Newbie question

[AlLorman]

I've just purchased the 1990 PSC 31 that was for sale in Key West. She's a bit rough cosmetically but quite sound structurally and mechanically. She's on her way to the Chesapeake in the care of a professional delivery captain.

I'm sure that I'll have all sorts of questions as time goes by, but I have one right now about the Vetus dorades and cowl vents that were standard equipment. These are missing from my new boat. The currently available replacement dorades are plastic, rather than aluminum. I found a set of the older aluminum dorades as well as the cowl vents at Bacon's in Annapolis. Can anyone tell me how the dorades were finished when new? The ones I've bought appear to have been dipped in a white plastic coating. Is this original?

Many thanks.

Al Lorman
PSC 31 No. 55
S/V Ann West

[lsbrodsky]

My originals in 94 were white plastic. I replaced them once and 2 part epoxy painted them the second time.
Larry

[MARC2012]

Welcome good choice ps are great boats.marc

[SVArgo]

I also had the aluminum ones, they got pretty corroded, so I had them blasted, primed them with zinc aluminum primer then topcoated with the PacSea topside color paint (I think it's Eggshell, can check if you need to know).

That said, if you haven't got the new ones on yet, I would strongly recommend jettisoning the Vetus dorade boxes, they really don't perform that well and anything over a light rain ships water in the boat, not to mention actually taking waves. I'd recommend a properly engineered traditional dorade box and pipe system. Also, if you do put the Vetus boxes on, ensure that a) you don't put a steel vent lock ring on and b) that if you use aluminum or plastic rings slather a liberal amount of Anti-Seize (from NAPA Auto Parts) on the threads, they tend to lock up very easily.

Oh yeah, the plastic lock rings have a bad habit of snapping when the vent is subjected to a load, bumping into it, stays'l sheet fouling it, etc.

Ryan

[AlLorman]

Many thanks, Ryan. It does sound like there's no simple solution. Do your Vetus vents have the clamshell vents inside? It was my understanding that a Vetus clamshell is installed inside the dorade to keep the water out. Do you have an assembly like that?

I considered going the te4ak dorade box and stainless vent route, but that would both be more expensive and take more time to install. I will probably put in the Vetus ones I have now and upgrade them at some time in the future when my not inconsiderable "to do" list is shorter.

Al

[SVArgo]

Originally Posted by AlLorman

Many thanks, Ryan. It does sound like there's no simple solution. Do your Vetus vents have the clamshell vents inside? It was my understanding that a Vetus clamshell is installed inside the dorade to keep the water out. Do you have an assembly like that?

Al

I do have the clamshell vents, they are semi-effective when fully closed, not when open, but the purpose of the dorade system is to maintain ventilation when it's wet. So during a steamy downpour in Miami, we can't keep air flowing through the boat and it gets quite sticky and stuffy. I agree that the teak boxes definitely involve more time, money, space, blood, sweat, tears, and beers. Let me know when you figure out a way to make the to do list get shorter, I can't seem to do it.

[wiley586]

Originally Posted by SVArgo

I do have the clamshell vents, they are semi-effective when fully closed, not when open, but the purpose of the dorade system is to maintain ventilation when it's wet. So during a steamy downpour in Miami, we can't keep air flowing through the boat and it gets quite sticky and stuffy. I agree that the teak boxes definitely involve more time, money, space, blood, sweat, tears, and beers. Let me know when you figure out a way to make the to do list get shorter, I can't seem to do it.

I don't doubt your experience, but my experience on my 1988 31 differs. I have the plastic Vetus with the clamshells. I don't like them much, but not because of leaks of any sort. I have never noticed any leak whatsoever under any conditions of wind, rain, or spray. Solid water would probably be another thing, but I'd expect that.

On the other hand, the ventilation provided is negligible in normal conditions and the teak dorades are much better looking to my eye.

[SVPrairieRose]

I just turfed my dorades in favor of nicro day night solar fans... I am never looking back. They sit an inch off my deck, snag no lines and run 24 hours a day with or without a breese.

[oceangirl]

Sorry for posting on an old thread...

We have a psc34 with old vetus aluminiun dorades with inner mushroom vents. We would like to install the nicro vents. Could you tell me which nicro you purchased and if you needed to retro fit it, the cut out of our dorades seems to be about 5 inches.
Thanks,
Erika

[svjobeth]

Hey,

Welcome Alorman!

We have a PSC 34 with the original Vetus mushroom vents and the plastic/flexible dorade cowls. As far as I'm aware, these are original to PSC boats built in the '80's through the mid '90's. (Ours is an '84.) I seem to recall that Vetus had a 'maintenance kit' available that included some sort of cleaning solution and spray paint for re-coating the cowls.

Ours work well enough, but look horrible. FWIW, our future plans include replacing them with proper dorade boxes and bronze dorade vents, with bars to prevent line snags. That's a bit down the road though; we've bigger fish to fry, as the saying goes...