Cheap A/C

[vertex2100]

Victor, your AC mod is beautiful. I have a 26M ,so yes, you have to have flexible legs and agility to get over the ac in the companionway in it but it is possible, easy for me and gives my wife exercise and amusing to watch her with her shorter legs(5'3" tall). Bob

[waternwaves]

C'mon Victor,

Now you need to commit for the full upgrade. Time to add a mainsheet traveller across the top of it.



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[Jim Bunnell]

Bob,

Do you have pictures of your installation? Is it just set into the opening or are there permanent components? I too like the looks of the permanent X install, but it doesn't seem feasible with an M.

Jim

[vertex2100]

Jim, Sorry no picture. Don't want to be laughed at. Not really an installation. We were at Bahia state park marina in the Keys and wife was complaining about sweating at night. We were shopping at local Kmart in Marathon where I bought cheapest 5k unit. Just took it out of box, moved mainsheet out of the way and sat on the traveler track. I put a bungee cord over it to hold it in place and hooked to the ends of the traveler track. It left a big hole between Ac and sliding hatch. So, not being near a saw or plywood, I just clamped a towel to the sliding hatch to fill the space. Took only 5 minutes to hook up and works just fine that way. And, possible to open hatch and climb over it. Looks like crap though, so need a strong self esteem to use it this way. If you make a custom, nice looking box to fit it in the companionway, it would be possible to lock hatch for security when leaving boat but harder to climb over and more stuff to store when not in use. Bob

[TAW02]

I had a 10k btu AC/reverse heat pump unit installed in my M a few years ago.

I watched the guy install it. Took an hour or so and he drilled 4 bolt holes to mount the unit to the floor next to the sink and the 'captains quarters' (under cockpit berth). It is stylish and looks as if it came with the boat model.

The exhaust hose runs a short distance to the vent hole under the cockpit seat next to the portside fuel tank. It warms up the gas, so keep the vent cap loose so that it can breath or your tank will balloon up and bust a fitting gasket and leak gas all over the place One you learn that one, you will vent your tank appropriately

Power usage is 900 watts and will run with a digital generator with a surge of 1200 watts. It will bring the cabin temps down to 57 degree in about 2 hours when outside temps hit the low 90's. Normally I set it at 77 degrees and it will chill down to that temp in less than 15 minutes

Got some chores to do today, but I will be about with some pictures later today

Big T

[TAW02]

Well, there it is. Not really something that gets in the way. Takes up space? Yeah a little bit. But for what it does I believe I will keep it.



Like I said above (last post), runs efficiently but I can't take credit for all of this. ignorant as I am.

Was a fellah in my marina who had installed a number of these AC units in various boat. Being that there are a lot of Magregor boat here, he decided to target me as soon as I dunked my new boat in its slip. To make a long story short, I demoed the results of an AC he installed in the next to me.

I was SOLD.

He charges a 100 bucks an hour and told me flat out it would cost me about 400 bucks pluse the unit which was about 300 bucks (turns out he bought mine at a local Target store )!!

Installed it and I handed him a check.

He handed me a remote control for the unit



Okay, so there ya' go good luck guys

Big T

[Win]

Big T

How do you handle the condensation this unit produces? The collection pan on mine is too small to handle all the humidity drawn from the air during the night. I had to rig a hose to a bucket. Also I still am unclear about your method of venting the heat exhaust. Do you have a picture of the exhaust vent you described? My unit will cool the boat but I had it near the bow and ran the vent hose out the forward hatch. The condensation issue and difficulty of venting the heat exhaust proved to be a hassle and I switched to a window unit in the in the entrance way.

Win

[TAW02]

Big T

How do you handle the condensation this unit produces? The collection pan on mine is too small to handle all the humidity drawn from the air during the night. I had to rig a hose to a bucket. Also I still am unclear about your method of venting the heat exhaust. Do you have a picture of the exhaust vent you described? My unit will cool the boat but I had it near the bow and ran the vent hose out the forward hatch. The condensation issue and difficulty of venting the heat exhaust proved to be a hassle and I switched to a window unit in the in the entrance way.

Win

Supposedly Win, this unit was supposed to send the condensation into the condenser exhaust stream thus blowing it out as a humid vapor.

Didn't happen. The bilge began to take on a few quarts of water. And when i put the unit into dehumidifier mode it got worse. Called the installer back and he without argument took the unit apart again and installed a nipple and hose assembley on the bottom drain pan. This drain hose he installed to a Tee he placed in the sink drain just below the unit that drains out of the stern. Problem solved.

The exhaust vent is nothing more than a common dryer vent installed in the fuel locker under the cockpit portside seat. Can't see it and it doesn't blow directly on anyones legs which is a good thing. On the he has it installed to face directly into the leg and foot area of the cockpit. I liked the idea, but found the drawback of having the exhaust blowing an inch away from the portside fuel tank. This transfer of heat to the fuel tank apparently is negligeable or so it seems so long as you don't close of the tank vent.

If I had it to do all over again, I would think that I could do this job myself.

Big T

[craiglaforce]

Can you tell us the model and manufacturer of the heat pump? oddly enough I already have a dryer vent installed for my bilge blower to the port fuel locker. That thing would be just the ticket for my X.
Thanks.

[ROAD Soldier]

I will stick with Billy mod that he should have ready for me at pirate fest. At least I hope so since it is a long drive for me and will only be able to enjoy the events on Saturday.

waterwaves wrote C'mon Victor,

Now you need to commit for the full upgrade. Time to add a mainsheet traveller across the top of it.



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Trust me I am already in the market for a cheap traveller. Infact no I am totally ticked off that I didnt remove one on an abandon sailboat I reported in to the coastguard 2 months back.

[Russ]

If I lived where A/C was mandatory this would be a great idea. I assume then you keep the galley forward all the time.
I found it here for $400. Tying it to the sink drain seems like a must despite manufactures claims that it vents moisture out.

I'm not so sure I would vent it to the fuel locker though. I like the safety of knowing fuel vapors have no way down into the cabin. With a little more effort it could be vented out the "transom" into the engine well and keeping the fuel locker sealed from the cabin.

I'm thinking of something like this (to borrow Highlander's pictures)

[TAW02]

Can you tell us the model and manufacturer of the heat pump? oddly enough I already have a dryer vent installed for my bilge blower to the port fuel locker. That thing would be just the ticket for my X.
Thanks.

Sorry it took awhile to resond.

This model is the Haier model HPR09XH7

Input power = 115V/60HZ for a power of 900W
Cooling Capacity= 9,000BTU COOL
Heating Capacity= 9,000BTU HEAT
Moisture removal= 80 pints per day
Refrigerant= R-22 / 16.2oz
Operating Range= 61F - 100F

Unit Dimensions (WXDXH)= 17 3/32 X 16 7/8 X30 5/16
Net Weight *appox* = 65lbs
Power Cord = 6 feet
Exhaust Hose = 5 feet X 5" diam

The unit came out of the box with castors on it and the installer removed the castors and dissassembled the unit case cover. He then ran a drill bit through where the castor holes were into the M's locker bulkhead and bolted the unit down for a good solid installation. He then (later on) attached a drain hose and clamp to the drain nipple on the floor pan of the unit and tee'd the hose into the sink drain hose. Wired the unit to the 'shore power plug' and ran the exhaust to the area I specified (he gave me two solutions) and I decided to use the fuel locker intstallation vent. The other was to plumb it straight out the side of the boat just behind the lower window. I thought that looked tacky so I chose the latter.

He cautioned me that the fuel locker run was a longer run and thus allowed exhaust tubing to radiate heat back into the cabin. I can see what he meant now. But nothing that this great little unit can overcome even with the hatchway open for hours at a time!

I see Highlanders exhaust run and thought at first that this would be counterintuitive in terms of heat dissipation. But then I began to realize the HEY, this exhaust run is UNDER the locker covers and should not effect room temprature to badly. Maybe I will get this exhaust re-plummed like Highlander has.

Very Nice.

Big T