Forums, Engine, Gearbox, Stern Gear, etc, engine ventillation

Nick Howes at 15/10/2014 19:23:01
I have a new beta 25 in Quest, a 1990 M. J. Slack built Contessa 32. The manual suggests two vents in the engine compartment, one inlet low and near the alternator and one exit, high in the compartment. As far as I can see there is no provision for ventilation at all! There is a vent on the deck behind the cockpit but this seems just to vent the aft hull compartment which does not appear to ventilate through to the engine compartment. We have Quest in Gozo, Malta, where today it was 32 degrees so I am concerned that we don’t starve the engine of air. Could anyone tell me how their Contessa engine is ventilated ?

Thanks, Nick

waratah912 at 17/10/2014 15:40:08
I have a Volvo 2002 with no specific ventilation and have not seen any evidence of air starvation. It sounds like your manual is providing cooling air to the alternator rather than hot engine compartment air. Since alternator output decreases with temperature, that’s probably a good plan, but with high ambient temperatures you’d probably want the “hot out” vent outside the cabin which is a lot more difficult to achieve.

Keny at 19/10/2014 13:19:06
You already have an exit vent – its the engine itself. If you didn’t have an inlet vent your engine would not run so I would stop worrying.
Keny