When I layup Puffin for the winter in Alaska I leave out about 3-4 lbs of rock salt in large trays. These soak up moisture in the air and when I return next summer the trays are full of water and salt. When we lay up our boat in Mexico we put spices , pasta and other long lived food products in large plastic boxes with rice sprinkled in the bottom. Nine months later these foods are completely dry. So I am wondering if a large bag of rice, say ~10lbs, left in an open bucket on board Puffin, might do a better job than the salt. Anybody ever tried this? I know about CaCl powder as a dessicant but the boat is 2000 miles away from me and there is no one to change the CaCl. Richard P

Very creative solutions. I keep a desiccant dehumidifier running in my boat when I'm on shore power. I have removed the water collection tank from the bottom of the dehumidifier and I just set the dehumidifier in the shower or the galley sink and turn it on. Of course it uses electricity, and a fair amount of electricity. But it seems to do the job. My desiccant dehumidifier is a "full size consumer grade desiccant dehumidifier" per the definition in http://www.dehumidifierbuyersguide.com/desiccant-dehumidifier-reviews/ and operation does not involve any consumable items (except electricity), and it works well in low temperatures, unlike refrigerant-dehumidifiers. Of course if I situate it in the shower then my shower sump pump has to run and use even more electricity, while when it is in my galley sink it drains to the outside of the boat via gravity. Either way it does keep the boat air dry and the electricity it consumes is released as heat, so it contributes to both parts of the "warm dry boat". I do think my use case exceeds the manufacturers intended duty cycle and I have had to replace my unit after a few years. Next time a replacement is called for I'll shop again for a small commercial unit, but last time I looked there weren't commercial units for my size and price range. Larry On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 8:06 PM Richard P via Trawlers-and-Trawlering <trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: > > When I layup Puffin for the winter in Alaska I leave out about 3-4 lbs of > rock salt in large trays. These soak up moisture in the air and when I > return next summer the trays are full of water and salt. When we lay up > our boat in Mexico we put spices , pasta and other long lived food products > in large plastic boxes with rice sprinkled in the bottom. Nine months later > these foods are completely dry. > > So I am wondering if a large bag of rice, say ~10lbs, left in an open > bucket on board Puffin, might do a better job than the salt. Anybody ever > tried this? > > I know about CaCl powder as a dessicant but the boat is 2000 miles away > from me and there is no one to change the CaCl. > > Richard P > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.