Re: new doghouse over engine
If a little extra engine noise won't bother how you use your boat, cut two small vents foward on both the port and starboard side panels of your doghouse. All doghouse engines breath and cool from/through the open rear end of the engine compartment. Even the carb sucks its air from there. The foward half of the engine (half of the exhaust manifold horns, water pump, fuel pump, fuel line, hot oil pan, etc) is in a hot volume under the doghouse with little air circulation. Air hose ducts from gunwale vents are typically dropped in the stern bilge area, doing nothing for the foward half of the engine compartment. My 302 was hard starting, and even stalled sometimes, until I realized I had old fashioned vapor lock in the fuel line from excessive heat build-up. I insulated the fuel line and installed subject vents, using two halves of a cut up gunwale vent. It worked.
