Power dehumidifiers are they effective in PNW

On my 37 Hatteras Convertible i am using two of those low heat dehumidifiers with fans and two Drizair canisters. I have observed that in the last few (wet weeks here in British Columbia) the amount of water in the canisters is increasing even with those two low heat round heaters/dehumidifiers so i was wondering if buying and using one of the power dehumidifiers that can drain or pump the accumulated water is a better choice of trying to keep the boat as dry as possible here in PNW. This fall seem to be exceptionally wet and i hate that musty smell once i start using the boat to go out. It is not much the smell of the boat itself but the soft clothy stuff on it and i am trying not to remove everything clothy off the boat for the fall and winter period....

I am on the biat every weekend for couple of hours but that time is not enough to ventilate.
Is anyone using those household dehumidifiers and if affirmative at what setting of relative humidity? 50 - 60%?

Yes they work and are not that rare out here in PNW. Often drain hose right into the sink. The other option a good full time electric heating SX kind of expensive but will also work. In a small volume sail boat a good quality portable marine heater or one of the 0il filled radiator types. Power boats have more large windows and volume and are harder to heat.

My dehumidifier is going back aboard next weekend.. it will run all winter.

I place it on the galley counter and run the drain hose down the sink. I keep a couple of cabinet doors open in every cabin and a couple E.R. hatches open also. Keeps the boat really dry and no "damp" smell. Costs about $ 20-25 per month to operate.
HOLLYWOOD

A dehumidifier will help. I'm not too far away from you. I use two small ones, the Eva Dry, but they do help. I drilled the collection tray and installed a drain tube long enough that the water goes into the sinks.
If you do that start with a small bit, then enlarge the holes with the bit running backward ,a size at a time untill the tube is a snug fit, so it doesn't grab and abruptly pull itself into and crack the plastic tray.

One in the head, one in the galley.

Several other folk I know have larger units.

But they will help.

It's not just the smell and mustiness, but it's what that represents. Mildew and mold are so easy to get on a boat. In South Florida where we use the boats all the time we either run the air conditioning all the time or use dehumidifiers.

I bought a lower end model the EBAC CS60 works great

A dock neighbor has the Dry-Pal

mine works great and good quality but does not seem the quality of the Dry-Pal

In my area I would not want be without

I bought an Arrow Pneumatics unit in 2005 it has worked very well adjustable humidity control. I place it so it drips into the galley sink which goes straight overboard.
I used it in the Camano and now on the Monk. It is pretty big and heavy.

Here's a link to an earlier discussion on this topic.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s32/dehumidifier-14370.html

We run 3 Eva drys in our boat.

N4712 said:

We run 3 Eva drys in our boat.

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What model do you have and where did you buy them?
Thanks!

Steve said:

What model do you have and where did you buy them?

Thanks!

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Here you go. We just drilled holes in the tank and set them in the sink.
http://m.target.com/p/eva-dry-electric-petite-dehumidifier-white/-/A-12934689

I have one like Steve's and got it when they were called DryAire by the Air Products Co. I think they became Arrow Pneumatics later. I am not sure that they are still in business but I would like to know. The Dry Pal by Mermaid looks to be exactly the same deal in a different case. I bought mine in 1996 and paid $325.00. As I type this it is running on my current boat here in Southwest Florida. Here it is needed more in the summer than the winter. I first acquired it when living aboard in Galveston. The warm humid air inside the boat would condense to the point of almost raining when a cold front came through the area.

As far as I am concerned whatever the cost of a new one would be today, I would gladly spend the money again.

We use the evadry year round. Works great, until it gets too cold. But even if it gets cold overnight, the element will thaw during the day. Considered putting in a drain line, but we visit the boat every week and it has never been full to the point of shutting off - close in the summer, but never quite there. Practical Sailor recently did a re-review of dehumidifiers and this time recommended another brand becuase the evadry have gone up in price. Since we started using it, we have had no boat smells.

EDIT - Just found the article. Practical Sailor also recommended the Perfect Home 4-pint dehumidifier as a less expensive option to the Eva-Dry 2200 that we have. After three years, or fan is starting to get noisey. We may replace it, or I may try to tear it down and replace the fan. either way, it is a small price to pay for a dry, odor free boat.

I recently started using a unit, Hisense 35 pt a day, bought at lowes. On auto it was removing 2 quarts a day. I now have it set in shower stall, on a timer, running 12 hrs a day with it draining into shower. Seems to be working well. Alsi in the Pacific NW.

practical sailor has a write up on this in the October edition.

Because we live and work aboard 24/7 in the Pacific NW, we use two SoleairUSA 30-pint household sized dehu's on our boat. We have a LOT of room for a 46-foot boat. The fore and aft staterooms on the lower deck separated by a full beam engine room, so we place one forward and one aft. For the last month or so we have been running them (typically one at a time) for about 4 hours a day. We'll do that until late next spring. They work great, but they are pretty large.

It still amazes me how much water I end up pouring out of these units. After running for 8 hours or so, they fill up completely. 30 pints! When we leave the boat for the holidays or a long weekend, we'll hook up the drain hoses and have them on continuously and draining directly into the bilge. We set them on auto to 45% humidity. This will be our third winter with them. Bought them at Lowe's for around $230 each.

They have made a huge difference during the winter months. However, we also use H2Out Space Dryers and Kanberra Gel to continually combat mold and mildew. My wife is very much on top of that battle. And yet, she will still occasionally find mold on leather shoes or some other item a few times a year...

Model SG-DEH-30-2

Surely dumping the water in the bilge is merely redistributing it?

For now I move mine around to the 3 different sinks when in the galley even with the air running it pulls a great deal

I think I am going to put a gallon jug in the sink run the hose into it and see how fast it fills that way if it over fills I have not screwed up I can be pretty good at that

Used the Arrow Arrow Pneumatics (under former name) for years, worked great and gave a steady steam of water out the sink thru-hull. Switched to two Eva Dry units only because we moved to a 50 hertz environment and Eva Dry can accept either 50 or 60 hertz. The Arrow Pneumatic would not operate using 50 hertz. The two Eva Dry units are sufficient for a Krogen 42 in the very humid Eastern Caribbean. Purchased the Eva Dry units on line.

Xsbank said:

Surely dumping the water in the bilge is merely redistributing it?

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Not so sure... The bilges are quite deep and essentially closed off (one with floorboards the other in the engine room). Plus, they pump overboard. In our case, with each dehumidifier large and weighing over 30 pounds dry, we aren't going to lift them up onto a counter to drain into a sink. Besides, it's only for those times when we're gone. Otherwise they'd both fill up after a day and stop running. When we get back from a 3-4 day trip, many times they're off as the auto setting of 45% means the humidity has reached that threshold. So it doesn't seem to redistribute.

seasalt007 said:

I have one like Steve's and got it when they were called DryAire by the Air Products Co. I think they became Arrow Pneumatics later. I am not sure that they are still in business but I would like to know. The Dry Pal by Mermaid looks to be exactly the same deal in a different case. I bought mine in 1996 and paid $325.00. As I type this it is running on my current boat here in Southwest Florida. Here it is needed more in the summer than the winter. I first acquired it when living aboard in Galveston. The warm humid air inside the boat would condense to the point of almost raining when a cold front came through the area.

As far as I am concerned whatever the cost of a new one would be today, I would gladly spend the money again.

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I was on the boat today this is the info of off the tag:
Arrow Pneumatics
2111W. 21st st.
Broeaview, IL 60155
Ph. 708 343-9595
Mine was bought in 2005 so don't know if this has changed, good luck.
I might get a couple of the small Eva Dry units to use on the boat and bring this one to my fishing camp where one is needed!

Great feedback to my original posting, thanks to all of you guys. The one thing I am not sure about, is placing the power humidifiers high in the galley sink in order to drain. I would have thought the best place would be in the lowest part of the cabin or the space you want to keep as dry as possible, since the moist air is more likely to be in lower parts of the boat.. I intend on keeping mine in the v-berth area with the hose drain to the shower tub so it does not stop working when the water catch canister fills up. That is usually the coolest and i assume most humid place on the boat, while the main cabin and the galley (in my case) are higher up above the engine space and seem to be warmer and hence drier.