May 2007

Dear friends,

This is a short letter from the South. I want to thank you for all the e-mails and phone calls about bilge ventilation. The cost is about four to six thousand to install, houseboats with dry stack are harder than cruisers with stern exhaust. It is well worth the investment.

I want to continue on about air cleansing systems. My writing is based on my observations, and living in Florida. We have a damp, hot summer and houses, buildings and boats are air-conditioned and air quality is very important. HEPA filters remove dust and air particles. The problem is that with small AC systems they can freeze your compressors. It goes like this—your AC works by moving air over the condenser, these filters work only on systems that are designed for them and most massive systems can handle the HEPA filters. The reduction of air will also reduce the amount of cold air that moves about the cabin and mildew can grow in your filters reproducing it more.

The next is negative ion generators. The ocean creates negative ions. Some say that’s why man is drawn to the water in the first place. Ion generators are used to remove smoke and particles. I personally bought and installed them in our house. The metal strips are charged with electricity, as the air passes it pulls the air particles towards the strips. After one season I did not find they really did anything to speak about. Even though they were expensive, I was not impressed. There was an article in The Wall Street Journal that dispels the hype.

So what is next? Sunlight! Sunlight does a great job of cleaning air. I remember in Maine after a long winter we would pull out the rugs and mattresses and set them in the sun. The UV would clean them and they smelled fresh and clean. Open a boat or house and let the air flow through and in a short period of time the quality is refreshed. Sunlight; it’s that simple. So that is what my next newsletter will be about—sunlight in a can.

Just a quick update. I hope that I will be seeing you at the Trumpy meet at St Michaels Harbour Inn, June 15th to June 17th. If you have never attended one, I hope you don’t miss this one.

Last, the schooner project Summerwind is really taking shape. The large chunks of white oak have been cut and shaped into ribs and floors and keel forefoot. We are rebuilding her from the outside in. Using the inner ceiling to connect the new ribs to and patterning the old ones, we are building her new bottom. I hope to have photos on our website soon.

Hope to see you in June.