidly using this method the air never gets a chance to warm so you end up with simply a well lit hull. Using a thermometer, you want to see a rise in the exiting air temp above ambient. If it's the same temp as the incoming air it's moving too quickly and there's no additional advantage over a fan alone.

My thought is, placing the light toward one of the inspection ports warms the air at that end of the hull providing both extra moisture carrying capacity and a convective air flow. With this low-tech approach, that's probably just about the optimum circulation rate.
 
I have a device that is probably the best thing I have seen being used to dry out a boat. It is a medical warm air blower that was originally intended to be used with a special blanket to keep a patient warm.
Essentially it blows warm, dry air continuously out of a 4inch flexible corrugated plastic tube. It is safe, doesn't get too hot, grounded, and can run continuously for weeks.
I have an old boat that leaks a bit after a day of sailing and this thing drys it out in about a day.

I have about 6 of these retired machines and may be willing to sell a few.
 
fbjru said:
I have a device that is probably the best thing I have seen being used to dry out a boat. It is a medical warm air blower that was originally intended to be used with a special blanket to keep a patient warm.
Essentially it blows warm, dry air continuously out of a 4inch flexible corrugated plastic tube. It is safe, doesn't get too hot, grounded, and can run continuously for weeks.
I have an old boat that leaks a bit after a day of sailing and this thing drys it out in about a day.

I have about 6 of these retired machines and may be willing to sell a few.
Click to expand...

I might be interested. What do you want for one?
 
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