Forgot password

Engine Compartment Ventilation

  • May 30, 2011 8:29 AM
    Quote
    Message # 608281
    Anonymous member
    I find that the engine compartment on my W32 runs 25-35 degrees F warmer inside than the outside ambient temperature when cruising at 1800 RPM.   That's hard on battery life.  Years ago I bought some gel cells, they were ruined the very first day in that compartment.   It also cooks the soles of my feet on the cockpit floor. 

    Mine is perhaps hotter than most because I have two jumbo size lazarette compartments under the seats port and starboard.  They wall off perhaps 50% of the volume of the engine compartment, greatly reducing the remaining volume.  In that volume is the engine and house batteries.

    I'm thinking about adding engine compartment ventilation, with an air inlet from the cabin, an exhaust somewhere aft in the cockpit (but forward of the aft lazarette bulkhead), and a fan.   I'm concerned with
    1. Letting noise into the cabin
    2. Letting water into the compartment via the exhaust
    3. Wasting my time with a vent system that doesn't provide enough air flow to make a difference.
    Experience and advice from other W32 owners will be appreciated.

  • May 30, 2011 11:41 AM
    Quote
    Reply # 608582 on 608281
    Deleted user

    Yes, yes and yes!  Do it!  We installed a high speed ventilation blower and the engine compartment is much cooler as well as the cabin.  Our blower is mounted as high in the compartment as we could get it and exhausts through a threaded deck plate installed on the inborad side of the bullwork.  We put the threaded cover on when not in use to prevent water infiltration.  We used flexible vent hose to get it to the bullwork and then used meta tape to form a tight exit.  Hope this helps.

     

    Don and Lana
  • May 31, 2011 5:04 PM
    Quote
    Reply # 609805 on 608281
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Dick:

    Pygmalion has a engine compartment exhaust fan.  On the port side just below the cap rail is a covered hole for intake into the engine compartment and the exhause is into the cockpit on the stb side.   

    I like Don's idea to seal up the intake and exhaust ports -- sounds like good heavy weather protection.

    I'd like to have a multi speed fan with thermostat control - that way the fan doesn't need to run all the time at full speed just when the temp rises in the compartment ... right now the air is hardly warmer then the ambient air.

    Jay 
  • June 02, 2011 6:18 PM
    Quote
    Reply # 611843 on 608281
    Anonymous member
    A good place to put the exterior vent is in the small triangle on the stern of the W32 (or 28).  Use a low profile vinyl scoop, and the tiller will easily clear over it.  Install an exhaust fan in the lazarette on the underside of the hole, and it will create a suction to pull the hot air out.  Also great for cooling off the engine compartment after you have secured the engine.
  • November 05, 2011 6:19 PM
    Quote
    Reply # 743133 on 608281
    Anonymous member
    Dick Mills wrote:
    ... I'm thinking about adding engine compartment ventilation, with an air inlet from the cabin, an exhaust somewhere aft in the cockpit (but forward of the aft lazarette bulkhead), and a fan...

    Dick,

    Did you ever install the ventilation? If so, what method did you end up using, and how much did it help? I'm about to replace the batteries in Drifter after a long time on the hard. I'd like to do whatever is necessary to ensure their longevity. I'm also considering moving them inside, but will address that in another thread.

    Thanks for any advise.

    Jack
  • November 06, 2011 3:21 AM
    Quote
    Reply # 743293 on 608281
    Anonymous member
    It's still on my to do list Jack.