Boat Dehumidifiers: How To Prevent Dampness On Your Boat

How To Prevent Dampness On Your Boat?

By: Brothers Equipment And Supply

Boaters have more concerns than just keeping their vessels watertight, we also need to think about laying up and winterization, cleaning and antifouling the hull, and managing naturally occurring atmospheric moisture, which is particularly challenging if you live in a place with damp climate.

In addition to the problems brought on by our environment, routine activities like breathing, taking a shower, and cooking can all make your damp problems worse.

The effects of excessive humidity are more severe than you might expect, notwithstanding your doubts about how much airborne moisture matters.

Moisture in the air can lead to mould growth, condensation, increased energy costs (since it is harder to heat), and the deterioration of a number of medical conditions, such as asthma and arthritis.

Also, relatively dry air will actively encourage the drainage of moisture from the various surfaces inside your boat, whereas humid air can hasten the corrosion of electrical connections and the decay of interior furnishings.

In the long term, it pays to keep the air dry.

What Does Humidity Actually Mean?

The amount of moisture in the air is described by the term “humidity,” which is always correlated with the air temperature being measured.

Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, hence for a given amount of moisture in 15-degree air compared to 20-degree air, the humidity (measured as a percentage) will be higher.

This explains why warm, humid air rapidly condenses water on cold surfaces.

How You Can Prevent Dampness On Your Boat?

There are a number of alternatives available to you if you wish to reduce the humidity in your boat.

1. Lessen the initial moisture production, however, obviously this isn’t always achievable.

2. Open windows or extractor fans can move and refresh the air, but they can also cool down your boat, especially in the winter. In order to lower relative humidity, the air must be heated, although doing so is uncomfortable in the summer and challenging in the winter.

3. Purchase a dehumidifier for yourself. Small places like cabinets and storage areas, but larger living areas frequently call for a more sophisticated mains-powered solution.

There are many different kinds of dehumidifiers, from basic powered models with rechargeable batteries that can be dried out and reused to small powered versions with desiccant sachets that simply collect moisture from the air.

For low-volume locations like cabinets and storage areas, these can be fantastic (and very economical) solutions, but for larger living spaces, a more sophisticated mains-powered solution is frequently needed.

What Is The Best Type Of Dehumidifier For Boats? Compressor Dehumidifiers Or Desiccant Dehumidifiers?

The most popular way to define a dehumidifier is by how many litres of water it can remove from the air each day.

Therefore, you should choose a device based on the size and type of space you want to maintain dry.

The crucial choice is whether to use a compressor or desiccant, though.

Compressor humidifiers function better at higher temperatures because they must circulate relatively warm air over a cold element.

A desiccant type is by far the more efficient option in frigid situations, such as during winter lay-up or when the air temperature often falls below 15 or 16 degrees Celsius. In fact, if the air is too cold, they can literally ice up.

If not, your compressor dehumidifier will use a significant amount of electricity just trying to thaw itself.

The continuous drain-off and auto-restart features of modern desiccant models are crucial if you intend to leave your dehumidifier running unattended for extended periods of time.

Desiccant dehumidifiers are also smaller, lighter, and noisier than compressor models, making them better for portable use.

This enables the gadget to automatically resume in the case of a power outage and to pipe the extracted moisture somewhere other than the internal reservoir.

Although both techniques tend to warm the air, desiccant dehumidifiers significantly raise temperatures compared to compressor models, by up to 10 degrees as opposed to just two.

The compressor model therefore has the advantage in this situation if you wish to dehumidify a typically warm living space without making things excessively hot.

Yet, since damp is a problem that is more noticeable in colder air (which can hold less moisture), the boat owner is unlikely to give it much consideration.

Energy, however, will be a concern that the shrewd skipper would not want to ignore.

Although desiccant dehumidifiers typically have greater wattage ratings, because they can be set to run for shorter periods of time and collect water more quickly, their overall power requirements are considerably more competitive.

For instance, Meaco’s highly praised DD8L desiccant dehumidifier, which has a daily water removal capacity of up to eight litres, uses 650 Watts at full power.

There is a fairly low demand for people who have shore power.

Dehumidifiers And Boats

The use of heaters, extractors, and open windows will help keep the interior of your boat warm and well aired, which will help decrease atmospheric humidity and, in turn, assist lessen condensation, mould growth, and other related issues.

But, a desiccant dehumidifier is a really wise purchase if you want to actively remove moisture from the air and you have either a sizable 12v domestic battery bank or the luxury of regular mains electricity.

If you have any questions about dehumidifiers for boating or want to buy a dehumidifier feel free to call us at 1-416-912-2205 or chat with us in near real-time on social media.