[BigLew]

Yes and no. They should face forward in order to catch any breeze while at anchor or mooring, thus setting up a convection of air passing through the bilge and taking any fumes with it as well as general moisture. Ideally, the vents should be mounted in vent or backing boxes which are boxes encasing the vent opening in the hull with a large bore hose coming up from through the bottom of the box and extending into the box a bit so MOST of any water entering the vent does not make it down into the bilge, but rather back out the vent plates.

I've never taken my vent plates off so I'm not sure if there is enough room between the hull and the inner liner to allow having these vent boxes. On larger boats they are very common. My recommendation would be add a second bilge pump that can kick in if the water level gets high enough to trigger it. Not a bad idea as a back up for a failed primary even when you are not in the nasties!