What the heck are these?

[zeehag]

hay krazy--the ONLY place my formosa did NOT leak in patricia the storm from hell were the cowl/dorades i have on coach house roof.... lol.. they are he only ventilation you will get in a storm.
i have a perfect solution.
as clipper marine have no cowls nor dorades, perhaps you should buy one of those first.
rv. no need for cowls nor dorades.

[Mithril Bham]

Entertaining. The funny thing is that I actually learned something.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Lizzy Belle

Erhm ... risk of sinking? Are you being serious or just plain trolling?

I am sorry, I know this'll sound rude and I don't want to be unkind, but before you can even have a "dream boat", you should learn what a boat is, and what keeps them afloat and what doesn't.

And never, ever forget that pretty much any half decent boat, even a little old lady like mine, will take you around the world if YOU are capable. Boats are rarely the issue, the crew is.

Most boats that go down, either go down due to human error or a domino effect of the crappiest of luck and one-in-a-million-chance stuff happening (and human error). And there is no boat design that can prevent that from happening ...

I had said maybe he was looking at the sheet guards not having read the OP.
Oops my bad, I assumed everyone knew what a dorade box is. Those would be welcome on any boat I had. Even the guards looked possibly spaced and stout enough to double for tie off safety line use.

[PlumKrazy]

Originally Posted by zeehag

hay krazy--the ONLY place my formosa did NOT leak in patricia the storm from hell were the cowl/dorades i have on coach house roof.... lol.. they are he only ventilation you will get in a storm.
i have a perfect solution.
as clipper marine have no cowls nor dorades, perhaps you should buy one of those first.
rv. no need for cowls nor dorades.

Thanks for the suggestion Zee! I actually didn't know about Clipper Marines, but I found several on sailboatlistings.com that would be great starters for me. They seem even better than what I was thinking about buying for a trainer this summer.

And you're absolutely right, no dorades necessary on the small ones.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Perstarebob

When you anchor some place with mosquitoes them things are designed to catch and kill them , I would leave em right there !

LOL


LOL meant in the kindest and un-smarmy of ways.
I'm sure we all can find something on our boat we can't identify, know what it's used for, or how it works.

[solmaniac]

I have Crealock design boat also (Westsail 42) that does not have dorades or much ventilation at all. I believe this design was intended to be as watertight as possible. However, if you decide to take those off...I'll take them.

[scareygary]

Many years ago, I crossed the border into B.C. and went through customs at Bedwell Harbor on one of the Pender Islands. Tied there was a GORGEOUS old wooden boat with stunning lines. She'd seen better days, but her pedigree was clear even to a rookie like I was then. I drooled on the dock while admiring her. The name on the stern was "DORADE". I looked her up later and found she was a relatively early Sparkman and Stephens design which first used these vents which were then named for her. Dorade was a famous ocean racer; since purchased and completely refit by a wealthier owner, though that news is probably 20 years old by now....

I've always been a Sparkman and Stephens fan, and owned two of their designs; a Tartan 30 and a Yankee 30. I'm a huge fan of Dorade, now, too! Don't take 'em OFF! My Tartan had two dorade vents and I loved 'em!

[notiesbob]

FUNCTION BEFORE FASHION

[mawtty]

Gedday Matey.
I live in the tropics down under.
I love these dorades.
In rough weather you have something to hold when crawling to the pullpit to tie down that anchor. They may catch on the jib sheets as you tack, so dont let the sheets too slack.
When moored, the boat will stay fresh with the ventillation and you wont be wiping mould off the cabin soles.

In rainy weather when you are sitting it out below decks, you will be able to breath. Your perspiration rate will be less and you wont have to live in a towel.
I wish I had some as beautiful as yours.

[GafferMate]

No one has yet questioned the design of those Dorade boxes...usually the cowl is either fore or aft of the box, but these are is in the center. Does that mean they vent DIRECTLY below decks? If so, then rain or spray also will go directly below. Unless there are TWO holes inside those boxes, on either side of the cowl above? I'd also say that, while varnish and polished chrome is lovely, the overall design/dimensions incline me to agree with PlumKrazy's negative first impression--though not for the sunbathing reason. Dorade boxes are an absolute blessing.
Here is the construction I'm more familiar with:

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by GafferMate

No one has yet questioned the design of those Dorade boxes...usually the cowl is either fore or aft of the box, but these are is in the center. Does that mean they vent DIRECTLY below decks? If so, then rain or spray also will go directly below. Unless there are TWO holes inside those boxes, on either side of the cowl above? I'd also say that, while varnish and polished chrome is lovely, the overall design/dimensions incline me to agree with PlumKrazy's negative first impression--though not for the sunbathing reason. Dorade boxes are an absolute blessing.
Here is the construction I'm more familiar with:

A good observation. I would guess the inside of the boxes are designed to be effective.

[MCOS]

Originally Posted by PlumKrazy

Either/or mcos. They both work!

Ah, don't be too off-put Mr/Miss Trumpet. Most of us are pretty nice, but there are some salty ones and some downright bitter ones, too. If you toss a pinch of jest and anti-troll spices into the mix, it's not so bad.

I've really learned a lot and spent many entertaining hours here at CF.

Just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!

Plum,

I really enjoyed the initial post and most of the (helpful) replies. I sorely believe you started this as a joke and responded in kind.
You have made an excellent choice in a "dream " yacht.i wish you well in your pursuit of your dreams. Life is short. Dream big or not at all.

😀

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by PlumKrazy

Hi! Thanks for reading. My dreamboat is the PSC Crealock 44, but I love the idea of long, clean stretch of deck space to lounge around in the sun while at anchor or under sail, which presents a problem.

Upon taking a closer look at my dreamboat online [Before I purchased one, thankfully], I realized that this one might not have what I want. It has what looks like four ugly [imo] vents sticking out of the top and rounded forward like semi-trailer truck exhausts or something.

Can you tell me what they are and what they are used for? Do you think it would be possible to pull them off and seal the holes so that I can have that long, sexy deckspace to sprawl across in the sun?

Hard work doesn't scare me, it's the thought of having to re-route anything important from those escapes to somewhere else in the boat. I was thinking if only the 2 foremost vents could be removed and re-routed to join the rearmost vents, maybe that would work? But I haven't been able to even find out what they actually are.

Anyone have a creative solution for these eyesores?

(Pics Below)

Here in the pdf brochure for the Crealock 44, you can see what they look like from afar in the first two photos.

PSC Crealock 44 PDF Brochure

This is a close-up photo of the obnoxious-looking pipes on the deck:



Ideas?

Boy does that look like home! Learn to love them - they make life comfortable by ventilating in really crappy conditions. or with closed hatches. They also have screens to keep out the bugs. You should find a plug somewhere on that boat to replace a scoop if necessary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Cadence

A good observation. I would guess the inside of the boxes are designed to be effective.

See my photos. Mine, centered, vent only one way but drain both ways and the knobs operate covers internally.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Boy does that look like home! Learn to love them - they make life comfortable by ventilating in really crappy conditions. or with closed hatches. They also have screens to keep out the bugs. You should find a plug somewhere on that boat to replace a scoop if necessary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box

Duh! Glad Wikipedia could explain it. Now how large should the scuppers be relative to the scoop size?