| By Southern Boats on Electronics Many boats have inboard engines that are contained within the hull of the boat and enclosed in an accessible chamber. Due to this enclsoure of the engine, gas fumes can become trapped in the comparment, posing a potential explosive condition. A Blower is a fan unit that helps to exhaust the engine comparment of any explosive gases. It is very important to have a blower on all boats, and to run them prior to starting the engine to prevent explosions and accidents. Some boats have old squirrel cage blower motors, and some boats do not have blowers that work. If your boat needs a blower, or if you want to improve your blower, I recommend that you install an inline blower motor. Here is how you do it. Difficulty: Moderately Easy Instructions Things You'll Need: - Attwood Blower Motor (2 or more)
- marine exhaust tubing
- pliers
- screwdriver
- large plastic zip-ties
- aluminum duct metal screw clamp
- silicone caulk
Step 1  A typical blower setup on a boat is comprised of an intake vent on one side of the boat and an exhaust vent on the other side of the boat. The intake vent brings fresh air down into the engine bay through an intake duct and then blows the exhaust and fumes out of the boat through the exhaust vent. All exhaust vents have a blower motor or "bilge blower" that simple helps to cleat the engine compartment of fumes. When installing an in-line blower motor, you are simply attaching it between the ducting to help increase the exhaust air flow. Most boats only have one blower motor, but if you have a large boat (30 feet plus) you will want to install more than one in-line blower motors.
Step 2  The first step is to clear out your bilge and engine compartment of any water, leaves, or old water scum. Once the engine compartment and bilge are clean, you can look down inside the bilge and engine compartment to see how much room you have to work with.
Step 3  Now locate the vents on your boat – these are usually at the rear of the boat, located at both sides and just above the engine compartment.
Step 4  Next get inside your boat and look up under the engine compartment to take a look at your current venting system to see how the airflow is setup. The picture shows what the marine venting tubing may look like.
Step 5 Start at the vents at the back of your boat, and then follow the duct work down into your engine compartment and bilge holding area. Do not be alarmed if you see that your ducting coming from the intake vents suddenly just stops in your engine compartment. This is normal because your boat relies on vacuum to suck in air as you are moving and then blow it back out. Step 6 This picture shows you how the tubing is run from the vents  Next follow your exhaust duct work out to the exhaust vents. The picture attached to this step is what most vents look like on a boat. This picture shows two inline blowers – the white part of the tubes – mounted neat the intake vents. You can do this to draw in extra air as well as use them for exhaust purposes, but this is overkill unless you have a very large boat.
Step 7  I recommend that if your duct work looks old and tattered, that you replace it with marine ducting. You can find this at any marine supply store. Be sure to check the diameter of the duct work. The most common size ducting has a three inch opening – and most blowers are three inches or four inches in diameter. Here is what the common ducting looks like in the picture attached to this step. If you have to replace your duct work, you generally can simply zip-tie it to the vent openings in the bodywork of your boat to keep it secure. I also recommend that you zip tie the ducting to any permanent cables or wires that are mounted in the boat to keep the ducting from moving around.
Step 8  Now that you have the ducting cleaned up and mapped out, you should take a look online for an Attwood inline bilge blower motor. They are a marine grade motor that is easy to install, simple to connect to your ducting, and they also have ignition-proofing, that allows the motor to start up and switch on without sparking. Here is a picture of one of the blower motors that you can find online. It is your preference if you want a 3″ or 4″ diameter blower and the ducting you use can really help to determine this. If you have a large boat (30 feet or more), you can buy two of these and use one of them to help pull in fresh air on the intake ducting, and install the second one on the exhaust ducting.
Step 9 The next step is to simply find a place in your engine compartment that you can mount your new inline motor where it is close enough to the electrical wiring, high enough to avoid getting wet and covered with water, but also effective enough to generate strong airflow through the engine compartment and out the exhaust vent. Make sure that you use silicone caulk to cover the screw holes you create when mounting your bilge blower. Step 10 Blower installed directly in-line on the exhaust ducting leading to the exhaust vents You also have two options to install this, and both methods work well. The first option is to install the fan in-line with your exhaust duct tubing. You do not ever install these fans on the intake tubing. What this means is that you basically have a piece of exhaust ducting that starts in the lower chamber of the engine compartment and runs up to the blower motor – is attached to the blower motor – and then the blower motor has ducting that runs from it to the exhaust vent. This method is used to help get deep into a large engine compartment to effectively vent any fumes. Blower motors only blow in one direction so make sure that you point the airflow of the blower motor toward the exhaust vent. The picture will provide an example. If you are going this route, simply screw the blower motor down in place, connect the tubing to the motor and use a worm and screw stainless steel clamp to connect the hoses and the blower. Then zip tie any loose sections of the exhaust tubing down into place. See the photo for reference Step 11  The second and also equally effective method for installing a blower motor on an exhaust line in a bilge is to simply attach the motor to the end of the exhaust duct – with the airflow pointing toward the exhaust vent and then mount the bilge blower fan down in place. This method works best with smaller engine compartments that can be cleared quickly. This makes the bilge motor work like an exhaust fan in your bathroom. See the picture for reference.
Step 12 The last step is to install the blower motor to a switch on your dashboard so that you can turn it on every time you go out boating. By doing this, you will help to keep your boat operating more safely and within the compliance of marine laws.      | 
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