Solar vent hack (in progress)

Ms. Bettencourt has two day/night Nicro solar cabin ventilators. They don't move much air--I think only about 600 cubic feet per minute-- but they do help keep summertime mildew and mustiness at bay.

The unit in the forward cabin quit. The motor has gone bad. Replacement parts are not available from Nicro. Replacement of the whole unit would be about $160 USD. Too much.

I found a 2008 conversation on the SailNet website in which the author detailed how to buy an $8 solar motor and fix the ventilator. I am working on that today.

A success/failure report will have to await help from my friend Paul who is an electronics technician. He can solder. I'm no good in that department.

For now, I have gutted the ventilator and begun the re-purposing of a plastic sink drain pipe.

A piece of the former drain pipe will serve as an adapter to hold the new (smaller) solar motor in place inside the ventilator.

That's the new motor in the foreground in this photo. The defunct motor is hanging by a wire in the background.


On another topic: A reader has asked some housekeeping questions about how my friend Major and I apportion various duties during our cruises:

Q. With long hours at the helm, how often do you switch seats?

A. We take turns of about an hour on and an hour off, unless one of us gets really nervous about the other's piloting.

Q. What kind of food do you take and how do you keep perishables?

A. We subsist mostly on sandwiches and junk food between carefully planned overnight stops at marinas with restaurants nearby. Ms. Bettencourt has an Igloo cooler that holds three one-gallon jugs of  frozen water, a bag of ice and whatever else needs to be cooled.

Q. When you and Major travel, who is the cook? And who does the dishes?

A. Major cooked one time on a previous cruise and he claims it was a coincidence that we were both laid low by food poisoning that night. Since then, we go to restaurants. Dishwashing is not a problem. We use paper plates on those few occasions when plates are necessary.

And finally, the curtains are finished and a spirited discussion has arisen about throw pillows.

Throw pillows? Please tell me there is a Coast Guard rule prohibiting throw pillows....