Bow Carpet, hose routing, painting plastic vents?

[sybrmike]

For you fellow rebuilders out there...

My Saltare was originally completely carpeted under the playpen, port storage, & along the hull sides back to the helm. 20 years old & coming out for the rebuild. What did you go back with? I'd like to stay away from carpet since it holds moisture (musty, mildew, etc.), but would like to protect the hull a bit from items rolling around in storage. Roll on bed liner? other?

Also, each side intake vent had 2 3" hoses (4 total) routed forward of the ice chest where they entered the floor. Then a poor design of encapsulating the hoses in foam under the floor before exiting into the forwardmost center of the bilge between the inner stringers - water trap. There's got to be a better way, but I can't figure this one out???

Finally, the original "chrome" finish on the plastic side intake vents is pretty worn. I'd like to just lightly sand and paint black. Any suggestions on a good spray paint that will hold up to sun, water, wash, wax, etc? Epoxy? Urethane? Enamel? Base/Clear? Don't want them looking like crap after awhile.

Thanks

[Okie Boarder]

I haven't gotten to that point yet, but my plan is to lay the carpet back like it was.

My vents are run a little different. They go to the side kick panel by the drivers seat and attach with flanges on that. I can take some pictures of that piece to try to show you if it would help.

Not sure on the paint.

[sybrmike]

Thanks Okie,

I went back through your rebuild thread yet again (great reference & continued great work!) and saw that your floor was open under the ice chest. I assume your vents dumped into the bilge in this area somehow? Yes, additional pics would be helpful. My floor is solid (well, actually kinda mushy) & covers everything forward of the engine. Since I'm already making changes in this area (adding a removable floor section between the inner stringers, from forward of the engine to the ice chest), looking for ways to further improve the floor/bulkhead/ducting in that area. I need new vent collectors anyway, so thinking of single 4"ers to simplify things.

I'm still on the fence about carpeting underneath. Moisture is the excuse I'm using to consider alternatives. Probably not really an issue since it's still the standard route on today's boats. Truthfully, probably more to do with concern for my abilities and the skill required to carpet those areas - lots of angles, curves, seams (floors & seat bases are easy). Definetely done before the cap goes back on.

Thanks again & continued success on your progress.

[Oilguy]

I share your concern about carpet under the playpen... I was looking into other things as well and I think I am going to paint it. Maybe some fleck paint like you see in old car trucks or what you can get for epoxy garage floor paints now. I want something bright and easy to clean that doesn't absorb water.

For the vents... I put the holes in the same place but I used 6" Styrofoam board under there and used a long drill bit to cut a vent hole to the bottom >> I left a 4"-6" gap in the bottom for the air to flow to the rear... I also filled in the front "V" area and glassed it over so that it didn't collect water like it did.

[jet]

oilguy..where are your 51% rebuild pic's????? Don't make me pull this boat over..

[Okie Boarder]

sybr,

I'll see what pics I can come up with. Did you notice the way I'm going to layout the floor in my thread? It will remain open under the cooler, like it was.

Here's the way the vents work (in case I can't find pictures). Picture looking under the helm where your left leg would be. There is a panel there that is kind of a kick panel that goes from the floor to knee height. On the top there are two 3" flanges. The flexible vent hoses attach to those and go up and over the streering cable to the starboard side vent right be the windshield. It basically lets air go directly into the bilge just beside that open area under the cooler.

This picture shows that area without the panel in place.

[sybrmike]

Thanks,

Ahh, the subtle differences between the Salt and Sun (even though ours are the same year). I have a small hole in the floor in the same area for the wiring to pass - kinda splits the seam between the kick board/floor/inner stringer. Not big enough for a duct - but may be able to open it up under the front of the ice chest. I'll keep thinkin' on this one...

The port side is a little more problematic for me. All of the space to route ducting is up under the glove box/side storage area. I'm hoping to shove a 400# sack back under this area from the bow. Makes routing the hose challenging & then need to protect from crushing by the sac?

May just have to go the same routing path for both (dump in play pen area forward of ice chest & just modify the transition into the bilge so it doesn't hold water. Oil, Sound like a good idea filling in the vee. From the description, sure I can come up with something similar to your solution.

Thanks again.

[Okie Boarder]

Interesting. The port side is kind of a funny one. I found out when I pulled my top cap that my hoses just kind of dangle in there basically in the gunwale area. Look back at the pictures in my thread of the front view of the cap missing. I had a floor in the port side storage and dead space under it. My thought is they kind of laid in there. I'm planning to open that area up too, cutting the floor out and the wall between the spotter seat storage and the under dash storage. When I do that I may discover those hoses sitting there. If that's the case, I'm probably just going to route them along the front of that compartment over to the bilge.

You could definitely reroute them somehow, through there, or use some hard PVC so they can't be crushed.

[Salty87]

i pretty much used the original design with the exception of all the foam. i still have the 4 hoses going into the floor in front of the ice chest. it's a pain to get those right...you can't cut the holes with the top in place. have to cut them first and hope you hit the target really close.

i skipped routing the hoses through the bottom of the bilge and through foam, what a mess. my hoses end at the floor, the underside is open so air can flow through the bilge channel. if rain or an water gets into the vents and through the hoses, it will drain out via the pump.

i left the vents chromed to match the rails. you might be better off getting them powder coated than painted. i'd probably use rustoleum if i were painting them.

[mapleleaf]

I've had some success with rustoleum's plastic paint, created for outdoor furniture...... a good sanding and priming and my grill inserts on my truck didn't need redoing for 3 years.....snow, salt, sleet, stone chips and rain!!!!!!
Mind you I did have to repaint them.......