10m mid cabin Bildge Vent hoses

[koviak]

Need to replace my flexible vent hoses on my 1989 10 meter mid cabin. Has anyone done this? Not sure about access to vent box at gunnels,they are covered by a fiberglass assembly on the exterior. Do I need to add inspection ports on the cockpit side to get into?

[RWS]

on the non-mid cabin they are behind the art-deco stainless steel grilles.

Sorry I cannot be of assistance on the mid-cabin version

RWS

[BobCT]

The hoses are basically stapled to pieces of square plywood (with a hole in the middle) and can be seen when you take off the outside vents.

Those pieces are screwed straight up and only accessible when you remove the deck plates on each side, behind your L shaped seat and/or wet bar.

It's a tight fit and tricky. I installed a subwoofer on one side and used part of the existing hole so I had twice the room to work with - nice. You might consider enlarging the deck plates to maybe to 8 or 10". They're cheap and if you replace your gas tank fill hose that upgrade will pay off again.

You'll probably find that the plywood pieces are warped and rotted. It's easy enough to make new ones while you have the old ones out. Make sure you use SS staples when attaching the new hose. There's probably a better way to attach the hose to the plywood but I didn't do any re-engineering this time.

When there all good, the rainwater should come in through the side vents and down into the bilge w/o splashing all over the gas tanks.


UPDATE - the info above will be a good for someone replacing the INTAKE hoses.

I haven't replaced the bilge exhaust hoses but I saw the fasteners which hold the gunnel cut out in place. If you remove the storage box all the way aft you'll have a better view. You might just be able to use a 4" dryer vent connector and splice in new hose assuming they're not ripped all the way at the end.

Bob

[koviak]

Bob, you say the vent covers are attached from the inside? Remember how many screws?

[BobCT]

well, now that I've confused things:

1) the intake vents are removable from the outside, vent under each arch

2) the intake vent hose connections are made from inside the cockpit, accessible by removing the spin off deck plates. There's a screw in each corner of the hose attachment piece. 4 per hose.

3) the bilge exhaust goes up to the removable cut out on the side of the hull. That is attached with studs and nuts, not exactly sure how many.

[koviak]

Thanks Bob, will try next weekend as snow is coming sunday here in Maryland. ( I thought it was spring time!)