Replacing blower motor/vent hoses: Ericson 30+

[Frank Langer]

The blower/vent hoses at the stern of my ericson 30+ are getting old and torn in a couple of places (looks like 4" plastic/vinyl dryer vent material!). While I can get at the port side easily through the cockpit locker, the starboard side has no cockpit locker, and while I can see the hose through the engine compartment, I can't reach it to replace it. Has anyone done this, and can offer offer some helpful hints?
Also, the vents that are screwed into the deck also need to be replaced (discoloured vinyl/rubber), but the ring is held in by some kind of strong "goop"--that's good because they dont' leak, but bad because my pocketknife didn't even make a significant dent in cutting through it; I was hoping it was silicone, or 4200, but I suspect it's 5200 or worse--any ideas for cutting through that to remove the vents on the deck?
thanks,
Frank.

 

[therapidone]

Possible access to blower motor/vent hoses

Greetings Frank,

I am not certain of proper terminology so I'm going to explain this as best I can. At the stern of the cockpit, I have a surface that extends from port to starboard, immediately before the transom, on which I can sit behind the steering wheel (even though if I do sit there, my visibilty in front of the boat is restricted 'cuz I just ain't all that tall). This seating surface is divided such that I can lift up a "lid" on either side & where I keep certain bits for the boat. I know for a fact that the one on the port side has a removable "floor"...after yanking everything out of this storage space, one just picks up the "floor/shelf", twists it a bit, and pulls it out of the way...I've never done this on the starboard side, but I imagine that the "floor/shelf" can be removed from there, too. Neither side provides a very large opening & I'm no longer a very small person, so I've never gone below through the port side opening, but I have hung upside down w/ my head and arms dangling into the nether regions below to do some work (ran some wiring back for a 12-volt outlet to plug in my hand-held GPS).

I would imagine your 30+ has the same layout even though it's a few years older...and I hope this helps.

I'd try a strong cleaner on those vinyl vents (dorade vents??)...even straight bleach...before I went thru the hassle of replacing them...on the other hand, even though I did take some cleaner to ours a season or 2 ago, I consider this sort of thing to be pretty cosmetic...the dorade vents still work, they're just a little dirty looking...when I was just a tadpole, there was a neighbor down the street who never washed his car. As a way of attempting to earn a few extra pennies, we would offer to wash neighbors' cars, do their lawns, etc. When I asked him about washing his car, his reply was, "God washes it when it rains...and I've never noticed it running any better or worse regardless of whether it was dirty or clean." He did keep it maintained to a fare-thee-well. Given all the stuff to tend to on a boat, I've decided that keeping the vinyl dorade vents spic and span is way down on the list...my $0.02, fwiw.

Regards,

Ed

 

[Frank Langer]

Thanks, Ed. I will try to lift the floors of the stern lockers as you suggest to see if I can get at it. And I'll try a better cleaner on the vents--at the moment, those vents and two broken/yellowed cockpit speakers really stand out as needing attention, because the rest of my E 30+ is all clean and shiny with a new coat of wax.
Thanks again.
Frank.