I too have this problem (and appears only while cruising) I have a 38’ With the galley more midship portside. I use two Battery powered CO detectors one at the galley and another repositioned in different spots to try to detect which detects faster (also a second also eliminated the variable that it’s a problem with the first detector). It freaks out my adult kids that this is even a thing (we just made the move to power from sailing forever - so lots of new things learned). I haven’t found the source either. However, thank you to the many Useful suggestions from other contributors.
Welcome to the forum....it is good to see you are aware and keeping on top of it.The key obviously is fresh air...sometimes hard to accomplish with any regularity due to wind direction, boat direction, speed and canvas design.
If you get a resolution for your boat, please post it for others.....good luck with your new boat.
I too have this problem (and appears only while cruising) I have a 38’ With the galley more midship portside. I use two Battery powered CO detectors one at the galley and another repositioned in different spots to try to detect which detects faster (also a second also eliminated the variable that it’s a problem with the first detector). It freaks out my adult kids that this is even a thing (we just made the move to power from sailing forever - so lots of new things learned). I haven’t found the source either. However, thank you to the many Useful suggestions from other contributors.
It would be interesting to know if this happens while cruising at a slow or rather fast speeds. I read about some issue related to vortexing, where exhaust fumes are trapped and pushed inside the cabin.
In terms of the what's causing the issue, maybe there's a leak in the exhaust system (manifolds, tailpipe, risers)? Another thing is maintaining the cabin door closed while cruising. That should keep fumes from going inside.
We had triggered Co alarms underway as well. Checked exhaust, everything seemed in order, but our most recent outing, Oct 31, we heard a strange noise that ended up being a "crack" in the exhaust riser elbow in the area where the stud passes. Underway the exhaust would "burp" and could be felt coming out this area.
New riser elbows will fix this and hopefully cure or Co alarm issue.
We had some relatively incredible weather in Nashville over the weekend and were able to test out several theories on our Carbon Monoxide concerns. As it turns out, it appears the "stationwagon effect" is both alive and well and the probable culprit. As suggested, we cracked open the front hatch during cruise and had no increase in readings or alarms on our meter! This is only one exercise, but the initial result is promising. We'll hope to give it another go later this week.
Thanks to everyone who weighed in. It provided an opportunity to look at several possible issues and rule out a number of potential problems.
It looks like the big old square cabin on our little tiny yacht was just sucking in fumes when everything was closed up. Creating a little positive air pressure while underway seems to have done the trick.
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