Air Conditioner Placement

[They Theirs]

From RandyMoon

[Frank C]

Right. So you need some kind of collector on the back of the unit to connect the duct to. The collector would have to seal the back of the AC so the exhaust could not get blown into the cabin.

Randy,

I'm following this quest with interest. I think I'd prolly run the AC on re-cycle mode, so there's no concern over air in the cabin. Conversely, YES, the heat exchanger on back of the AC needs fresh air to be effective.

I still keep coming back to this basic fact ... you're faced with finding a stowage spot when it's idle, plus the need to heft the thing from stowage to "functional" every time the weather turns hot. You also need a really substantial mounting rig. Since this whole thing is temporary, you also need a place to stow the rig ... assemble and lift (in the heat), then teardown and stow again. Finally, since a hatch is the most likely temporary mounting spot, the AC is an obstacle, by design! (well depicted above)

MaddMike's solution, permanently mounted to a fuel locker, also has disadvantages but they seem far less objectionable. For example:

• You may need to move a fuel tank to the aft deck (hopefully just 6 gals.); and,
• You may want a ducting system to provide fresh air to the heat exchanger;
• But the ducting can be as simple as a canvas scoop, or as fancy as fan-forced;
• The ducting can be mostly collapsible for easy stowage;
• Periodic "hefting" of ducting is deminimus;
• The "temporary elements" require no beef, or added stowage weight;
• Stowage for the AC unit itself becomes fixed and permanent;
• AC wiring becomes fixed and permanent;
• The vacancy under the 26X's starboard cockpit (basically inaccessible)
  just begs for a permanent function;
• A cheap window AC precisely fits in that vacancy!
• Oops ... forgot that your boat is BLUE! (26M)

At least your fuel locker is much easier for providing good air changes! Also, the AC under the 26M cockpit is much more exposed to the general cabin space. And with all the space back there, seems attached overhead (on either side) it wouldn't really intrude much. (Guess the sliding galley would offer a challenge.)

D@mn! ... think I'm talking myself into another mod ... one that my 26X doesn't really need in NorCal!

[RandyMoon]

I have been beating my brain trying to come up with the best possible solution. I really do not want to hoist an AC on the fore deck everytime I need AC. My chiropractor would get rich.

I keep thinking the under the cockpit idea is the best. Last weekend we were even kicking the idea about pulling the galley out and arrange AC and a fridge in that space. Since we have a club house close by with a full kitchen the galley could sit in the garage. The AC in a cabinet, condensation piped out through the sink's drain to the transom, pipe the exhaust to the bilge area and have an exhaust fan and ducting from the bilge area to the gas locker in the cockpit.

There has to be a good way to do this. I am too cheap to spend $2k on one of those built in models.

One of the guys at the marina suggested this idea..... put a large dock box next to the boat and mount an AC window unit in the box with the exhaust side sticking through a hole like you would a window. Run a 12" flex duct over to the front hatch and pump air in. That would be the most out of the way, but the negative is having to climb out of the boat to adjust the temp (don't know if the remote would reach that far) and you might need to over size the AC to compensate for heat loss from the dock box and duct. This idea is probably not real efficient.

Yes mine is BLUE so I would probably need another 10,000 BTU to cool the blue down.

[DLT]

Why is this so unappealing?

[RandyMoon]

DLT, do you have a patent on that? (NOTE: DLT is a patent agent)

I think it is a great idea. I am an options guy, I like to look at lots of options and figure the upside and downside of each.

I have even taken your idea and worked some ideas for a metal frame that would eliminate attaching braces. If you look for the most efficient method for an AC to operate as designed, it is the way you did it. An upside for the way you did it is that when it comes time to sell the Mac, it would be easy to turn the boat back to stock condition without a bunch of non-reversable mods.

There is a good chance that I will go your route but make it more of a temporary attachment for when we are spending the weekend, and stored in a deck box when just out sailing and not spending time on board.

[DLT]

Actually, that is a picture of Taho Jack's mod for an X. I used it because it just plain looks better than mine.

I did not install any bracing, and haven't found them to be necessary.

Mine is just a drop in replacement for the stock hatch board. lifting it out just requires you to lift the whole nd assembly together, which isn't too heavy, but it aint light either. Tahoe Jacks' mod (I believe) uses hinges with removable pins, which would lighten the load a little bit...

But, I simply leave mine in all the time. I have a hasp on it, and lock it up just like you would for the stock board...

I will probably sell it with the boat, it it ever comes to that...

No, I don't have a patent on it. Mine was not the first hatch board mounted AC unit I'd ever seen. But, it was the first hinged door AC unit I've ever seen. Although, I doubt it was the first one of those either...just the first I'd seen...

[Herschel]

I know this thread has circled back to the use of a standard room air conditioner over a portable, but I just received a huge boost in motivation for continuing my work on a portable. I discussed the situation with a professional commercial a/c contractor, and he informed me that the industry standard for cooling rate is 2 degrees per hour. As I understand it, if you have the correct BTU unit for your space, it should be cooling it at about 2 degrees per hour. The 5 degrees I have achieved so far with my portable seems to be within expectations for the a/c industry for a commercial building. Now, on the other side of the issue, that rate of cooling is obviously not acceptable for a car. We want to be comfortably down into the 70's within a couple of minutes when driving. But, for maritime use, say we dock for the night at a marina at 5:00 PM and the outside temperature is 90. As the unit is turned on, the outside temp is falling while the unit is cooling the interior. If the portable unit can take it down at a rate of 5 degrees an hour in the hotest part of the day, then it should be able to get it down to 80 by 7:00 PM and probably into the 70's since the outside temp falls concurrrently. That should make the main relaxing/sleeping period very comfortable. Reactions?

[RandyMoon]

My goal



I will be looking for something in the range of 10k to 12k BTUs where the wife will yell at me to turn the thermostat up. I like cool.

[DLT]

Obviously, I can't speak to the portible unit.

But, my 5k BTU window/door unit can freeze you out of the boat. I have to leave the thermostat on the warm side of half-way...

Of course, the bigger unit would be able to drop the temp quicker...

[Catigale]

That was a point I never understood in all these AC posts with 10000 BTU units...

We have a 5000 BTU in our 12x12 bedroom, ROM same size as Mac, and it cools the room quickly.....maybe we just plan ahead better than most??

(Ha!!! The Admiral ROTFL>>>>>>>>)

[Frank C]

A physically smaller AC box, using less energy and weighing less ... all good, right?
The smallest cooling capacity consistent with the hull's interior space is best?
A "cubic guess," 4x6x20 ~ 500 ft?? ... Might even 3,000 btu be enough?

[Tahoe Jack]

Frank C.....my guess is that 3-4k btu would be adequate, however, the market is responding to the one-room domestic demand and therefore the 5k units are far easier to find and very inexpensive. Here in the Tahoe area, our humidity is extremely low compared to our friends in the east and south, but the 5k drops the temp rapidly...and the model we used in our posted mod is unusually efficient...we have been satisfied with it. Been working some long days so haven't done our alternate 'no AC' change-out swing door insert...but it should be pretty simple when we get time. Again, we use the lift-off WM heavy hinges so changing it would take only a minute or two. Some interesting ideas out there...but, to date, we prefer our approach. Jack

[Catigale]

I guess I should stay out of the BTU debate ..where I am we get some hot days but nothing like what you guys get in the 'hot states'

Hats off to you gals/guys who stand the heat - it turns me into molasses real quick whenever I visit...

Now if you want someone at the helm in 50F and pouring rain, thats ME!!!

[They Theirs]

Catigale
Well keep the A/C turned on for you, or be dropping over for some Pie and Ice Cream


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Wet weather in the spring and early summer, and hot sunny days in July and August; have produced a bumper New York apple crop.
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[Catigale]

Yeah but 'Hot' up here means 80F.....