[Destroyer]

IF there is a bilge blower (lots of IO's don't have them) the placement of the hoses is really up to you. Normally you would see two vents on your gunnels, one on the port and one on the starboard side, towards the stern, just before the transom. One will have the vent vanes facing forward, the other will have the vent vanes facing rearward. The idea being that as you move through the water the air will enter through the forward facing vent and exit through the rearward facing ones, thereby venting your bilge automatically. Most powered bilge blowers exhaust through the rearward facing vents. But the decision as to where to place them is entirely up to you. The idea of course it to make sure that your bilge is vented of any explosive vapors before you start your engine. Since most modern engines have fuel injection now, the chances of a harmful build up of gas vapor are slim at best. Baring leaks in your fuel system, (at which point you should NEVER take your boat out on the water) there's really no place for the vapor to come from. I know that a lot of people will disagree with me, but when I had an I/O powered boat I never bothered with a bilge blower. All I did was lift the engine hatch before trailering the boat to the launch ramp. I figured that any vapor that might have accumulated would be long gone by the time I got to the ramp. Since there was never an explosion, I'm guessing it was a good decision. Understand, I'm not saying bilge blowers don't have their place, I'm just saying that with normal, prudent, safety precautions I think their usage is minimal at best.