DIY Misting kit for your boat

[toakley1]

As asked in another thread, here are the instructions for assembling a misting system for your boat.
I don't have pictures of mine, but I think I can give you enough info here so that you could do it yourself.

To start, you need a misting kit like you would use on your patio. They sell these kits at Lowes. This is the one I used:

http://www.orbitonline.com/products/Kits/04/04/10/114/

This is the 3/8" kit. They also sell a 1/4" kit that works just as well. I prefer the 3/8" on the boat because the tubing is stiffer and easier to hang up in the bimini. These kits have 10 ft of tubing, plus another 10 ft of misters. You may need a short garden hose between the kit and the pump in order to have the reach you need for the bimini top. Lowes/HomeDepot have 6 FT garden hoses that fill the bill nicely.

To power the misters, use a standard RV water pump like this one.
These pumps are preset to maintain a 40 to 45lb pressure and work fine powering one of these kits:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006GK5NA/ref ... B0006GK5NA

You can wire up the pump any way you prefer. I wired in alligator clamps to attach to the battery and included a switch on a long lead so that I could quickly turn the pump on and off.

RV water pumps have 1/2" STRAIGHT pipe threads on the input and output. This means that you need to do some adapting to plumb your kit. The best way I found to make it work was to buy two short faucet supply lines. These are 1/2" straight female pipe thread on each end and will seal properly to the pump. Use these on both sides of the pump.

Faucet supply lines:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_101000-104-LBLK ... facetInfo=

Now you need to adapt the 1/2 female end of your output to the garden hose end of your misting kit. That is done with a brass fitting with 1/2" male pipe on one end and male garden hose on the other:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_34689-104-A-663 ... facetInfo=

For the intake, I used a brass fitting with 1/2" male pipe to 3/8" hose barb. I bought a 10 ft section of 3/8" reinforced tubing to use for the intake. The water flow is quite small, so I expect that even 1/4" tubing would be adequate.

I have a 5 gallon bucket in the back of my boat that I use for a water supply, but you could easily drop the intake hose into the lake. If you do, then be sure to rig up some kind of filter on the end.

I recommend that you hang your kit down the center of your bimini rather than placing it directly over your seating area. The mist will float around the deck of the boat with the slightest breeze. I've found that putting them over the seats is just too much.

That's it. Good luck!

[Red555]

Excellent!!! Thank you.

How long does the 5 gallons of water last?

After prolonged use, do you notice any deposits from the water on surfaces?

[toakley1]

This is the first year with the misters, so I haven't noticed any deposits anywhere yet. Our lake water is pretty clean though.

We haven't needed to run the misters for long periods of time yet, but I'm quite sure we will in July and August. From what I've seen so far, a 5 gallon bucket will probably last a couple of hours.

[tooned out]

cool idea.

[RonKMiller]

That's a great write up, but before anyone gets too excited...

Misters (evaporative cooling) work GREAT when the relative humidity is low. Really low. When it gets above 30% they are barely effective. Above 50% they don't work at all, sorry. All you do is get soaking wet and very uncomfortable.

I'm sure the RH never gets very high in Arkansas.

Oh yeah, if you have hard water they will leave white residue all over everything - that can only be removed with acid. Not good.

[GXPWeasel]

That's a great write up, but before anyone gets too excited...

Misters (evaporative cooling) work GREAT when the relative humidity is low. Really low. When it gets above 30% they are barely effective. Above 50% they don't work at all, sorry. All you do is get soaking wet and very uncomfortable.
Oh yeah, if you have hard water they will leave white residue all over everything - that can only be removed with acid. Not good.

Not to start a fight, but I'll call BS on this.

I have never felt misearable when being wet here in KS when the temp was above 85* outside, and we here in KS have a humidity above 50% damn near every day. I think that if you have any type of moisture on your skin at all, you will feel cooler than you would had you not had any water on your skin. I.E. this is why we sweat.

Now the hard water spots, I'll agree with, and that, over time, will even plug your misters.

[blackberg]

get a water filter, I used to have one when I had the shop and washed cars all the time, gets the sediment out, and prevents water stains.

Look at the "kit" on this link and the just get what you need for your situation either from them or Home Depot or wherever. http://autogeek.commerce-search.net/sea ... er&x=0&y=0

I would just add a small water hose, like 2 feet infront and behind the filter, like that its portable and you can hook it up to any outdoor faucet and get clean water for misting.

-bb

[toakley1]

I have to agree that you WILL get wet if you stay under these misting kits in a high humidity area. That might be annoying in street clothes on the patio, but it feels dang good out on the boat.

Agreed on possible hard water spots. I have yet to see any sign whatsoever of any deposits, but will put a filter in-line if I ever see any evidence of hard water deposits.

[RonKMiller]

That's a great write up, but before anyone gets too excited...

Misters (evaporative cooling) work GREAT when the relative humidity is low. Really low. When it gets above 30% they are barely effective. Above 50% they don't work at all, sorry. All you do is get soaking wet and very uncomfortable.
Oh yeah, if you have hard water they will leave white residue all over everything - that can only be removed with acid. Not good.

Not to start a fight, but I'll call BS on this.

I have never felt misearable when being wet here in KS when the temp was above 85* outside, and we here in KS have a humidity above 50% damn near every day. I think that if you have any type of moisture on your skin at all, you will feel cooler than you would had you not had any water on your skin. I.E. this is why we sweat.

Now the hard water spots, I'll agree with, and that, over time, will even plug your misters.

I like to deal in facts.

When it's 100F in Kansas and the RH is 5% evaporative cooling can reduce air temperature to 71F - that's significant.

When it's 100F in Kansas and the RH is 50% evaporative cooling can reduce air temperature to 88F - still not bad but you're approaching the limits of it's effectiveness. You begin to feel "clammy". 50% is about when thunderstorms can start happening big time.

Once you get into the 65% range it really doesn't work at all and becomes annoying since you are literally soaking wet.

Misters aren't NEARLY as effecient as evaporative cooling.

However, introduce some air movement into the equation - enough to provide even a gentle breeze and it helps dramatically - "wind chill" on your skin feels good. Unfortunately on a boat, the wind you generate by moving through the air (even at trolling speed) will disperse the mist.

I think the op's idea is excellent - but on a hot and sultry day while fishing or hanging out you're going to feel a lot more comfortable with the misters off.

evap_chart3.gif (12.03 KiB) Viewed 12646 times

[RonKMiller]

Filters work great to remove hard water deposits - but you'll need a significant increase in the pump's power to force the water through the filter - and still have enough velocity exiting the jet orifice to "atomize" the water.

[toakley1]

Filters work great to remove hard water deposits - but you'll need a significant increase in the pump's power to force the water through the filter - and still have enough velocity exiting the jet orifice to "atomize" the water.

Keep in mind that the volume of water going through these mister kits is very low. I expect that a filter wouldn't be a big deal in this case.
It's a BIG drag on one of these pumps when you need high volume though. They don't have the power to keep up.

[Bmac]

A 100 degr. day in Kansas usually brings at least a good breeze. Usually 20 mph plus,or what we call a good breeze. You'd have to setup a simple manifold to direct water to the side that's upwind. I like the idea!

I dunno about the Weasel,but when it hits 100 with no wind I get off the lake.

[blackberg]

Filters work great to remove hard water deposits - but you'll need a significant increase in the pump's power to force the water through the filter - and still have enough velocity exiting the jet orifice to "atomize" the water.

Keep in mind that the volume of water going through these mister kits is very low. I expect that a filter wouldn't be a big deal in this case.
It's a BIG drag on one of these pumps when you need high volume though. They don't have the power to keep up.

actually, what I would do, if using a faucet, is to filter the water into a bucket/container and then run the pump from that container.
-bb

[GXPWeasel]

I dunno about the Weasel,but when it hits 100 with no wind I get off the lake.

Are you kidding? If it's a 100* here, and no wind, you can bet your ass I'm on the lake, because that only happens about 1-2 times every 5 years. I will just jump in the water more often, or not even get out of it. The heat doesn't bother me too much, and I don't get to use the toon as much as I would like, so as long as it's above 80, and not raining, or blowing 25-30mph, then I'm on the lake.

[curtiscapk]

I dunno about the Weasel,but when it hits 100 with no wind I get off the lake.

Are you kidding? If it's a 100* here, and no wind, you can bet your ass I'm on the lake, because that only happens about 1-2 times every 5 years. I will just jump in the water more often, or not even get out of it. The heat doesn't bother me too much, and I don't get to use the toon as much as I would like, so as long as it's above 80, and not raining, or blowing 25-30mph, then I'm on the lake.

Agreed oh wait if my toon was running