It’s not the water outside the boat that creates the problem but the water within, or in our case the moisture. Well, yes there was a case(s) last year where we left the forward hatch open, crossed the wake of a very large cruiser which thoroughly soaked our bed. Our fault. We forgot. We learned. We dried out…eventually.
This year though we faced another moisture challenge. Cold meeting warm. When the frigid temperatures of the Saint Lawrence River (1 °C – 7 °C) met the warm-ish ambient temperatures inside R.E.D.’s cabin condensation resulted. And evil mildew ensued.
R.E.D. isn’t built for such conditions and now that we are back from this summer’s adventure we have to address fixing the issues.
After scrubbing away the mildew, Francois put a substantial coating of a product that is supposed to control mold and mildew. Well if the famous Mike Holmes endorses it, it must be good, right? Worth a try anyway.
Our Froli bed system and cushions were removed from the V-berth. The floatation material was also removed and the bilge lined with mylar insulation…the same used to make the blanket for our cooler (story here)
Mylar Liner
Have you ever taken a piece of equipment apart and when putting it back together had something leftover?…
Where Does This Go?
…This was one of those cases.
Mylar Lined Bilge Cover
We are, for the moment at least, mold and mildew free. V-berth cushions and bedding has been returned. The rear bilges have been cleaned and pretty well sanitized. The one big issue remains that will have to be addressed (if I have anything to do with it)…all that carpet on the walls of the cabin MUST GO. Replacing the covering on the dagger board well turned out to be a great solution – however difficult – it was worth the effort (story here). We have discussed options. Francois has thoughts. I have thoughts and as with any good team, somewhere in the middle, we will reach a solution. More to come on that in the near future. For now we will enjoy sailing on our little lake for the rest of the season mold-free.
Doing our best to conserve energy onboard R.E.D., it’s a delicate balance between what we ‘need’ and what we consume, constantly pushing to make things better.
Even though the cooler (three-year old Dometic CF50) runs really efficiently as far a power draw now that we’ve corrected some electrical issues, it’s located just inside the companionway and on really hot sunny days we’ve noticed the compressor runninig a lot. Keeping the hatch closed has helped but this year I thought it may help further by insulating with some leftover mylar – our perfect solution last year to keeping the heat out of the cabin and giving us a bit of privacy too (check what we did here).
I started by cutting one piece to cover the body of the cooler with slits to tightly fit over each side handle.
Mylar Surround
Opening for Handles
Next I cut a piece for the lid. Making it 2″ larger alowed me to be able to add a side strip to square off the two narrow sides to form a cap for the four corners. On the under side I used strips of Gorilla tape and shiny silver Duck Tape on the outside to make smooth seams.
Taping the Lid
Lid Corners
To make the raw edges less vulnerable to wear and tear I trimmed all with the shiny silver Duck Tape torn in half lengthwise.
Reinforced Cuts for Handles
When the Dometic isn’t charging properly it flashes an error message on the door display. Hopefully with the improvements in wiring we won’t have that problem but just in case I cut a small window over the display and taped transparent plastic over the opening, again reinforcing the edges with the shiny Duck Tape.
Window for Display
I also cut a piece of mylar to place at the base of the cooler.
Base of Cooler
It may not be my prettiest creation but we’re hoping it will make some difference in how often the compressor runs. At the very least with all that silver, it will keep Martians from stealing our beer.
