Mold In The Cuddy

From reading the comments, some people expressed concern about mold in the cuddy cabin. A good sailor knows how to prevent mold - with air circulation. The boat I will look at has an enclosed helm. If the door to the cabin is left open then air can circulate. You can also use Damp Rid in the cabin.

If you leave the boat under a canvas cover - no problem. The canvas can breathe enough to still allow for some circulation. And you can get a blower, some ducting, and a cheap timer to really circulate things. Attach the duct so it sucks air outside the cover, and set the timer to run the blower for a few hours every day.

And this much is already known. If when I get a cuddy cabin boat I will install a marine AC in it. I already found a sea water cooled 3500 BTU AC system that is small enough to fit in a battery box. I have a super quiet Honda generator that will power the thing without a problem. The unit is actually designed to run off a battery bank with a power inverter. It is made for boats with a small cabin. But it will require a somewhat complicated install job with a hole below the water line, a seawater pump, a return line for the sea water, and a drain for condensation. The seawater cooling is what allows the thing to be so small. But spring a leak in the plumbing and the pump will dump 250 gallons per hour in the bilge OR cabin. Not good. Spring a leak below the water line and the water will rush in with or without the pump on. Actually I will not need a 250 GPH pump, they say you only need 250 GPH for every ton of AC. One ton = 12,000 BTUs. So for a 3500 BTU unit I would only need....uhhh.....12,000 divided by 3500...take the result and divide 250 by it....carry the one....about 73 gallons per hour? So a 150 GPH pump will be plenty.

The other option is a 7000 BTU air cooled system that fits into a hatch that most cabins come with. The hatch is in the roof of the cabin to allow natural light in and provide for air circulation. It looks like an RV type AC, with most of the unit outside the boat. It is air cooled. It is not a fixed mount deal - you only run it when the boat is not moving. When underway you take the AC off the hatch, stash it in the cabin, close the hatch, and move. This unit will push my little Honda generator to its limit when starting up. I have the EU 2000i which produces a maximum of 2,000 watts - the portable AC requires 1,800 watts to start up and about 1,000 to run.

The smaller water cooled system would be my first choice. It is more complicated to install, but not too bad. The small unit can be placed almost anywhere in the cabin. The power drain is a lot less - leaning that the generator can run longer on a tank. Or I can get a bank of batteries and power the AC that way. It could run when underway.

And it will make it possible to camp in the boat year round. Even on a warm summer night - just set your anchor and kick it on. Nice cool refreshing AC. In the winter I may not even need it. On a nice cool night just leaving the vents, hatches, and door open will be enough.

Oh yea about the mold. Air circulation is the key! Ill probably rig up a blower motor on a timer or something.

But first I have to locate a used boat worth a shit. THAT is harder to do than prevent mold.