roof mounted rv air conditioning system.

Last week I installed a Coleman cub cadet on the roof of my Nordic tug. The procedure would be the same for any c-dory. I ran the 2-12 wiring through 1/2" copper tubing, from the ceiling assembly, across the ceiling, along the ceiling teak trim, to the circuit breaker, located in a clothes locker. I installed a separate 30 amp electrical line, consisting of two circuit breakers, a 20 and 15 amp, yes I know that equals 35 amps, not to worry. If anyone is interested in pictures, I will post several. The unit is quite and does the job. Total cost was about $950.
 
funny story, linda and i were checking out a covered slip to rent for our sea rayat drakes creek marina, on old hickory lake, hendersonville tn. as we were walking along the dock we saw this beautiful nordic tug 26. we've always been c-dory type people and the nordic is just a big part of that as well. so, i started walking down the finger of this slip admiring this red nordic, when i heard those terrible words come from my wifes mouth, she said pat, "it's for sale"! so, now i have the sea ray listed by sea ray of cincinnati, for sale. still have the boston whaler. ok, you have heard this for the last time, i will not buy another boat! this is it, finished at last! the nordic has a range of 500 miles on it's 80 gal diesel tank! love it! i have radar, two gps systems, two sonars and two charts plotter systems. good to go. has 1500 hours on yanmar turbo 55hp engine.
 
In a C dory it is probably best to make an internal frame and then build up glass on the top to allow a good seal for a RV type of air conditioner as shown below when we installed the AC unit on the Tom Cat 255. Putting the AC unit on the cambered roof directly runs the risk of flattening out the roof with time, and causing leaks. Of course any core should be sealed with epoxy.

The marine 10 or 12 gauge 3 wire vinyl encased cord works well to run the power to the unit, and can be easily clamped to the side and roof of a C Dory. You don't need any more than a 15 amp circuit--and I would suggest limiting power with a breaker or fuse. These units will run on a Honda EU 2000i, on non eco mode. With the Smart Start by Dometic they should run on eco mode.

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