RobMcClain
Member
Like many owners, we have a small portable window air conditioner unit that we occasionally use on our 23' Venture when dockside. Because we often boat in hot and/or humid areas we "need" the AC when overnighting. The 2 frustrations I have with this sort of unit are, 1) it is heavy and awkward to fit into place, and 2) it cools the main cabin nicely but the v-berth cabin not at all. While I can't fix the weight issue, it occurred to me there had to be a way to effectively funnel some of that comfortable cool air into the rather sweltering v-berth area. Our particular AC unit blows air out of 2 vents located on the upper front. I wanted to funnel the air from 1 of those vents into the v-berth while leaving the other vent to blow into the main cabin.
So... I went to Lowe's and just walked around looking for ideas and parts I could "play" with. What I found was a 3" plastic hose fitting and a 3' length of 3" diameter dryer vent hose. I then made a funnel cap using the hose fitting and surrounding it with that heat reflector type of insulating material (which I also bought at Lowe's - and have lengths cut for the windows to keep the hot sun out as needed). The funnel cap fits over 1 of the AC vents and stays in place by magnets. I then attach the hose and bend it into a half circle to blow into the forward cabin. I know this is hard to visualize so I have placed 3 photos of this project in my photo album. Look at page 2 of the subalbum titled "Projects."
I just recently made this project so the last couple of days we tested it on Lake Mead in 112 degree heat (and all the way down to the low 90s late overnight....). Both cabins cooled nicely and both Mary and I were amazed by the strength of the air blowing into the v-berth area. That cabin cooled down nicely and allowed us to sleep overnight. By only using 1 of the 2 vents to cool the v-berth area, the other vent continued to nicely cool the main cabin. We always found the 2 vents to quickly cool down the main cabin, and losing 1 of those to focus on the forward cabin presented no meaningful loss of air or comfort.
For anyone who has experienced a similar cooling problem I encourage you to consider a similar fix. Once made the parts are easy to assemble/disassemble, easy to store, and if something gets squished by mistake are cheap and easy to fix. I wish all projects were so inexpensive and easy.
Rob
So... I went to Lowe's and just walked around looking for ideas and parts I could "play" with. What I found was a 3" plastic hose fitting and a 3' length of 3" diameter dryer vent hose. I then made a funnel cap using the hose fitting and surrounding it with that heat reflector type of insulating material (which I also bought at Lowe's - and have lengths cut for the windows to keep the hot sun out as needed). The funnel cap fits over 1 of the AC vents and stays in place by magnets. I then attach the hose and bend it into a half circle to blow into the forward cabin. I know this is hard to visualize so I have placed 3 photos of this project in my photo album. Look at page 2 of the subalbum titled "Projects."
I just recently made this project so the last couple of days we tested it on Lake Mead in 112 degree heat (and all the way down to the low 90s late overnight....). Both cabins cooled nicely and both Mary and I were amazed by the strength of the air blowing into the v-berth area. That cabin cooled down nicely and allowed us to sleep overnight. By only using 1 of the 2 vents to cool the v-berth area, the other vent continued to nicely cool the main cabin. We always found the 2 vents to quickly cool down the main cabin, and losing 1 of those to focus on the forward cabin presented no meaningful loss of air or comfort.
For anyone who has experienced a similar cooling problem I encourage you to consider a similar fix. Once made the parts are easy to assemble/disassemble, easy to store, and if something gets squished by mistake are cheap and easy to fix. I wish all projects were so inexpensive and easy.
Rob
