Solar Vent Rebuild
My first mate was diagnosed with breast cancer on the 23rd of February and the boat has barely been opened since.  It's a little less than fresh inside, need to get some ventilation going.  I have two solar vents that haven't worked since I purchased the boat in 2005.  Finally dug into them thinking I could just solder up a loose connection or replace a motor... they're way beyond a simple repair.  Wouldn't it be nice to just solder up a wire or replace a motor... too easy for these 20+ year old vents.  I refuse to spend $160 each to replace them.  Time to dig in and try some fabricating.   The good news is the breast cancer is gone, the bad news is two more surgeries and there will be no underway time until at least October, might as well start a boat project.  The Jeep project is on hold, the bar stool racer is also on hold.  Time and finances are at a premium right now, simple and cheap are the order of the day, not to mention it's about 100 degrees in my west facing garage in the afternoon, and will be until about October.

The original 1980s solar vent.

Disassembled, the only thing salvagable is the stainless steel cowl.

The wires were literally pulled out of the epoxy.

The plastic is crumbling.

The new lens, plexiglas from Home Depot.

Baked at 285 degrees, the melting point of plexiglass. Melted just enough to conform to the inside of the cowl.

Cooled down.

Looking good.

Soldering tabs on the solar cell.

The solar cell epoxied in with 4 teflon attachment points.

The new next to the old.

Putting out just under .6 VDC, enough for the little motor.

Cutting out the housing parts from a 4" PVC pipe cap.

Joined up with the lower part of the housing made out of PVC sewer pipe the blue stuff was the only PVC with the correct inside diameter.

The motor housing inside the cap. Made from 1" PVC.

Mounted the lens with the solar cell to the cowl using stainless and teflon spacers.

From the underside.

The wiring soldered to the solar cell tabs.

Another coat of epoxy to seal the solder connections.

Top and bottom of the fan housing with the vent cuts made.

The old next to the new.

The motor housing mounted up.

The motor soldered up. Wired this one to push air out of the boat. The other is wired to push air in, hopefully this will set up a circulation. Air in from the aft cabin, through the main and exhaust through the head.

The motor in its final resting place waiting for some glue to hold it in place.

Fully functional ready for installation on the boat.

Installed on the boat and moving air.
Total cost of the rebuild of two solar vents:
solar cells - $8.50 for 20 on Ebay
epoxy - $15.00 for 1 quart at Michael's Craft Store
plexiglas - $3.50 at Home Depot
4" pvc pipe - $8.50 at Home Depot
4" pvc pipe cap - $2.00 for two at Home Depot
1" pvc joint - $0.25 for two at home depot
D.C. motor - $19.00 for two at http://store.sundancesolar.com/
4" fan blade - $7.50 for two at http://www.cshincorporated.com/index.php
hardware - $10.00 at Home Depot (Teflon and stainless)

Total for two vents is right about $75.  My initial estimate was about $30, so keeping true to every other boat project I've ever done, it's cost about twice what I expected. But I have two functioning vents for about half of what it would cost to buy one vent new.