The past couple of mornings have been the first since my and Momma Kitty’s return to SWALLOW (back in June) that there has been long-lasting condensation in the cabin. The wetter Fall air and an overnight temperature in the high 40s combination has brought back the damp.
SWALLOW is a dry boat. This is because of her combination of a dry bilge and wood construction. She only ‘sweats’ during the cold and damp season where thinner fiberglass can sweat during summer nights. She is also easy to dry out as she has no hull or cabin liners (aka, ceiling) to collect and trap moisture.
I still need to wipe down some spaces during condensation season: settee lockers (about once a month) and the far aft ends of the 1/4-berths (every two to three days come November/December through March/April). The rest of SWALLOW needs a wipe come December and again in March.
To reduce condensation I’ll now do the following: begin the above mentioned wipedown schedule, keep the forward and companionway hatches open as much as possible and especially when the sun is shining, open companionway when cooking and reducing the foods that require extended boiling of water (like pasta).
The greatest creator of water vapor is my breath. The starboard 1/4-berth, the one I and Momma Kitty use, sides and top are heavy with condensation in the morning. During the dark wet winter months there can be times I find it necessary to wipe the berth every day.
One sure fire way to dry out the cabin is using the wood stove. Four to six hours of wood heat will dry up almost all of SWALLOW’s interior – the two that resist this effort are the 1/4-berths and settee lockers. When in a marina the electric heater does an OK job at keeping thing dry-ish, but is not at all as effective as the woodstove.
Internet access is worsening here at Port Ludlow –
From about 8am thru the late evening the above is the network status – if working at all. The data shows the network is overtaxed and when anything does get through it is VERY slow and likely to be lost as the network drops packets – like early 90s dial-up poor phoneline slow. Even the cell network is bad and crashing about every 45-minutes. I believe the cell behavior is related to when the ferry arrives at Kingston and the rush of travellers overwhelms the underbuilt infrastructure which is already stressed by people switching off from the failed landline connections. Home schooling isn’t helping. This is what it is like in rural America and one example of why small towns are mad at the metro areas because of their second class status.
S/V Swallow 