We have a scoop, and if there's any wind it keeps the V berth cool. But if it's light wind, that nice breeze doesn't seem to make it into the rest of the boat. In a heavier breeze, yes it sure does- but not so much aft cabins.

We used to use a big AC fan at the dock to force air, and it worked well, but for whatever reason we got away from that. We have small DC fans blowing on our sleeping positions, and that works well on all but the hottest nights.

I find that on hot, sunny days drenching the deck before sleep works wonders at mitigating heat exchange into the cabin. Also, drenching the humans- getting to sleep when one's core is hot is tough; once you're asleep you'll stay asleep but it's that first hurdle. Cooling off the core (swim, shower) before climbing into bed gets one to sleep.

 

...
I find that on hot, sunny days drenching the deck before sleep works wonders at mitigating heat exchange into the cabin. Also, drenching the humans- getting to sleep when one's core is hot is tough; once you're asleep you'll stay asleep but it's that first hurdle. Cooling off the core (swim, shower) before climbing into bed gets one to sleep.

Drenching the deck. Using a deck wash pump/hose? I have to admit I'd not thought of that before or heard of it so far either. I'd already been looking at installing a deck wash up near the anchor locker to rinse that but now I'm thinking perhaps somewhere mid-ship for a connector so a shorter hose can reach bow to stern without leaving a hose sitting out all the time.

 

I have used wind scoops here on the Chesapeake for as long as I have cruised the Chesapeake, They work pretty well. I rig mine with a light line that pulls the top of the scoop forward and all four corners are tied to the four corners of the opening so that the scoop does not collapse as often. That works pretty well. I have the solar charged vents on the hatches and that moves air through the boat during the day.

I have sailed with a fellow who had louvered companionway hatch slides and had temporary mounts for 12 volt computer cooling fans behind the louvers that drew air through the cabin. That worked pretty well when the scoops didn't have enough breeze. I do have a small 12 volt fan at the foot of the bed that provides a small breeze. While it does cool things down a bit, I don't use it all that much unless my wife is along.

Jeff.

 

Big fan of the Windscoop here. the downside to the traditional Windscoop is that if you anchor in a tidal area, as the boat turns and points away from the wind it will backwind, collapse and make a racket (thus interfering with my beauty sleep!). Same will happen if your boat happens to "sail at anchor".


also a big fan of fans. I have a few fixed mount fans (Caframo and Hella) and two movable, rechargeable fans from Amazon. These "Amazon special" rechargeable fans surprised me. They are well made, super quiet, and convenient since they can be placed anywhere.

Amazon.com: xasla 10000mAh Portable Rechargeable Clip on Fan, 8 inch Battery Operated Fan, 24 Hours Work Time, 4 Speeds Personal Fan, Ideal for Outdoor Camping Golf Cart Home Office Blue : Home & Kitchen

Amazon.com: xasla 10000mAh Portable Rechargeable Clip on Fan, 8 inch Battery Operated Fan, 24 Hours Work Time, 4 Speeds Personal Fan, Ideal for Outdoor Camping Golf Cart Home Office Blue : Home & Kitchen

www.amazon.com

 

Windscoops are quite effective. They do best in the forward hatch at anchor with the boat heading into the wind. In a slip you might need to re-orient the wind scoop into the wind or move it to a different hatch and it might not work as well. Solar-powered vents with batteries that keep them working at night are wonderful too.

 

I had a wind scoop years back, but didn’t like having one more thing to do. Then store it as well. Our hatches have always opened facing front, so they naturally act as a scoop, when anchored or moored.

If the air is cool outside, even if still, I’ve never found it too hot to sleep. However, I’m very comfortable, maybe more comfortable, sleeping with no covers and as little to nothing on. My wife wants to be under full covers, then says the room is too warm. I don’t get it.

A good 12v fan, mounted in the cabin is all I’ve ever needed, even on a steamy Caribbean evening. Get a good one with multiple speeds and adjustable direction. We have one on each side of our stateroom.

I know of hatch fans for ventilation, but don’t think they’ll do the job, as they work with the hatch closed and are low volume. Eventually, everyone is awakened to rain, with the hatch open, so I’d be reluctant to have electronics running exposed below it.

 

My wife wants the room sub-zero and under enough covers to make me sweat like I'm in a sauna. I'm usually pushing them all atop her to escape the heat.

I've looked into the WindScoop before and I'm wondering if we can't rig something up to act in the same way. We've got some time to figure it out over the next couple months before it gets really warm here on the Bay.

We have one of the Caframo fans installed in the aft cabin now and an extra one that we're deciding where it would best provide airflow. We have a couple other older fans that I've resisted installing because I think they're probably junk and don't want to put more holes anywhere that isn't a good fan.


Thanks everyone for your insights.

 

We have one of the Caframo fans installed in the aft cabin now and an extra one that we're deciding where it would best provide airflow. We have a couple other older fans that I've resisted installing because I think they're probably junk and don't want to put more holes anywhere that isn't a good fan.

The Admiral bought some DC clip-on fans that are USB chargeable. I scoffed at first, after all we've had fans, but these new fans run more than 12 hours on their own batteries. And as clip-on, and without a cable, we can put them exactly where they blow best at night. Since they are USB, and I installed LED lights with USB throughout the boat, we can plug them into the light bases and let them charge all day.

They are also a lot quieter than the old DC fans.

I'd toss the old fans. The new technology really impressed me.

 

I have the standard wind scoop you have to rig, but a friend of mine has a pop up wind scoop that is much easier to set up, it just has a batten that goes in the hatch and pulls against that to support itself. His is similar to this

Port Ventilator - Breezebooster

Breeze Booster - self supporting hatch or port ventilator

www.breezebooster.com

I have a couple Caframo fans, but I still find them a bit loud. Lately I like portable fans as @bristol299bob said, but I like this one. It is dead quiet, runs for a couple days on low, stands, hangs, or mounts on a screw. I sometimes hang it in the hatch to blow down, mount it on a screw in the companionway to blow out (or in), hang from a hook like a ceiling fan, put it on the sole for an upfan that helps when I'm using a heater, just stand it somewhere, or it fits nicely in one of my protected portlights when it is raining.

Amazon.com: 10000mAh Battery Operated Camping Fan with LED Light-7 inch USB Fan with Hanging Hook for Tent Car RV Hurricane Emergency Outage : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com: 10000mAh Battery Operated Camping Fan with LED Light-7 inch USB Fan with Hanging Hook for Tent Car RV Hurricane Emergency Outage : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

A boom tent can keep the cabin a lot cooler. I sometimes drench with fresh water, but I'm not sure about spraying extra salt water on the decks.

 

I have found the solar powered vents to be failures after 3-4 years, just like solar powered landscape lights for your yard. The batteries and solar array just aren't big enough. On my boat, the solar powered fan worked great the first 2 years. Then the 3rd year, it would only work when in bright sun. The 4th year, the fan stopped completely. I don't even cover my foredeck in the winter (where the fan was located), and I still had this history. I imagine people who cover their boats (or at least the solar array) will see the battery deteriorate even faster.

I replaced the powered vent with a mushroom-style vent (Beckson) that extracts air by the wind moving across it. No battery or solar array to worry about. Omni-directional. The Beckson vent even lets light in during the day. It doesn't move as much air as the fan does (but half as much according to figures), but its reliability more than makes up the difference for me.

Previous owner had installed vents in the cockpit seat backs at the transom to provide air for the quarter berths and in the cabin hatch boards. I screened the back of these vents to prevent bugs, but they work well in conjunction with the mushroom vent. Just a battery fan to blow air directly on me on those hot, windless nights will complete the install.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 #4133 Sweet P

 

I have found the solar powered vents to be failures after 3-4 years, just like solar powered landscape lights for your yard. The batteries and solar array just aren't big enough. On my boat, the solar powered fan worked great the first 2 years. Then the 3rd year, it would only work when in bright sun. The 4th year, the fan stopped completely. I don't even cover my foredeck in the winter (where the fan was located), and I still had this history. I imagine people who cover their boats (or at least the solar array) will see the battery deteriorate even faster.

I replace the battery in my Nicro hatch vent every few years when it fails like yours. The battery on mine is a standard C size NiCd which I got for a couple $ on Amazon.
These little fans don't move much air and don't really work for cooling. They are pretty good at providing some positive ventilation when your boat is closed up.

 

I've found that wind scoops don't work well at anchor, or on a mooring. Every one I've tried, and I have tried most of the common ones, always fold over at the apex of the swings. I have found that they do work well in a slip, though.
Many of the household, smaller (+/_ 10") fans such as the 02 Cool fans, are 12 vdc fans with the plug in converter. Cut that off, figure out plus/minus and Bob's your uncle. Much quieter than any marine or auto fan, and less watts.

 

We use a wind scoop called "Breezebooster" and it works very well, both on a mooring and at the dock. No halyards involved in setting it up. Breezebooster

Also have several wired 12v fans on board, and a couple Worx fans that run on batteries. My battery operated power tools are also from Worx, so we always have several batteries at the ready. (The Worx fans also run on DC power, for when we're connected to shore power.)

Finally, at our home dock - during the dog days of late July and August - we bring a portable AC unit on board. Just vent it through one of the portholes. Don't bring it with us when we're sailing though.

 

The Plastimo wind scoop is allegedly omnidirectional.

https://www.tradeinn.com/waveinn/en/plastimo-ventilating-sail/136655403/p?id_producte=5984731&country=us&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Looking at the one photo, I'm having trouble understanding how.

 

I've never seen one, but I believe the center section is a cross such that it catches wind from all directions.

 

I ordered the "Breeze Bandit ALL Direction Wind" from cruisingsolutions.com after doing a little research and thinking about the ever changing wind.

After reading the subsequent comments I'm glad I did. Now I just hope it works as expected. I'll take all the advice I can use and report back over the next few weeks. We are moving aboard before the end of the month!

Thank you all for the invaluable insights!

 

Re. Aft cabins, it not so much trying to ram air into a forward hatch as extracting it with an aft, aft-facing hatch. Also, the location of the hatches can be critical. Is it is a low-pressure area or a high pressure area? The front of a cabin wall may be high pressure, but the roof just behind that may be low pressure. The flow disturbed by deck edges or gear on deck? Particularly before cutting holes, snoop the area with a hand held anemometer. I wrote an article based on testing in the wind for PS 2-3 years ago. Very location-specific.

And don't forget bugs and the ability to close it without getting out of bed (even on hot nights it tends to get cool in the wee hours).

 

Re. Aft cabins,

That's a whole new subject. I'd bet that there are threads on this. Darned aft cabins with no airflow. Forward hatch blasts air down, but it doesn't get to the aft cabin. Ours is quite open into the salon, and has three ports, but no significant airflow ever gets back there. The fans help, but it's not like having a blast of cool air on your face. I will admit, I am wholly hesitant to start cutting through liner and cockpit seating to add a hatch. Surely, the manufacturers know that aft cabins have no airflow, but elect not to improve on that- and people buy the boats anyway.

 

Dorades may be a solution here. However, the amount of airflow may not be sufficient for this query. Has anyone ever rigged a fan into a dorade?

 

We love our aft cabin however the air flow is a problem. The air flow streams in from the hatches through the boat but doesn't quite seem to exit through the aft hatches in a discernible way whether the companionway is open or closed. I definitely feel air flow through the companionway if its open, but strangely standing the doorway to aft I can only barely feel much movement.
I've been searching for 12V hatch fans to blow outward. I'll have the spring to see if some sort of RV Roof Vent might do the trick. Found these on eBay:
14" Manual 12V Air/Rain Roof Vent Hatch Fan
RV Roof Vent Fan 14 inch Reversible with Rain Cover Power Top Lid

Our aft cabin actually already has a pair of large hatches that already have covers built in as part of the cockpit seating. Thinking I might be able to drop something like this in.

 

+++ For Breeze Bandit. We spend two months of the year in Canada, mostly at anchor. Breeze Bandit has worked flawlessly. We place high value on this item.

 

I will be able to provide my own experiences soon, we are moving aboard today. I'll report back to this thread for anyone who's interested.