Cruising in the tropics during the rainy season can be unpleasant. There may be not much of a breeze so it can be steamingly hot and oppressive and in some regions strong thunderstorms are frequent. When it pours down you are forced to shut the hatches so no fresh air comes into the boat. And sometimes it pours down for a longer period of time and mould starts growing in lockers, on the ceiling, almost everywhere inside the boat.
We got a taste of this when we were cruising Suriname in January 2012 and vowed to be better prepared for the next rainy season to come. Now we are already in the middle of the next one (in southern Colombia and Panama the rainy season lasts from June to December). We’ve already been through many thunderstorms since we came to Cartagena in July and several rainy days. Even though we haven’t had the opportunity to test them in torrential downpours over several days yet, our precautive measures seem to work well so far.
Rain-catching awning
Birgit made two big canvas to collect rainwater, one for the foredeck and one for the aftdeck and two little ones for the hatches. These canvas are not only for collecting water, but allow us to leave the hatches underneath open when it rains, they shade off the hatches when it’s sunny and Leeloo thinks we’ve built a palace for her.
Extra Ventilation
Fans in the saloon and in our cabins make it bearable when there is no breeze coming into the boat. Also some lockers have got fans to guarantee air circulation and hopefully no or at least less mould.
Finally, I installed an extra dorade box (I could not find compact ones so I made this one myself, my first fiberglass project…) ventilated by a fan in the transom.
