Ventillation Cowl at Bow

Thanks once again for the suggestions and helpful photos. I have a copy of the Nicro catalog, and your suggestion of the screw-in type offering the alternative if a passive or solar vent sounds like the way to go. My boat stayed dry and mildew free this winter with only one beat up but functional jury-rigged Nicro passive solar vent in the bow. That vent was adapted to fit the original stock deck ring with a lot of silicon goop added. To do it right, I will have to cut the opening to 4 and 3/8 inches it appears, but once I do thatm I will have a lot of flexibility. Still it would be nice to find a cowl vent to fit the stock deck ring that I already own.

How well does a nicro solar vent work at the bow? I was thinking it would admit alot of water when a wave comes over the bow.
I know you can close them from below, but it wouldn't be too convenient getting in to the anchor locker.

I would put a passive vent there and a solar vent higher in the forehatch or cabintop , that way you get circulation . BTW , I have directed a water hose at my solar vent in the forehatch and no water came in , there are baffles . I think you would have to submerge the bow extremely to get any measurable amount .

I would only leave the solar vent in place at the bow when your tied up and away from the boat.Underway either plug it or use a regular cowl vent.

And finally, I seem to have plenty of time to work on this since I am in the middle of deck repairs and a complete deck repainting job, so I am in no hurry to replace my marinium cowl vent at the bow. I was told by a Wilcox-Crittenden representative that this firm made this part. so I wrote to Wilcox-Crittenden to ask if they indeed did make the part, and if they have a source. We'll see if they respond.

Ok, I have been on / around boats and ships all my life.

I have noticed many private / pleasure boats have the cowl vents and air intakes painted red......

Any one know why?

Good question,

I purchased a 4" forged stainless steel cowl vent from Mariner Hardware in 2002, and I love it. It came with a four inch deck fitting and a deck plate. I have yet to use the deck plate. I leave the cowl vent in place at the dock or at sea. I don't get much water in through the vent into the anchor locker below when at sea, but I coudl use the plate for long passages if I chose to do so. The four inch vent provides plenty of ventillation. I had the choice of red, green or white interior on the vent. I chose white. That decision not to select the red interior did make me like I was being unconventional. About 90% of the cowl vents that I have seen are red. I really don't know why red is so popular. I also had the choice of bronze or stainless steel, and I choise stainless. The stainless steel matches my new chainplates and rigging hardware, and goes well with the original stock Marinium deck fittings.

C'Pete,
If you ever decide you don't want that dull, pitted, aluminum cowl on yor foredeck anymore....I'll trade you for a glitzy MarineHardware unit ANYTIME. The company is close by here. (Petaluma, CA) I"ll hand pick one for you. You can have one painted intestinal red inside if you wish.

That Almag/Marinium cowl deck plate is pretty unique from what I can find. And I like that soft sculpting. that kind of filled out look, that almag castings have. Perko is supposedly making fittings from marinium again - but the company has quirks that will doom its popularity. Don't know, but they probably overprice as well.

The marine aluminum fittings, chocks and cleats, that 338 had are just as serviceable now as the day they were bolted on at the factory. The problem is they don't compare well with the glint of buffed-up stainless and what the lubbers think an expensive boat should have on deck.

Perko says in their awkward introductory hype on the internet about their 'new' line of mirinium fittings (including THRUHULLS!) that what ever is cast in bronze can be cast in almag. There are foundrys that can do castings in almag 35 (which one assumes is close if not the same as marinium) just as competantly as bronze. $$$

A guy on a Pearson forum (I lost it) points out that our aluminum window frames and opening ports were made from marinium. There were no marks indicating this on #338 pieces. They may have been imported, as Bill points out from some foundry in Holland. (Early outsourcing ?) My frames all had some corrosion. My impression is that the marinium alloy does not have this problem - unless the opportunity is blatant.

Looks like Marinium has become antique collectable. Trading active on the net.
Your fabulous cowl with its equally fabulous patina is probably worth at least $20 wanna sell it?
Naw, it's somewhere between $200 and $2000!
GORGEOUS. Perfect foredeck ornament!:cool:

Ebb,

Faith no longer wears her Cowl vent on the bow. If you would like it for #338, I would he happy to send it to you.

Craig

Wholly galloping guppies!

You say it's a Mininimun like C'Pete's??
I'd love it! I'm making an aluminum bowsprit for Little Gull and she would love to have a friendly fitting from the past up there.

I closed the opening off, but I'm not happy that a solar vent in the anchor locker Bomar is good enough ventilation. Might put a hole in the deck back but on the portside. WOW!

Sure nuff.

I would be happy to be able to send part of #226 to serv aboard #338, considering Faith has her old Drawers and Cabinet door.

I am looking in my Association registry, dated 10 June 2004 and have an address in Sonoma at 19310 C********* Rd. Is that still a good address?

Craig, that's fantastic!
The address is good.

Still have an original long locker door - and a small square one ......:D

I'll get in line behind Ebb if anyone has another original cowl vent and ring lying around. (mine were rubber and plastic)

I've got 2 original 6" cleats and one 8" bow cleat (aluminum/marinium?) or (2 8" plastic ones if you prefer those :D)

Post deck job, I may have other hardware of interest too. I'll have to take inventory...

Craig,
Cowl of Faith arrived.
Sooo nice. Looks like a piece of Mid-Aluminum Armor.
A thousand rope burns on its helmet.
Archeological silicone welded to its ancient collar.
Fantastic.

The cowl turns in its base as if new.
There is no corrosion where you might think it could be - down in the threads where there's been four decades of SALT WATER and CLOSE metal to metal contact, and it's clockwork. Truely AMAZING.

This is a LOST ART. No company can make a fitting like this today! NONE!
I know there currently is an ATTEMPT to bring back marine aluminum - but I think the ART is gone, replaced by engineered (let's see what we can get away with) alloys that have no cojones.

We have B.C/A.D historical dating. Our boats have a befor and after. We have Indestructible Pre-Engineered Fiberglass PEF?) and indestructable, non-corroding aluminum (NCA?) on our A/Cs.
Many of the boats had monel water tanks - don't know about the gastanks for the Atomic 4. Sure are lucky we are in the Befor column.


Seem to remember discussion about cowls in the bow and someone saying not much water gets in there.
I can see an insert baffle that could be made to fit inside the rather large opening in this cowl. It would keep dollops out and cut down on airflow of course - yet in conjunction with a Hella fan, or an inline hose fan, it might produce sufficient air exchange in the forepeak.

Craig, Anything original from Little Gull that's still sitting in the garage, let me know!.....:D

Jeeze Ebb, rub it in. I'm on my "spare" cowl vent now. The first one took a dive off the bow at some point during last week's sail.

I'm curious. What did Little Gull have for vents? The rubbery ones like I've got? Are these things original or a PO's "upgrade".