Air Conditioning 2

Nice clean installation. I went through a similar thing last year with our small coleman popup camper. We went with a Haier unit that has two hoses, one for exhaust and one for intake, these units are more efficient than the single hose units since they use outside air to cool the condenser. Also, there is virtually no problem with condensate since most of the moisture is vented outside. On the negative side, you have two bulky hoses to contend with.
 
williamsburg,
Thanks for the pictures. Great looking install. I assume you leave the a/c unit in place while running in the boat? How does the a/c unit ride in chop? Did you secure it down to the floor somehow? Also, do you still have enough leg room to sit at the table? Neat idea you have there. I'd prefer to not cut a hole in the roof, so I'm intrigued with this idea.

Jack
 
Stand Alone Portable Air Conditioner - This is what I finally choose (Soleus 8000 BTU) about $400 from Staples including shipping. This unit measures 12.75"wide, 16" deep, and 31.5 high. If you remove the casters and use 3/4" feet it will fit under the table top. I removed the table leg and use the unit as the support. It is easily vented using the supplied kit through the port sliding window. The table and seats are still usable. Now the problems - By nature the portable air conditioners are very inefficient. First they themselves are heat generators, especially the vent tubing. Since they use the inside air to cool the compressor, cold air is removed and sent out thru the vent tubing. This creates a vacuum in the cabin sucking hot outside air in. During the heat of a sunny day cooling is minimal (3 or 4 degrees) but the humidity is decreased. At night it cools the boat nicely. There is no thermostat so you can get too cold and have to turn it to fan manually. Finally we have had problems getting rid of the condensate - severaly gallons a day. There is a drain to which you connect 1/2" tubing and can drain into the bildge pump area. But the unit is very sensitive to leveling and can pour alot of water into the cabin. We have made a drain pan from a plastic basket and this works fine.
Will take some photos next time I'm at the boat if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...

My apologies, I too got caught up in the RV solution. Yours is much more suitable for our use since it can be easily removed, and we would only be using one while traveling in the east and south. I really like your photos and hope you don't mind that I re-posted some of them here below.

To go back to RV type A/C's for a moment, we have found that it takes more than an hour or more to get any really effective cooling in those nasty high heat/humidity regions. My big question is "would you install a Soleus again?" assuming, like us, you prefer not cutting holes and don't mind installing it for summer season only.

Did I mention that your installation is beautiful and shows a lot of excellent craftsmanship. What material did you use on the vent window portion?

Don


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Both dinette seats are still usable but there is limited room. You can slide the unit to one side or the other. Using a single seat (fore or aft) is fine. I store my storm ropes and other items I seldom use in the hatch beneath the unit. We have had no problem with movement of the unit while underway in modest a modest chop (1' - 2') on the bay.
All of the vent items are included with the Soleus. The window vent platen only has to be cut to size. Actually, not much to it if you make an accurate outline of the window opening and allow 3/16" margins.
Finally, the question of whether or not I would make the same decision. The Soleus certainly has limitations and I was disappointed in its cooling when the sun is beating down on the boat. It does reduce humidity making a fan seem to cool better, but it does not do much for reducing the interior temperature. However, when the sun goes down it becomes more efficient in cooling - and certainly improves sleeping conditions. We always stay in marinas so electrical power is not a problem. We spend many weekends marina hopping, so for this reason alone I would make the same purchase. During the day we visit the pool, or air conditioned marina club houses, or members of our boating group with large boats and a gazillion BTU's.
Other methods of air conditioning had, for us, greater complications or disadvantages - so the portable unit was the best of limited choices. We were worried about the cosmetic changes with the camper top units so vanity made this our second choice.
I hope someone can find the ideal solution.
 
We made a trip to Lowe's yesterday to check on that Soleus unit. The only one they had was 10,000 btu and the salesperson said that was all that was available. It was huge; no way it would fit under the table. We are "cooling our heels", visiting our daughter and son-in-law in Phoenix while we wait for the completion of our boat. It was 116º yesterday... so I guess we were able to find a place that IS hotter than south Texas! :shock:

I am told it is more comfortable because "it is a dry heat." Right. Much like saying, "yeah, being sick isn't so bad because I only have the DRY heaves." It's rather creepy to me: you hardly sweat, but it's like standing in an oven. At least on the Texas Gulf Coast, there is a seabreeze. Needless to say, this air-conditioning thread has really caught our attention.

Another option: go where the weather suits my clothes. I think the migrating birds have the right idea. :wink

Any other airconditioning ideas would be warmly appreciated.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
I use those little portable a/c units in my old farmhouse. About 1/3 to 1/4 of the base is used to house the removable water collection tank. One could easily just cut that part off and use the provided 1/2 " drain line. I have the drains running thru the wall along with the air tube.

These are amazingly good units for a house where rare use of extra rooms is involved and I am using a 7,000 btu unit in my bedroom now in 110 degree heat and it gets cold. If I could see a way to use something like this in my tug I would. The TomCat, however, has that neat, high and wide roof which seems to be begging for a roof air unit to my thinking. John
 
Clarification: I put the portable a/c units on an end table so the water drain tube and vent can drain together in some rooms and in others, run a 5/8" hole thru the wall for the drain under the window which houses the vent tube. John
 
Also, James, TX, I had a small, old houseboat with a cabin near the size of the TomCat. I put a Coleman, slo=start, or soft start, 13,500 Btu roof unit on it to replace the old roof air unit. Both were 13,500 Btu and both couldnot keep up on a high 90's, sunny day. The inside temp could get to low 80's inside which is better than nothing. So that big unit could carry about a 20 degree drop. I am thinking a cabin the size of the TomCat would have to have at least a 13,500 Btu unit to do much good on the average summer day on the Texas Coast. Just my experience. John
 
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