Keep your cool
When I bought my Down East 45 schooner, Britannia, it didn’t have any engine room ventilation, either through natural aeration with cowls, or electric blowers.
The term ‘engine room’ is a bit of a misnomer on this boat because the area is 26ft long from the forward saloon bulkhead to the aft cabin. It is also 3ft 6in wide at saloon floor level, tapering 4ft 6in down to the bottom of the bilge. That is a very cavernous area and doesn’t just contain the large Perkins 4-236 main engine, but all the other machinery that runs the ship including a 6.5kw diesel generator, a five-gallon water heater, nine batteries, a large battery charger and five electric pumps. All these form what I call the ‘equipment bay.’
When everything is humming, and especially when both the generator and main engine are running together, the heat permeating through the 3⁄4in plywood cabin sole could be felt on bare feet. I once placed a
