Skip,
Dorades do work very well, but you do not install them by themselves. They
must be mounted in a partitioned dorade box. This box separates water and
air with gravity. The deck vent is mounted under the box and it is opened
and closed from below. I have 9 installed on my 60' sloop. The complexity of
the deck vents is a product of the deck construction. There is a deck plate
and cap on top, a mating overhead flange below, a tube in between equating
to the deck thickness and a threaded shaft connecting the deck cap with a
closing mechanism below.
Steve

"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot fishcatcher
(net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in message
...
Has anyone retrofit dorades to their boats?

We're looking at long periods on the hook, when we'll be off the boat all
day (commuting, in the Caribbean) and are looking at mold and mildew
prevention.

For whatever reason, I seem to be particularly sensitive to mold, having
just had another recurrence of a burst eardrum here at home (clogged
Eustachian tubes, infection follows, pressure builds up and necropsy
finishes it). Thus, making sure we have a free flow of air will be
important.

We'll have full awnings, but don't want to leave the boat open, nor do we
want to go to bars/grates which would allow leaving the hatches
cracked/open
but (in my, prior security industry-experienced, view) severely
compromising
emergency exit.

Thus the thought of dorades. Two questions about that:

Is it a big deal in our cored deck, or about the same as installing a
winch
or other topside item?

If you've done it, are you happy with the outcome?

I'm thinking in terms of a couple forward, facing forward, and another
couple aft, facing aft, when we're at anchor, with caps for in and out
when
we're in the Briny (I'd sure hate to dump a bucket of water down on the
new
bedding!!). That, I presume, would allow for a pretty consistent air flow
through the boat. Finding somewhere to put them which won't screw up our
deck space any more than is already the case will be the biggest
challenge.

So, experience??

Thanks.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
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