Cruising with canvas up


radiocontester

radiocontester

Member
I've recently been cruising with the front and side canvas panels installed, mostly with the front center section rolled up. The aft section is removed. I've been getting exhaust fumes and the CO sensor is going off if we leave the cabin door open (I know, I know....we usually close it but sometimes forget). Curious as to how many of you cruise with all of the canvas up including the aft camper section? Any issues with the station wagon effect if the rear section remains installed and the zippered up with screen closed?
 
I've done it in nasty weather, but I always close the cabin door. We have a hard top so I leave the top hatches and side vents open, for ventilation. Never had an issue, but CO is colorless and odorless, so you never know!
 
GandDFreehold said:
I've done it in nasty weather, but I always close the cabin door. We have a hard top so I leave the top hatches and side vents open, for ventilation. Never had an issue, but CO is colorless and odorless, so you never know!
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Same for me. Also, whenever I can, I use an electric fan to exhaust the air out back if I can.
 
I do it all the time but CABIN DOOR MUST BE CLOSED. I've been caught even with the small window at the rear of the aft bunk open and that triggers the CO.
 
I would highly recommend getting a battery operated detector, for your helm/cockpit area. This way, you’ll have a little more confidence in knowing if something has gone wrong. As it’s been said, odorless and colorless.
 
radiocontester said:
I've recently been cruising with the front and side canvas panels installed, mostly with the front center section rolled up. The aft section is removed. I've been getting exhaust fumes and the CO sensor is going off if we leave the cabin door open (I know, I know....we usually close it but sometimes forget). Curious as to how many of you cruise with all of the canvas up including the aft camper section? Any issues with the station wagon effect if the rear section remains installed and the zippered up with screen closed?
Click to expand...

Shane we travel the same way except I keep our aft curtain on most of the time and open the screen and roll up the door curtain. Depending on the wind we also had have the CO detectors go off in the cabin with the door open.

I ran into a marina technician last weekend that told me when he did his training they used the exact boat and style of aft curtain to train the class how the CO can enter the boat.

He recommended for me to install a cockpit CO detector. Off season job coming up.
 
Guys, I ran an experiment yesterday by using a portable CO sensor in the cockpit while operating the boat at varying speeds. I had the side and forward three sections of canvas installed, rear facing section removed and the cabin door was closed.

We did not have any issues at idle speed heading down and up river but when I got up on plane we soon detected exhaust fumes, and when I looked down at the CO sensor, which had a digital display reading in PPM, I couldn't believe how quickly the detected concentration increased. 150ppm and climbing before I took action by opening the forward middle section to get air flowing through the cockpit which drove the readings down rapidly. The direction of the wind was certainly an influential factor here but the lesson learned is that we should always be running the boat with airflow through the cockpit regardless. I wonder what effect having the AFT section of the canvas installed and sealed up would have. Perhaps preventing the station wagon effect? I really want to run the boat on cool days as we head towards the end of the season up here but we may have to give up a little comfort for proper ventilation.

Scary stuff.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
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