AC / Air Conditioner Option?

[Ricky]

Anyone here ever tried something like this on a Mac?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITtlxjvLQis

[Bilgemaster]

I've mentioned before in these forums that I've got something akin to that homebuilt ice-blower, which is very similar to the "12 Volt Swampy SpaceKoolr" shown here:



...though mine has a sort of integrated slide-under ice bucket attached below the main unit. As I explained a while back, I got this gizmo decades ago for summer cruising in the Amphicar and for my old "tow beast" at the time, a '77 Dodge van with no AC, which, without it was basically a rolling Comanche Sweat Lodge during our torrid DC summers. The cooler won't really cool down an "area" like a cabin or room, so much as blow a nice steady and lovely chill breeze at you that you can adjust nicely for a couple-few hours...at least until the ice melts. After that it's just a "coolish" breeze--just how "coolish" depending largely on the ambient humidity. You see, it's also an "evaporative cooler," drawing in air through a sort of porous pad that resembles a green 3M scrubbing pad, as seen through the front grill in the photo above, that's continually soaked with water drawn up by a tiny little Rule bilge pump in the ice/water chest, and then expelling that moistened and cooled air out of its multiple fan ports. Still, it makes those real scorchers here quite tolerable. I imagine one of those homebuilt ice chest blower things might be similarly effective, though without that evaporative cooling aspect after the ice had melted. Still, if you've got lots of ice handy or a waterside source for it with a spare cooler to saw up, it surely couldn't hurt to give that DIY thing a whirl. Some DIY folks just use one of those 5 gallon type plastic buckets, or I imagine a kitty litter bucket should also work just fine. Either of these would have the added advantage over a cooler of a very handy single handle to tote it around, with most kitty litter buckets even having a two-part articulated lid.

As well as using my "Swampy" gizmo to keep those torrids at bay while at anchor, seeing as how I've already got a huge sheet of some sort of really nice dense white "mystery board" from that Ikea Markdowns Room anyhow, for marina overnighting I'm likely to very soon try cobbling together one of those elegant "Billy Box" AC unit surrounds that doubles as an extra cockpit seat for a "real" AC unit--something akin to the gorgeous one shown here. Of course, mine might end up resembling something slapped together towards the end of Kegger Night at the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, but we'll see how it goes. After all, I recently built a big 3-family birdhouse for the wife, or perhaps more accurately, at the wife's behest, and so far none of the sparrows who've taken up residence have approached me to complain about any aspect of it. So, that's a good sign, right?


"Quit your complaining! I didn't build it. That idiot over there did."

I'm also gonna see if I can't cobble together a serviceable forward hatch air scoop similar to one of those Breeze Boostertm doodads. It occured to me after looking at that Breeze Booster site just how remarkably similar they appear to be to Harbor Freight's 4 Pc Storm-Proof Wheel Covers that'll run you just $9.99 for a 4-pack. So, before shelling out 60 to 80 semolians for a Breeze Boostertm, I think I might just try cobbling together what I'm gonna call a Wheeze Lustertm, namely a similar air scoop fashioned from one of those Harbor Freight Wheel Covers lashed in place with a couple-few bungees and maybe an ultra-high-bleeding-edge-tech device called a "stick", such as the remarkable example shown below from the National Toy Hall of Fame:



The remaining three wheel covers in the package can be used to, you know, cover wheels to keep them from rotting prematurely in the sun--maybe squeezing a couple-few extra service years from those trailer tires and that spare, instead of just letting them bake into accelerated obsolescence.

[ris]

No but I used a 5000 btu window unit $120 from home depot 4 times in the last 3 weeks on the St. Johns River Fl. I had to modify my "billy box for the A/C to fit but it was great. These boats get hot in Florida in the summer. I would not want to add any humidity to my boat like the fan/ice cooler thing would. Never tried my 1000 watt generator on the ac, just went into marinas and got my power there.

[npsrangerchuck]

No but I used a 5000 btu window unit $120 from home depot 4 times in the last 3 weeks on the St. Johns River Fl. I had to modify my "billy box for the A/C to fit but it was great.

Photos please! Always looking for ideas. Thanks

[ris]

I never thought about pics and we just finished unloading the boat. The a/c fits at the bottom of the hatch and then a plexi glass or starboard piece goes from the top of the a/c to the sliding hatch top thus sealing up the door way or hatch way.

[Tyricores]

Looks good. You are great! Indeed, it turned out well. For real, I admire people who love and can craft something with their own hands. The only thing that I can do is to cut and pound something from wood. But it's not the fact that the result will be good. LOL. Everything related to electrics and mechanisms is incomprehensible to me. I even couldn't fix my air conditioner if it is broken. I regularly carry out preventive maintenance and make aircon chemical cleaning to keep ac equipment in working order. I hope this helps to extend the lifespan for a long time to come.