Dry your boat

[freeheel4life]

So there was some chatter about drying boats in the recent dock/lift do' s and donts.

Thought I'd post our quasi homemade dryer that rocks. During fall we regularly receive boats that are rain soaked and need to be dried before shrinkwrapping to prevent mold. We've come up with this (we have 2 of them now). When it's really cold I put a small space heater in front of the intake of the fan. I put the cover back on to trap some heat and the covers will steam when conditions are just right.
This one's looking a little beat up because our detail kid is a big hulk that tosses stiff around.

[JohnnieMo]

I'm reminded of Professor Octavius

Very cool device though. A dry boat is a happy boat.

[Bakes5]

Yep..I just point that type of fan into a bilge port. Dries everything out including the carpet in the lockers. I do have to open the access ports in the rear lockers though for flows. I can feel air coming out: 1) under the driver seat, 2) from the port side locker door in the bow, and 3) from each of the engine vents. Even after a royal soaking (*Rain, kids in and out, wet tubes, wet suits, bow dunkings by rookie drivers) it is bone dry within a day everywhere.

I've helped buddies do work on their boat in the spring that still had wet areas from the prior season.

[freeheel4life]

^^^that was the point of the multiple hoses and varying lengths. Its amazing how much water gets held in the carpets. Definitely allows you to target some of the trouble spots you mentioned with more direct circulation. If you shrink it damp they come out with fuzzy smelly mold, even if you double up on dessicant. Boats that are really bad end up getting the bags pulled as well. Depending on how much rain/condition of cover/ and outside relative humidity, we can usually winterize them first, put fans in and cover it back up and leave it for the night under an awning. Usually ready to shrink the next morning.

[MikeB313]

Anyone have any experience (good or bad) with those Starbrite No Damp Dehumidifier buckets?

[bsreid]

You talking about those little white crystals? We used them in our 5th wheel for the longest time, they somehow got so much moisture out of everything. Got a dehumidifier a couple years back and it’s even better.

[freeheel4life]

We hang the scented Damp-Rid brand bags that you can get at HD or Lowes. They are pretty cheap and seem to suck up a ton of water. Just be sure not to puncture the bag. It will ruin carpet....ask me how I know. SMH

[Bakes5]

Got it. I thought it was for multiple boats at once. You know what is always wet, 100% of the time? The carpet under ballast bags. Nothing other than removal of the bags will fix that.

[TigeFamily]

I got one of those exact fans (used by restoration companies to put under carpet or in houses to dry out water damage) that I use to dry out my boat after every outing, blows so hard like Bakes said it dries out everything.
I take out my rear ballast bags too every other outing....or fold them back and stick a box fan in rear locker to blow under the bag to dry things out.