Florida- Dehumidifier or Moisture Absorber

[ebs001]

Originally Posted by rbrentp

Having been a Gulf Coast sailor for a LONG time. Humidity can't really be fought only lived with. I keep ventilation moving through the boat with a couple of Walmart fans. About ten bucks a month for electricity. Keep the air moving.


Stopped mold and smells.

He's concerned about leaving it on the hard so the boat will be closed up. I kept a boat in Brunswick Ga. during the summer for many years and ran a dehumidifier draining into the sink with excellent results. I did not ever have a problem with mold or mildew. It's the only solution for an environment like that of Brunswick and coastal Florida.

[vlathom]

We put our trawler on the hard a year ago and learned that the DampRid stuff can't keep up. Super-big mold problem that took us weeks to clean up.

There is no electricity on the hard where we are (Indiantown, Fl), so our dehumidifier is useless. The only answer has been to have someone come in and change the DampRid once a month, which is what we are doing. You can probably get a recommendation for someone who can do this for you.

[Scatterling]

We also tried DampRid with poor results. We have no electricity where our boat is stored in Fort Pierce, so went with the Home-Zone mildewcide this year. It's an experiment, and we won't know until the end of the year if it works , but it came with many good reviews.


HOME ZONE mildew, mold, musty

[Ken Z]

Get a small ac frame thru a hatch or acess area, dehum. has to be emptied every day.90% humidity on most days it doesn t rain, 100% when it does.

[ebs001]

Originally Posted by Ken Z

Get a small ac frame thru a hatch or acess area, dehum. has to be emptied every day.90% humidity on most days it doesn t rain, 100% when it does.

A dehumidifier is set up to drain into a sink so there is no need to empty it daily. My dehumidifier kept my boat dry as a bone in the same humidity conditions you describe.

[a64pilot]

Don’t drain into bilge, fresh water in the bilge will begin to stink something terrible over time. Smells like a propane leak.
If you must drain below, drain into the shower sump.

[ebs001]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Don’t drain into bilge, fresh water in the bilge will begin to stink something terrible over time. Smells like a propane leak.
If you must drain below, drain into the shower sump.

Good point. I had my dehumidifier set on the counter draining into the galley sink.

[Fiftybucks]

I bought Catalina 350. Just coastal cruising. Engine 200 hrs. pulling out in 3 weeks at Sailors Wharf in st Pete. I saw that sourthern cross in palmetto!!

[alansmith]

I’ve seen guy’s boats on the hard storage who someone maliciously/stupidly unplugged there electrical to the boat. One guy lost his complete battery bank. Another guy had fungus amongus at frightening levels.

Make sure your electrical feed is secured. Also one of the posters to this thread had an excellent point of making sure your dehumidifier will turn back on if power loss occurs. Also... is there someone who can check in on your boat for a small fee once a month. Things happen freakishly in boat yards.

[Crozet]

I “rescued” a 31 Cape George cutter from Palmetto, FL. I’m not sure where one could find a worse environment for a boat. It’s not just the humidity. It’s the baking sun that decomposes every glop of adhesive, sealant, glue or caulk above the waterline and crazes all plastic. The boat sits in 85+ degree water (blister soup) So by 1-2pm the surface of the boat is well over 100 degrees. Then it rains...it pours. Then it heats back up.

So while it’s a pain, any sort of covering you can add to direct rain out of the cockpit especially, will pay lots of dividend. Florida is a sailboat graveyard, and if you have not experienced it, will be amazed at how quickly everything deteriorates.

[Group9]

Down here, we have to run dehumidifiers or air conditioners, or be prepared to spend a lot of time cleaning mold and mildew out of our boats.

[RSH]

Originally Posted by ebs001

Good point. I had my dehumidifier set on the counter draining into the galley sink.

Our galley sink drains directly out of the boat, not into the bilge. That's where our dehumidifier is set up. It runs in auto-dry mode when we're not on the boat.

The boat we bought came with a good dehumidifier-it was one of the reasons I liked the boat because it showed me that the previous owners were concerned with keeping it dry and mold-free. The original instructions for the dehumidifier were filed with the other booklets for the boat. That stuff mattered to me.

[Hardhead]

I bought one of these last month - but haven't tried it yet. Anyone have any experience with these type of units? I believe it is supposed to work by keeping the moisture in suspension, so it can vent out, and not condense on any surfaces.


Davis Instruments Air-Dryr 1000 Dryer


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[DennisDW]

An alternative not yet suggested that worked for me was to replace the Dorade vents with two solar vents. One for air in and one for air out. Boat was never completely sealed up in that scenario and mold slow to develop. Slow like months.

I live in St. Petersburg and the humidity can be astounding. Try the vents and also wipe down surfaces with a dilute solution of pool algecide from home depot. Now that stuff is awesome. Completely stops mold for a year. We use it on the house exterior eaves, concrete walls and walks and I keep it in a spray bottle to mist the interior cabinets on the boat and under the floor boards. This was a suggestion from an old Practical Sailor issue. Active ingredient is Benziconium Chloride maybe?

The vents and the wipedown/misting should be enough and it's passive.

Good Luck, if you need anything in St. Pete, let me know,
Dennis

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by Hardhead

I bought one of these last month - but haven't tried it yet. Anyone have any experience with these type of units? I believe it is supposed to work by keeping the moisture in suspension, so it can vent out, and not condense on any surfaces.


Davis Instruments Air-Dryr 1000 Dryer


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That will do nothing for you. You have to remove literally gallons of water per week from the air inside your boat to a point outside your boat to prevent mold and odor in a humid climate. This does not do that.