New boat - Allegro 27

[SeaHusky]

This is the planned layout. I have omitted the "hanging clothes locker" opposite of the head in favour of a king size birth for when moored. Fuel- and water tanks and batteries are shown. All other areas, except beneath the chart table, are storage areas.
Comments are welcome!

[CharlieJ]

That looks really nice

I love your workbench- guess why ;D

[Tim]

I like the layout, similar to what I did with the Ariel

http://www.pbase.com/morningdove/mariah&page=3

[SeaHusky]

Temperatures are now far below freezing and too expensive to keep the boat heated enough for glassing bulkheads so time for something different. With the help of a friend the engine, a 20 year old Lombardini LDV 602 two cylinder, common rail, 16hp diesel, has gone from being just a noisy lump of wizardry located in the most awkward space to an understandable, functioning integral part of the boat.

[Cruiser2B]

Nice to see you are making progress. The weather has turned cold here too. Keep up the great work!

[fossil2010]

Nice boat Many years of pleasure with her

[SeaHusky]

Ordered spare parts for rebuilding the engine. Less then 2000 hrs of run time but 20 years of corrosion still leaves a mark.
Also my new boom with single line reefing arrived.
The easier it is to reef and unfurl the more likely you are to do it in time.

[SeaHusky]

Engine rebuild continued. Main parts sandblasted and painted.
I chose yellow to make the whole engine room lighter and for any leaks or beginning corrosion to be easily visible. 

[SeaHusky]

Progress is slow but it is there!
Underneath the births there will be three storage compartments on each side.
On starboard there will be one for batteries and two for storage and on the port side will be one with mainly a water bladder and two storage. 
The birth tops were not reusable so I am making new ones which will have top loading hatches for each compartment.
I tried to adapt and reuse the original bunk fronts but it didn't work so they will also be replaced with new ones and will have the radiators for the heating system inset.





Now, as I am making completely new bunk tops and fronts they will not have any holes unless I put them there so now I have the option of either creating ventilation to the compartments or making them all separate and watertight (as James Baldwin, Atom suggests).
My concerns are condensation and mold, as well as ventilation of the battery compartment so -
what are your ideas and suggestions?

[Godot]

I think you need some kind of ventilation. Especially for the batteries.

For storage lockers perhaps you can get away with some kind of desiccant and a schedule of regular cleanings. Or perhaps you can somehow route ventilation through a pipe to a higher output location? Without a fan to boost airflow it might not be too effective, though.

Risk management. Hmm. Ideally, multiple water tight compartments could help save the boat in the unlikely occurrence of a hull breach. Mold is a constant battle, and without decent ventilation (and thereby compromising water tight integrity of a compartment) it is likely to be a losing one. Sinking could be fatal. Mold could be annoying, damaging and unpleasant and if ignored a health concern. Choices, choices.

Personally. I think any locker likely to have clothing, food, paper, etc... really needs to have decent ventilation, or quality of life is going to suffer. If you have space that isn't necessary for stowage (like Bigfoot, such a concept has been suggested by the occasional blurry picture; but never definitively proven), perhaps sealing it and filling it with foam would be a good idea.

Another thought, I guess, is if you were planning on a serious expedition (where the giant ice cubes float, for instance), then the unpleasantness of completely sealed lockers would be overridden by an increased likelihood of hitting something hard and sharp.

So ventilate. Or not. I could be wrong.

[SeaHusky]

If you have space that isn't necessary for stowage (like Bigfoot, such a concept has been suggested by the occasional blurry picture; but never definitively proven)

Oh come on, you can't seriously believe in that stuff? Next you will say that rum may cause headaches.

Thanks for the suggestions! Although my current charts do cover Spitzbergen it is improbable that I will go there any time soon. Having all compartments watertight is a fun idea to play with but as you say not really practical. I think I will go for adequate ventilation.

[Norman]

Tremendous progress!  Access from the top can be annoying when the cushions must be raised, but in a sever heel or knockdown, everything stays in place.  I have also found that it is easier to fumble around and find the items in the corners from above!

Batteries vent corrosive and explosive gasses, hydrogen and oxygen, in perfect ratio to ruin your day.  Fortunately, most of the time, in small quantities.  The battery compartment should be as near air tight as practical to the interior, and have two small vent tubes to the exterior.  1/4 inch or 1/2 cm should be adequate.  One end should be near the top of the compartment to vent hydrogen, the other at the bottom for the oxygen.

Two will encourage circulation, preventing build up of gasses.  Small thru hull vents similar to fuel tank vents would be suitable, on a vertical surface, and turned differently so they will not have the same air pressure, no matter the wind direction.

The tubes should each run up above the vents, the back down, to discourage splashes from running into the battery compartment.

[CapnK]

Make the compartment(s) - the ones which you are otherwise thinking to put a bladder into - into sealed water tanks of their own right, and if you get a hull hole there, no big deal, except for the lost water. ;)

Top-loading access basically creates a lot of little coffer dams in the space below, each area of which would then become (sort of) sea chests in the event of a holing, right? So make the 'lids' seal-able, maybe with gaskets and a way to tighten/lock them down if the hull below is breached. That was a thought I've had.. :)

[Capt. Tony]

We did top-loading compartments for all of our lockers with the exception of a few small lockers in the galley.  Almost all of the top-loaders could be made water tight with the addition of gaskets and latches on the lids as all of the seams were filleted and taped during construction.  I am watching for signs of mold but I think it is just too hot in the yard and the addition of cooler water on the outside of the hull may start something.  The starboard setee lockers would be easy enough to add vents to, but the v-berth lockers are a different story  If it does change considerably what desiccant would you guys recommend?
Thanks in advance.

[Godot]

I'm not sure that desiccant is a typically recommended solution. It's just my idea, and seems to make sense to me. Try Indicating-Desiccant-Silica-Canister-Pelican. I haven't used it; but it appears reusable which is good.

Since I made my comment, it occurred to me that I have lockers without decent ventilation, and so far I haven't had too much trouble, although they aren't tightly sealed, so maybe I overstate things. I think lockers containing clothing would be the biggest risk. If you can put things in plastic totes with tight sealing lids it might even be OK. Maybe.

[CharlieJ]

ALL of the lockers on Tehani are top opening, and under settee cushions, or berth cushions.

They are totally sealed off at each end. I have had zero problems with things getting moldy. I do have the lower part of all lockers lined with that waffle weave rubberized material used as shelf liners.

Launched after rebuild in 2004, and have spent many many days cruising

On the previous boat, Necessity. I had the same, but I cut a small hole in the front of each locker, up high and pushed in one of the sink drain covers- the kind with three spring fingers on the back. Never had a problem there either. And remember- I live where 95% humidity is pretty normal.

I do get mold on the inside of the cabin top, and sides. I keep a container of the Clorox wipes, and use those every once in a while to wipe down. Keeps THAT mildew in check

[SeaHusky]

I am slowly creating and dry fitting the jigsaw puzzle that will be the interior.
The bunks have been lowered 2" and have got new fronts, made from recycling
the mahogany ply that was the old bunk tops, and a stern facing nav-station is coming together.
A large part of the chart table will be hinged and can be folded up to give access to the area underneath
where perhaps I can later fit a life raft in a soft pack or something else useful?
I have also taken my Short range certificate so I can legally mount my VHF.





The cooler used to take up all the space where the nav-station now is but I have managed
to squeeze it in to the aft part of the pentry.


As always any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated as I am more or less making things up as I go along!

[Jim_ME]

Nice work. I like the way the aft end of the settee/berth does double duty as a seat at the chart table. Good use of space. :)

[Bud]

WOW

What a great boat and the progress you have made is fantastic!

You should be very, very proud.

[SeaHusky]

Thanks Bud!
Are you doing any work on your boat that I can steal some ideas from?