louvered vents on 23

[TMala]

Im in the middle of a restoration of a 1978 23 and I could have sworn I read somewhere that someone had a problem with taking water into their louvered vents in heavy weather. I like the idea of ventilating the bilge, but hate the idea of make a bilge pump work hard in an already bad situation, what is the current consensus about keeping or ditching the vents? I looked it up and found a bit of info on sourcing new vents, but not a lot about glassing over them. Another reason to ditch would be to help out the "down flooding angle" and any vent like this could play a part in taking in water with a lot of rocking and rolling not just pounding through waves while underway. I know i'm likely not to see a situation where these factors actually come into play but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

[Old'sCool]

I had my 23' for 16 years. They were filled when I bought it and I replaced them after 4 years. There was a lot less condensation below deck afterwards. My front vents faced aft FWIW.

[77SceptreOB]

I’ve had my 23’ Sceptre for 45 years and never experienced any problems. Additionally my forward vents are facing forward and my aft vents are facing backward, the way they are supposed to be. My original balsa cored floor is solid as a brick and no soft spots. I associate that in large part due to the excellent hull Ventilation that the louvered vents provide when oriented properly

[Capt Chuck]

Yes indeed
Forward face forward, Aft face aft

[caper]

Bilge ventilation is your friend

[TMala]

So it sounds like keep them. It would have to be pretty nasty for water to get in I suppose. I wish I remember where I read about it being an issue.

[RJSWFL]

FWIW, I turned my front vents around the other day to correct them, per this site. Front open fwd, Rear open aft.

Thanks for helping me have some cred in this community.

[TMala]

gotta keep it how potter wanted it lol

[ricknewman]

Yes, keep the vents. Not only do they provide air flow down below they are signatures of a classic SeaCraft.