Osmosis treatment with homemade hotvac

[maxpics]

Thank you for your very quick answer and the information will help me.

Just one thing: i did not ask for the mats for nothing or for free and just because you suffered building yours does not mean everyone has to!
I asked if someone would SELL theirs and yes, i asked to save myself some work as i have enough to do with drying and repairing the hull (as you surely know) and i do not think that it is a bad thing to do especially if someone has a mat which he doesnt need anymore.
You seem a bit bitter about my question which is really neither my fault nor my problem because i think you have simply read it wrong or you are in bad mood.
If someone paid €400 for the mat and can now sell it for half of that to me it helps both of us as we both saved some money. Win-win.

I have everything else build already including the thermostat. So all i need is one or two mats.

So thank you for your help but if you don’t mind i will now wait and hope for someone who wants to sell and if noone wants to i can still build it myself or buy from Hawco.

All the best, Max.

[rogerball0]

Originally Posted by maxpics

Thank you for your very quick answer and the information will help me.

Just one thing: i did not ask for the mats for nothing or for free and just because you suffered building yours does not mean everyone has to!
I asked if someone would SELL theirs and yes, i asked to save myself some work as i have enough to do with drying and repairing the hull (as you surely know) and i do not think that it is a bad thing to do especially if someone has a mat which he doesnt need anymore.
You seem a bit bitter about my question which is really neither my fault nor my problem because i think you have simply read it wrong or you are in bad mood.
If someone paid €400 for the mat and can now sell it for half of that to me it helps both of us as we both saved some money. Win-win.

I have everything else build already including the thermostat. So all i need is one or two mats.

So thank you for your help but if you don’t mind i will now wait and hope for someone who wants to sell and if noone wants to i can still build it myself or buy from Hawco.

All the best, Max.

I never said you did, read what i wrote - i said i've had a person emailing me asking them for nothing.

FWIW your best bet if you're skint is the floor cable method but they take long to reach max temperature and will only go to about 55 - 60C.

Mads had a quote from a firm in Denmark where hes based of nearly a $1000, hence he went with the company i used. I'd be surprised if anyone will sell you their purpose-made mats on grounds of cost.

In the 8 years since i've built my system i know of Volker and two others over on boatdesign.net who've done similar.

[maxpics]

Thank you Roger. Maybe we misunderstood each other. I am already in contact with Hawco and got a quote but 2 panels are about €900.
I guess i have to pay that. Still cheaper than renting the original hotvac which is €1300 a week. Interesting enough the owner of the wharf where my boat is is intersted in buying the mats off me once i am done so i might get some of my investment back and i will definately not dry another boat ever again. I will be happy when my Nauticat38 is back in the water again in April or May next year.

Thank you for your help.

Regards, Max.

[Ryban]

Reviving this thread from the dead.

I tried out making a DIY setup like the original post (because I didn't want to fork over ~$400+ for a custom heater mat only to find out the process wasn't going to work on our hull).

I used 1/8" neoprene sheets and self-regulating heater cable inbetwee. However, the heater cable doesn't get all that hot (8W/ft). It would be really nice to find something with much more power output, but it doesn't seem to be a very common product -- whereas heater cable in general is a common snow-melting/pipe warming item. So I augmented by using an infrared heater which helped a bit.

I think I let the setup run a total of 8 hours, but only with elevated heat (the extra heater) for 2-3 hours. Moisture readings did drop, but only by 3-4% in general, and a long way to go to reach levels measured above the water line.

We only mildly cleaned this section of the hull, and I understand it's important to clean until the hull is drying on its own. I also think it might help if we used vacuum felt between the neoprene and hull to allow more even distribution of the vacuum itself.

We might be better off tenting the boat with heaters and dehumidifiers though.

[rogerball0]

Tenting the boat may help, but the heater cable wont work well as the actual cables are insulated so will take an age to get to temp.

Go to Aliexpress and type in 'silicone rubber heater mats' you'll find many suppliers who make the orange mats in 12v, 24v, 230v or 120v.

All the best