New Option for Portable Boat Air Conditioning!

[OverEasy]

Just to add another option… a step up from the classic swamp cooler….

[NiceAft]

I just saw an infomercial featuring Jef Foxworthy for that unit.
Not exactly an engineer’s testimonial.

[kingtoros]

Just to add another option… a step up from the classic swamp cooler….

This is not a swamp cooler. It's an IcyBreeze, and what I mentioned in my earlier reply as my current solution.

However, if you are feeling more DIY, this gentleman's solution is better and more versatile:

https://frankencooler.com/

The principle being here for both is that you are using a chill water based air conditioner instead of a compressed refrigerant.

[OverEasy]

Correct…. Said it was a “step up” from a swamp cooler

There are also systems that drop a suction hose over the side down into the depths to siphon up colder water and run it through a heat exchanger then circulate the cooled air… same basic idea less the ice.

Its just fun to look into the various options available … there are multiple different takes on the same basic desire to cool off.

Back in ancient Egypt they used a drum with a top side lip to provide a portable fountain.
The drum had two holes with one being a pipe from just above the drum bottom then up the center and above the top lip and the second being at the top of the drum lid below the lip. Fill the drum with water, plug the hole in the top lid below the lip. Place in the sun and allow to warm up. The expanding water flows up the pipe and burbles out and collects in the area of the top lip. Resetting is accomplished by pulling the plug below the lip allowing the water to drain back into the drum. The cooling portable sound of water flowing in the desert several hundreds of years BCE! People have always been smart!

Wet curtains in open windows with a breeze blowing through was probably something that goes back into pre-history…

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

Here’s an interesting A/C solution that was forwarded to me.
That’s some serious cooling potential for a Tatoo but could easily fit on a Mac26X or Mac26M!

It’s apparently in Dubai so I can understand the need!





Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Russ]

Yea a 50amp split A/C unit would be hard to power. Boat is flagged in Canada so maybe it's been traveling a bit. It would be amazing if it sailed to Dubai.

Clever though.

[OverEasy]

I missed the Canadian flag!

I can understand why they might want that extra A/C capacity in Dubai now!!!

[Starscream]

After buying a battery operated zero-breeze portable AC for big $ for next season, I came across this BougeRV option at a very, very reasonable price. It's apparently sold out, but for the price I would have given it a shot:

https://ca.bougerv.com/products/3500btu ... onditioner

[Strange]

Just for reference, I had a Mermaid 5200 BTU in my M. Water cooled via thru hull at stern with pump and filter. Unit mounted forward of the head. Control unit next to ballast plug area. Return air in head. One output at foot of bow berth and other port side bench. Placing a fan on the bow berth helped a lot since the outlets were so low. Without this fan, it would take much longer to cool down.

Coming in to the slip after a day of sailing all hot and sweaty, we’d start up the A/C, go take showers, get some dinner and it would be more than comfortable by the time we got back. My Honda 1000 was just enough to run it. So camping out, we’d set the generator onshore, fire it up, maybe take a swim before a sponge bath, and it would be nice enough. Yeah, someone would have to get up one time each night and refill the gen. One day sailing, it was hot, and the wind just died. We left everything rigged to sail, fired up the gen, turned on the A/C, fixed some lunch, and just hung out ‘til the wind picked up.

Long story short, it was JUST BARELY enough.

I’ve been looking at replacements. Mermaid went out of business but there is a new company that has taken over the product line. I just don’t believe they have progressed much in their tech in 20 years (my unit lasted 5 years with probably less than 1000 hours run time. Basically just rusted out even though was supposed to be for salt water.) Did see another company’s product that I like but haven’t checked dimensions or power consumption. Would like a 6000+ BTU unit.

All of these approaches are about 5k USD.

[kingtoros]

After buying a battery operated zero-breeze portable AC for big $ for next season, I came across this BougeRV option at a very, very reasonable price. It's apparently sold out, but for the price I would have given it a shot:

https://ca.bougerv.com/products/3500btu ... onditioner

This is really interesting. Do you think it's real? It looks 120V powered, not battery powered..

[mikefletcher24]

I have one… it will not effectively cool down a space.. however, if you point it right at your face from no more than 3’ it will cool you down very nicely.

[Starscream]

I have one… it will not effectively cool down a space.. however, if you point it right at your face from no more than 3’ it will cool you down very nicely.

That's kinda what I expected would happen down south tbh. But, being at 45N, the hottest days we get are maybe around 95F, and it will drop by at least 10F at night. When we were cruising last year with a full house, that made for an uncomfortable cabin and even 3000 BTU would have been appreciated, and we probably would have physically fought for the privelege of having that unit 3' from our face

This is really interesting. Do you think it's real? It looks 120V powered, not battery powered..

Ya BougeRV is a legit Chinese source and you can order right off their website. I just ordered a replacement 100W solar panel from them, one that allows high output while partially shaded, and it's en route. The cooler is definitely 120V, but at only 400W it would easily run off our 1kW inverter. The Zero Breeze that I bought is 12V and comes with its own rechargeable battery that should run it for several ours without tapping into the house battery.

Bouge RV also has a propane-powered water heater that keeps showing up in my YouTube ads and actually looks really tempting.