[Concordia]

Some counsel please. I own a Cape North 43 center cockpit cutter with pathetic engine room ventilation. All it has is a 1.5 inch hole, leading to a 1 inch by 3 inch conduit, which is connected to a cowl vent on the aft deck. This conduit is too small of an area to connect to a blower and connecting a pipe to this vent isn't a good option (runs through the aft head). The designer has told me to plumb a 4 inch pipe from the engine room and vent at the highest point into the cockpit. His reasoning for this are two-fold: harder for seawater to enter in all but the worst conditions and (2) to be able to smell the warm air coming out of the engine room. Don't want to smell it; don't want to feel it. He shot down my idea of a vent on the seaward side of the cockpit seat backs (yes an entry point for seawater) and a long run to the transom (seawater entry). Any ideas or opinions to the designer's comments? Thanks in advance.