March 16, 2006 - A Breath of Fresh Air
by Scott and Wendy Bannerot

Have you ever been invited to dinner aboard another sailboat in the tropics, and stepped eagerly down the companionway, only to find a dark, very warm, stuffy interior? The sweat starts trickling, and you look around, seeing no portholes to open, and limited - if any - deck hatches to catch the cool ocean breezes.

We can't take any credit for the fact that Elan is extraordinarily well-ventilated - that all goes to her designer, the late Philippe Harle. As I've said before, I was even more young and naïve than I am now when I fell backwards into the purchase deal nearly 20 years ago. I was incredibly fortunate to acquire a boat so far ahead of its time, so well set up by someone who, unlike myself, knew what he was doing, so that by accident I could start out on the right foot.

Good ventilation is the key to comfortable cruising in the tropics, particularly when you are spending the summer in a place like Pago Pago, American Samoa (above). Note the three portholes visible on the port side just under the rub rail. The boat is all closed up and locked in this photo as we are going ashore.

Here's what works for us.

First, Harle used all very high quality Goiot hatches and portholes, and he put them all over the place - a giant forepeak hatch, a large deck hatch over the center of the two main sleeping cabins, and another at the front of the wheelhouse. Each sleeping cabin also got a sizable opening porthole, and the aft settee area has two portholes on each side with two portholes in the transom. In a calm anchorage in fine weather, when we are completely opened up, the wind fairly sucks through the entire vessel, and it's nearly as well-ventilated as being up on deck. Wendy at times adds wind scoops to the cabin hatches or forepeak hatch, and then it's a veritable hurricane. The transom portholes in particular have a pronounced effect on air draw through the vessel - the difference when they are opened is pronounced. One improvement would be to have the forepeak hatch capable of opening at either end. At sea or when it's raining, it's good the way it is, hinged at the forward edge. However, on the hook, if we had the option of opening it from the aft edge, it would scoop air far more effectively. I can't say enough about the quality of these Goiot hatches and portholes - we replace the seals maybe every eight years, and they absolutely do not leak at all, even the portholes that are submerged frequently at sea. (Yes, you can look underwater when we heel over.)

In addition to the hatches and portholes, Harle added four large dorade vents, two just forward of the mast, one over the head, and one over the main cabin. The brand is Vetus, and they're excellent. We turn the PVC cowls away from the oncoming wave direction at sea and get good air flow even with the hatches closed. In heavy conditions we remove the cowls and install seals. The PVC cowls crack and oxidize after about 10 years, so we'll be due for a third set fairly soon.

	En route to Micronesia from Tonga, with the wind on our starboard quarter in settled conditions, it's no problem to keep the forward wheelhouse hatch (lower right corner of photo) and at least one cabin hatch open for improved ventilation at sea.

Despite the multitude of openings aboard Elan, our strong affection for the tropics led us to further enhance belowdecks ventilation with the installation of 12V fans in the forepeak (1), main cabin (2), crew cabin (1), wheelhouse (1), and aft settee (2). For years we stuck with two-speed Hella Turbo fans, but to be honest, we experienced an extremely high failure rate with this model despite the fact that it is one of the more expensive, higher-quality ones available. We went through about 14 of them! We also found the air flow, even out of a healthy one, to be a little disappointing. We replaced two with Caframo 12V "cageless" fans with the soft plastic blades - both blow a huge amount of air, and neither has failed after six years. In fact, they blow so hard that I decided, after reading an article by Hal Roth, to try his recommendation of the inexpensive 12V Hella Jet fan as the second one in our bunk, and as usual, Hal was right. That fan still works like new at the age of five years and only costs a third as much as the fancier Turbo model by the same company! I would add that apparently Caframo realized how hard their fans blew, and so they now make that same model in a 2-speed. My last comment is that the Hella Jet fan in our boat is considerably quieter than the Caframo, a plus especially for sleeping cabins.

Our system for keeping fresh air flow going at a marina or at anchor is to open as many hatches and portholes as prevailing weather and security conditions permit, and to face the dorade cowls in to the prevailing wind. At sea, all portholes and the forepeak hatch generally remain closed. We do open or at least crack the wheelhouse and cabin hatches if sea conditions permit, and in very settled conditions we may even open a porthole or two in the daytime, most often the windward transom porthole.

Regarding air conditioning, we have no generator, and thus the only time we can use it is if we are at a land base. I make a temporary companionway board out of 3/4" plywood, with a hole cut out to accommodate the smallest, cheapest available household window A/C unit. Even 5,000 BTU's is enough to freeze down the whole boat in hot, stifling conditions, like August in the Florida Keys. We plug in to shore power, and we're away. The unit drips down in to the cockpit sole and drains out happily. It's a bit unwieldy climbing over it to get in and out, but well worth the dry, cool, highly comfortable interior when we're tied up somewhere in civilization with little or no breeze, and high heat and humidity.