Hello,
I'm looking to purchase a big Starcraft Chieftain. I've gone to look at a few and something that stands out immediately is how hot it is inside the cabin on a warm day. It's not even hot summer weather here yet but I imagine you would literally die in there on hot day. Opening windows didn't help much but admittedly not much wind on those days.
I'd like to use the boat for camping/overnight trips but man this has me rethinking.
Can any Chieftain owners comment on this issue? If you are overnighting on your boat does the cabin cool down enough in the evenings to sleep in there? How about storing food or beer? When underway I imagine it's fine but just sitting there....wow that is a lot of deck space that seems unusable.
I'm looking to purchase a big Starcraft Chieftain. I've gone to look at a few and something that stands out immediately is how hot it is inside the cabin on a warm day. It's not even hot summer weather here yet but I imagine you would literally die in there on hot day. Opening windows didn't help much but admittedly not much wind on those days.
I'd like to use the boat for camping/overnight trips but man this has me rethinking.
Can any Chieftain owners comment on this issue? If you are overnighting on your boat does the cabin cool down enough in the evenings to sleep in there? How about storing food or beer? When underway I imagine it's fine but just sitting there....wow that is a lot of deck space that seems unusable.
It can get pretty damn hot when closed up but that's mainly bc of the awesome huge windows I think. It's like a greenhouse when sealed up in there! I've spent countless nights in a smaller but very similar 18 ft version (Starchief) like MC above. If you vent the cabin it isn't that bad really in day, no problwm at night. Cabin door has to have sreened opening for air flow front to rear. The front forward facing air scoop like hatch is a Key feature. If removed it needs to be replaced in another way. I sealed my front hatch bc of a windlass setup so just like MC I also used a 12v fan setup that was really efficient and easily ran all night on house batt. Mine had two independently aimable heads and was center mounted on interior dash area and it was perfect for keeping us from sweating in there sleeping at night, with a 33lb dog even. And summer in New England is hot. Like Waterman said, the cool water on aluminum hull thing definitely seems to make a difference.