Air Conditioning my Boat in South Florida

[captstu]

Hi, The Shearwater is a 2010 R-25 located in Boyton Beach, Florida. This is the peak of hot, humid country with no detectable breeze from late June to late August unless there is a hurricane.

We are sensitive to mold - so I want to dehumidify her whenever possible. To accomplish this, I temporarily installed a 4k Btu/hr window air conditioner ($68 from Home Depot) in the hatch above the stove - using some metal foil and tape.I run this 24/7 when in the slip. The boat is cool, dry, clean, and comfortable when I go on board.

To my kind of surprise, I found even this very small unit cycled to maintain temperature during mid-day if we covered the front hatch and closed the drapes. We keep the temperature in the mid-70's, a 15 degree drop this time of the year.

Given that knowledge, I added a 2500 Watt ProMariner inverter that easily supported the air conditioner on batteries for an hour (my longest test so far). If the batteries are being charged when the engine is running. the alternator/inverter should provide unlimited air conditioning underway, eliminating the need to run the Mace generator mid-summer when air conditioning is essential for the Admiral.

Question: Is there a smaller (4k to 6k Btu/hr) room air conditioner intended for an RV that I could use to replace the Home Depot wall unit that was never intended for a salt environment?

Thank you.

 

[ixlr8]

Question: Is there a smaller (4k to 6k Btu/hr) room air conditioner intended for an RV that I could use to replace the Home Depot wall unit that was never intended for a salt environment?

Thank you.

I have been looking for the same thing. So far, the smallest I have found is 9K Btu/hr. Which a 3Kw generator should be able to run, but I suspect your 2500 watt inverter might struggle. I will be keeping an eye on this thread in case somebody does come up with something in that size range.

 

[ripp]

Hi Stuart,

I live in on Vancouver Island, BC and we are planning on doing the Great Loop starting in August 2018. In preparation for the trip we had a Webasto 6000 btu unit installed in R29CB. The boat is still in the shop being outfitted so we haven't tested the unit or run it off the inverter but I do expect that it will not be an issue. I believe the amp draw on start-up is the only real question. Ours was installed behind the fridge and plumbed into the raw water system that discharges through the hull on the port side. The are two vents, one in the forward state room and near the helm. It is compact unit and where it was installed didn't use up any cupboard or storage space. See the link below.

Peter

https://www.webasto.com/us/markets-prod ... -platinum/

 

[captstu]

The Wahasco will easily run on my inverter but it is water heat rejected and I need an air roof unit in south Florida . There is to much grass and stuff to run a water unit 24/7. The Ranger has a 16
KBtu/hr water unit we run on hot days when we are on board.

I would never buy another water unit.

 

[ripp]

I would never buy another water unit.[/quote]

Is that entirely because of water intake issues or are there other issues you've experienced with water units?

 

[captstu]

Just water issues. I upgraded the sea chest and still burned out a pump when it clogged with the grass that got thru the sea chest.

I feel the air cooled units must be more efficient since the motor is outside of the conditioned space. This is the second Boat with a window add on. The window 4K cools nearly as well as the built in 16k, is much quieter and over 10 times less money, but it is not up to the boat’s looks, thus the hunt for a small built in RV unit.

Even if forced to a 9500 Btu/hr RV unit, it is still half the price, quieter, and more reliable with better air flow.

I’ll skip factory air for the RV unit like Roxborough does.


Stuart Bell
Ranger 25: Shearwater
(561) 352-1796

 

[ixlr8]

Even if forced to a 9500 Btu/hr RV unit, it is still half the price, quieter, and more reliable with better air flow.

At least with the new RT-27OB, if you want AC, you have to buy the generator which is a $15K option. You can get a 9200 Btu RV unit for $710, add a $1300 portable generator and you can have AC for a lot cheaper than the factory water cooled AC. Although you might need to spend another $100 for duct work to come in the hatch.

 

[captstu]

Jim,

My 4800 Btu/hr converted window unit easily runs on the batteries - charged by the Yanmar alternator. I suppose with an outboard, you need a generator, but even so, it is much cheaper.

Try John Zeitlin, http://www.zrd.com/, as a source of LARGE power DC generators. I've worked with him on several projects - he may be able to provide a high current DC generator with a gasoline engine that will run your small AC via an inverter.

I ran my AC, my washer/dryer, and my water maker for 5 years on a previous cat with no generator - worked just dandy.

 

[ixlr8]

Jim,

Try John Zeitlin, http://www.zrd.com/, as a source of LARGE power DC generators. I've worked with him on several projects - he may be able to provide a high current DC generator with a gasoline engine that will run your small AC via an inverter.

I checked out the website. Looks interesting but more money than we want to spend. We want to use a portable generator that I can remove when I don't need it. We don't want to have a permanent genset taking up valuable storage space. Here in New England, where we will be using the boat 95% of the time, we will rarely have a need for AC. When we take the boat to go see family in North Carolina, or cruise the ICW to FL, then we will want the AC.
At the moment, I am following your lead with a roof top AC unit. Especially since my boat isn't going ship until the middle of April.

 

[Boatbuilder1]

I have followed the tugnuts site for several years and looked into a 27 but decided instead to build my own boat. On my boat, I installed a rooftop RV A/C unit. Its a Coleman 9200 Btu unit that I runs off a Honda2000 with no problems. If anyone uses this unit, an aftermarket quiet kit is available that makes the unit noticeably quieter. My boat is 30' with an interior volume to cool similar to a Ranger 31 so that unit should cool any of the Rangers fine. You can check out my installation and pictures on the Glen-l.com web site under Hankinson designs "Curt's Dream" True Grit design.

Curt