Just bought the boat (46' Uniflite) and am getting it back in shape. Although the odor problem (either from the heads or the engine room) is not bad, I was wondering if anyone on the list has tried the Alpine Living Air system I saw touted at a boat show recently. Claims to clean your indoor environment electronically through walls, floors, etc., for a 60 foot radius the same way sunlight and lightening does outside utilizing a small box the size of a toaster oven to produce negative ions. No filters. Claims to reduce odors (of all kinds), kill bacteria, mold and fungus (and other fun stuff) and even help with the serotonin levels of the brain to decrease depression and increase the ability to concentrate. Now all this sounds too good to be true. Has anyone tried the system and would they recommend/not recommend it? Thanks in advance. Tom Dunton M/V Sonata 46' Uniflite Alexandria, Virginia

Tomdunton@aol.com writes: >Claims to clean your indoor >environment electronically through walls, floors, etc., for a 60 >foot radius >the same way sunlight and lightening does outside utilizing a small >box the >size of a toaster oven to produce negative ions. No filters. >Claims to >reduce odors (of all kinds), kill bacteria, mold and fungus (and >other fun >stuff) and even help with the serotonin levels of the brain to >decrease >depression and increase the ability to concentrate. I used to have a BIONAIRE negative ion generator (size of a toaster too) in my office and it certainly alleviated many of the "sick building" indoor air problems. Don't know what it would do for head or diesel odours or fungus, but it certainly worked as a "feel good" machine. All this said, my preference nowadays, however, is to open hatches and portholes and inhale REAL fresh air. Heads don't smell if properly maintained and the only time I smell Diesel is when "filling and spilling" :-). Breezingly George of Scaramouche, liveaboard on Lake Ontario, Canada

I have used several ozone generators (which this likely is) to eliminate odors on my boat quite successfully. You can buy the Quantum Electronics "panda" generators from West Marine, which put out a maximum of 80-100 mg/hr of ozone. This will work fine for most boats. I discovered that to actually saturate the interior of my boat (38 Hatteras DCMY) the Crystalair units, delivering 1000 mg/hr worked much better at lower cost. You can check out Crystalair at: http://www.crystalair.bc.ca/ I bought the Pro-3600-1. Prices have gone up some since I bought mine a year ago for $350 USD, they are now about $448 but well worth it in my opinion. After running the unit for 3 weeks straight, it neutralized all odors on the boat (old diesel smells) and they have not come back. The usual disclaimers apply. Just a happy customer. Frank Timpano Hatteras 38 DCMY "Discovery" Deltaville, VA on the Chesapeake At 11:25 AM 4/7/00 EDT, Tomdunton@aol.com wrote: >Just bought the boat (46' Uniflite) and am getting it back in shape. >Although the odor problem (either from the heads or the engine room) is not >bad, I was wondering if anyone on the list has tried the Alpine Living Air >system I saw touted at a boat show recently. Claims to clean your indoor >environment electronically through walls, floors, etc., for a 60 foot radius >the same way sunlight and lightening does outside utilizing a small box the >size of a toaster oven to produce negative ions. No filters. Claims to >reduce odors (of all kinds), kill bacteria, mold and fungus (and other fun >stuff) and even help with the serotonin levels of the brain to decrease >depression and increase the ability to concentrate. > >Now all this sounds too good to be true. Has anyone tried the system and >would they recommend/not recommend it? > >Thanks in advance. > >Tom Dunton >M/V Sonata >46' Uniflite >Alexandria, Virginia > >