In this N.Y Times article the long-held belief that a correlation between room temperature and quality of rest exists, that cooler is better, is confirmed by scientific studies. In general, you should keep your sleeping quarters on the cool side, in the range of 60 – 68 degrees Fahrenheit / 16 – 20 degrees Centigrade, to best facilitate falling asleep and staying that way. With all the other factors that can prevent or disrupt your rest, this one is easy to address. Given the lack of natural ventilation on most modern boats, they essentially become uninhabitable ovens or cold and clammy caves when the HVAC system malfunctions or fails. Even with relatively cool temperatures outside no crew can get anything resembling adequate rest under such circumstances. An uncomfortable crew is an unrested crew, and an unrested crew is an accident looking for a place to happen. That means that the boat should be taken out of service until repairs can be effected, and that means that it isn’t making any money. One more good reason why effective natural ventilation should be given serious consideration in the design stage of a vessel’s development. Keeping around a fan for each stateroom, to make things a little more tolerable until you can make it back to the dock, is an idea worth considering as well. Better than any normal fan, a Vornado air circulator (even a small one) can work wonders…..and they’ll also help with condensation problems.
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