Air Conditioning

hey capt. bob / thataway
great post. hope the healing process regarding the eye surgery is going well. you've mention several items of concern to me as well. weight on the roof and roof insulation. any pictures of your completed install job would be greatly appreciated. if you could email them, that would be even better, info@autohomelife.net.
 
I will be posting the photos, as I do the project in the Thataway album.
Thanks for the good wishes; the eye seems to be doing well. An appointment this PM will let me know when I can return to "work".

The insullation material is still in question--and even more in question is the headliner. We used a closed cell PVC foam 1/8" thick headliner made in France in the past, but I cannot find it currently. Defender carried it until a few years ago. It has been in one boat for 30 years and still looks good.

I also want to put in all of the wiring I will need (including the antenna coax for the ham antennas and the ground foil) before I put in the insullation.
 
Why not dump all the power from the generator into a battery bank of say 4-6 high efficienct high A/H batteries and then use an inverter to create the 115v needed for the a/c.

Yes there will be losses by first powering a charger from the generator to the batteries but the batteries will have high peak amp capacity and stored energy. The other advantage is that you can have a 12v and 115v bus coming right from the battery system. The more batteries the better of course. A bank of 6 would be nice. I bet they would run the a/c for an hour without the generator at all. You could also add a solar panel to the roof for topping off and recharging under low load conditions.
 
I am not sure if josepepper's post is serious or not. An hour of airconditioning use is almost of no value. There is one exception and that is if the boat is hot and there is a cool evening--but a fan and open hatch will reslove that issue.

Yes, I have run airconditioners (5000 btu) off four golf cart batteries in a bigger boat than any of the C Dories. The batteries would last about 3 hours before they were at 50% of capacity. An inverter with charger and batteries would cost more than a Honda generator.

If one has a generator, and can charge batteries--they why not run the air conditioning on it? The Honda generator weight is 46 lbs, if you have 6 more gallons of gas, then that is another 40 lbs. 4 golf cart batteries weight is about 250 lbs. All of the C Dory and Tom Cat boats are weight sensitative for performance. The more weight, the less effecient the boat is. 250 lbs is a significant bank of batteries--and in a trawler is might well make some sense.

Adequate solar pannels to run systems on a boat, even a small boat like the C Dory are expensive and not as practical as one would think. They work fine as trickle chargers or very low load, but it takes larger amounts of pannels than can be put on any of these boats, plus two wind generators to give adequate power for a serious cruising boat's needs.

I posted our experience during two months full time use of a Coleman Polar Cub. It is adequate for the Tom Cat 255 in up to 105 degrees ambient temperature (we do have some shade for the windows and top--and will be adding insullation and a headliner which will increase the effeciency). The Polar cub takes about 8.8 amps on start up and 6 amps running.
 
While surfing the latest Boating World magazine I ran across a new product that might work on a C-22 roof. It adapts a standard marine hatch into a covered hood and mount for most any window A/C unit up to 10,000 btu. It's called the Moby-Cool A/C conversion hood

Since A/C units can be found as cheap as $89 at Lowes, Home Despot, and Wally World, it might be worth a second look. So the A/C breaks in a year of "marine" operation. No biggie, they're now cheap enough to be considered "consumables."

Although it might work on the present hatch, I think it would block forward visibility too much to be practical.

Don
 
For the past month, the boat has been at a marina in Corpus Christi, TX in an uncovered slip.

To cool the boat at night while sleeping, I bought a relatively lightweight 5000 BTU Goldstar window A/C from Walmart for $107 (this one has a remote control- the height of luxury!). I attached the expandable "wings" that come with the unit.

The unit was placed in the cabin doorway on the floor, the wings expanded to make a good seal, and the door sunbrella canvas used to close up the space above the A/C unit. The windows were also covered with canvas. A fan placed in front of the unit blew air all over the cabin and into the berth.

Within 30 minutes, the cabin was comfortable. By morning, the temperature in the cabin was 72.6 degrees Celsius.

The unit did not fit the front window because of how the MFD display is located.

We used shore power, but the 2000 watt Honda also happily drives the A/C and my biggest fan simultaneously. I would not have the Honda running while I am alseep, though...

I believe that I have found a solution that works for me.
 
Here's another A/C alternative...

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Amcor-8- ... tDetail.do

Joan found this online at Circuit City. Less than 8 amp draw. Regular price was $279, she got it for $139. You have to pick it up in the store, and not all the stores carry it. I have no idea if it is a discontinued model or why it was marked down so low. When we went to the store, they had it on the shelf for $279 (regular $349). It rang up at $249; Joan had a manager look at it on the internet and got it for the $139 price. It also has a remote and a timer. Will take between 7 and 8 gallons of moisture out of the air in 24 hours. It says it will cool 300 square feet.

It is a free-standing unit and can be set up to exhaust out the window.

Now, if I can talk the Blonde into giving me some "time off for good behavior" so I can put Wild Blue back in the water for a few days, I'll run a real-world check on this thing. 8)

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Alok wrote:
Within 30 minutes, the cabin was comfortable. By morning, the temperature in the cabin was 72.6 degrees Celsius.
Click to expand...
Wowzers, that's 162.7 deg F...I believe you could safely BBQ meat with NO bacteria growth!!! :embarrased

Sorry, couldn't resist. The A/C unit and method sound pretty good!
 
breausaw":216e09ue said:
All I can say is thank God we live in Alaska, the only nemesis on the water here iss bugs, and that only for a month or so.
Click to expand...

How 'bout that whole "freezing your butt off" and "months of very little daylight" nemesis? :wink :smilep (That one is as close to "tongue in cheek" I can find... it's a joke. Not a cheap shot. Really. Texans are glad to have Alaska as part of the US. You have "Deadliest Catch", we have "Spring Break". Yes, I know: you could cut Alaska in two and make Texas the third largest state. :mrgreen: )
 
A simple way out of using "too small" A/C units in order to keep the starting amps low is to use one of the "roll around", portable A/C units that are on sale all over right now.

No blocked windows, no holes in the hull, walls or roof, no major installation woes, and easily rolled down the dock, these are the answer.

Also, they start slowly with rotary compressors so you can run a 9,000 to 11,000 Btu unit on a Honda 2000i at full bore in 100 degree weather for four hours on one tank of fuel.

You can set them on "dehumidify" while leaving the boat a dock for the day and come back to a spring fresh, crispy dry cabin.

The new ones are half the size of the older ones, some about the size of the small window units.

The new ones do not need a condensate drain in most cases.

On days in the 80's you can run them on the genset's economy mode.

I've used them for years.


John
 
We struggled with the concept of an airconditioner for our boat and have worked it out with a 20" box fan from Wal-Mart for $15.88. Low enough amp draw to use the inverter and, as long as we're on the water, it keeps us comfortable overnight to the point that we generally turn it off before morning. We set it directly in the entryway to our pilothouse and it blows right at the Vberth.

I know it sounds too simplistic, but even with the hot and humid Texas summer nights, we've never had occasion to revisit the air conditioner option again.

For what it's worth...
 
So our new 25 Cruiser is getting rigged with electronics and I've talked with the people doing the work about A/C.

They've speced out a Cruise Air Vector Turbo 8000BTU marine air/ heat unit complete with dual zone ducting, digital display/ control, circulating pump, water intake/ outlet, seacock, sea strainer and all electrcial and plumbing hardware.

I lose cabinet space and get a hole in the bottom of the boat but these guys have always done high quality work for me in the past and have treated me fairly so I think this is a reasonable approach.

However, I looked on this site and saw a lot of discussion around roof top units, one in particular, the Penguin low profile, and considering a substantial difference in price and no holes go in the bottom of the boat, no interior space gets taken, etc. it seems attractive.

The question is what would it look like on my new baby and how well will it work, etc.

Does anyone have any photos they could share of rooftop units and any experience about the choice between rooftop or regular marine AC? If so, it would be very helpful as I make a decision.

Thanks for anything you might share...

Jeff
 
Here's the first one I found, probably lots more.. Not exactly "low profile" but nice looking and effective, I'm sure.

IMG007.jpg

I had a marine air unit for my TC255 but after looking at the installation and the space I'd lose (not to mention the hull holes), I returned it to West Marine. I was going to install it myself. Now, when it gets hot, and it does here, I just go faster!! :roll: :lol:

Charlie
 
Do you keep your boat in water or on a trailer most of the time? Personally, I like the traditional marine type unit, however, one disadvantage is the boat must be in the water for it to work.
 
Thataway Bob did a great job mounting a roof air Coleman Polar Cub on the roof of his TC 255. I'll bet you saw the thread if you researched this throughly.

It doesn't get plastic bags and other stuff blocking the water intake, (as it has none), it doesn't use up cabinet space, it works when "boaterhoming" on dry land, it is much less difficult to install, It is much less expensive initially, and then later to service and replace, and it works just fine off of a 2000W generator or shore power. It's also much easier to route condensate water down off a roof mounted AC unit than to pump it up and out of the bottom of a boat!

The cons include loosing roof space that could be used for dinghy storage to the aAC unit, but careful planning would still allow a dinghy to be stored up there.

For me, at least, the choice would be obvious.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I am on my second portable A/C unit which I set inside against the co-pilot's seat. The two hosed units, one for air in and another for air out, require no drainage tube for the cold coils. I can take it out for winter use and use it on the trailer while traveling. No holes anywhere = both hoses go thru the front bunk little porthole window. I believe it cost just under $400 for the one I have now.

My photo album shows the first unit I used which had only one tube, an exhaust air tube. This meant I had to run a drain hose for condensate back to the head or into a container which was periodically emptied.

The newer, dual hose unit evaporates condensate and blows it out the exhaust tube while bringing in fresh outside air over the coils. This way most of the cabin air stays the same and recirculates.

If you are not certain which way to go, I'd advise going a way that does no damage to the boat, is easy to install and un-install, easy to repair/replace, and easily reversible should you change your mind later.

You can always put a heavy, permanent, hole in the hull type unit in later.

The newer ones like my portable have slow start compressors so you don't need as large a genset to run them.

John

John
 
John,

My local Pep Boys do not carry a/c units...nor does the Wal Mart...and yes, I live in the Mojave Desert!?

So, can you give me more details of the name, item #, etc of that second a/c unit you use so I can see if I can find it on-line?

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Back
Top