"orbital" wrote in message
m...

Some people have expressed concern that it opens up the risk of
getting seawater contamination in heavy seas and that the boatbuilder
probably chose to do this on purpose.

Do you get sea water into your fuel tanks? They are certainly vented
overboard!

The boats I have owned have all had the vents mounted through the hull. If
you want to assure that you don't get any seawater back in the vent then run
the vent line as high as you can, but a vented loop at the top, then run the
line back down to the hull. There is no way that any significant amount of
spray is going to migrate several feet up a hose.

Rod

Comments below.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Rod McInnis" wrote in message
...

"orbital" wrote in message
m...

Some people have expressed concern that it opens up the risk of
getting seawater contamination in heavy seas and that the boatbuilder
probably chose to do this on purpose.

Do you get sea water into your fuel tanks? They are certainly vented
overboard!

Not necessarily. Current school of thought is to vent them in the cockpit.
No problem with overflow overboard (big fine). No problem with
sal****er infiltration. There was an article about it in the past year or so
in Cruising Worls or PS or ON.

The boats I have owned have all had the vents mounted through the hull.
If
you want to assure that you don't get any seawater back in the vent then
run
the vent line as high as you can, but a vented loop at the top, then run
the
line back down to the hull. There is no way that any significant amount
of
spray is going to migrate several feet up a hose.

Spray isn't the problem. Immersion is the potential problem.

Rod

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...

Do you get sea water into your fuel tanks? They are certainly vented
overboard!

Not necessarily. Current school of thought is to vent them in the cockpit.
No problem with overflow overboard (big fine). No problem with
sal****er infiltration.


Who's school of thought is it to vent gas tanks into the cockpit?

It is certainly illegal to have portable tanks (which place the vents inside
the boat) on anything other than an open boat with an outboard. I would
think that it would also be illegal to vent the tank inside the boat. It
certainly doesn't seem like a wise idea.

A properly installed vented loop will prevent any back flow of sea water
into a line. No need to create additional problems and/or hazards.


Rod