Can't find ventilation grills

[PiratePast40]

[My 30 some year old boat has a few warts - among them are the plastic ventilation inlet and exhaust grills. I'd like to find some of the originals but posting on Craigslist hasn't yielded any success yet. I've checked all the boat supply sites that google can come up with and can't seem to find anything close. Here's a picture of the ones I have. Although they're nothing special, they do have the fiberform logo molded in. Any ideas where else to look?

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[AZSenza]

Re: Can't find ventilation grills

No Picture??? When I needed some for my last boat, I went on line and typed in boat ventalation grill screen etc. I got quite a few hits and finally found the ones that will work. You need to take measurements of the holes they slide into, thats a big part of the fix. there are a lot out there, any will do as long as they fit into the holes. I got lucky - direct fit, even the screw holes lined up. I believe mine were attwood.

 

[MrMarine]

Re: Can't find ventilation grills

Well from my past experiances i have been able to find them all over the net. I hust did a quick lookup on E-BAy by searching (louvered vents) came up with more then 30 different styles. Sometimes you need to change the way you word your searches. Try not to be spacific on the type of boat you have in the search. I had a 80 year fourwinns and found brand new grills that matched the originals perfectly. Like i said try to change the wording a bit.

 

[salty87]

Re: Can't find ventilation grills

i had west marine order some for my boat.

since yours look riveted and you like the fiberform, i'd mask em off and paint em.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Can't find ventilation grills

Would love to just mask them off but they need to be removed first. They have tailpieces that are flanges for the engine compartment ventilation hoses. Whoever put them together last, put a screw at the top to hold the hose in place. There's no where else to hold the hose so the rivets need to be drilled out and the grills removed to reattach new hoses. I didn't show the one that I cracked when drilling out the stainless steel rivets. I'd like to have original fiberform replacements but anything that works and looks decent will be allright just can't seem to find any with the right dimensions.