Cost of new A/C install

[S/V Reveille]

I have a question about installing A/C in a Cabo Rico 45. It has never had a/c... so this will be a complete install from scratch...16k and 18k btu units. 3 outlets starboard side, 2 outlets port side, pump, thruhull, strainer, ducting, outlets, grills, controllers, ... everything. Does anyone know about what I'm looking at as far as expected cost? The self contained units are approx $3000 each. With all other necessary components, plus labor... Looking for a general ballpark guess based on experience. Thanks!

[TheOffice]

A friend recently got an estimate of 10k, including a new shore power outlet and panel for a 16k unit on a Bavaria. He did it himself. He understands why the bid was so high!

[Sailmonkey]

15k-18k depending on your shore power situation.

[MicHughV]

well, first there is the haul out to install all the below waterline thru' hulls....
Then comes the filter and pump....
Then an upgrade of wiring, and other electrical connections....also shorepower cords

As this is a retrofit, you will likely have to remove, re-align, modify stuff on the boat to locate the units..this is invariably a large chunk of time....

finally, you'll get to install your new a/c units...

I think the above 15-18k is not unreasonable...but seeing as you are doing two units, might want to hedge your bets and add anudder 5K....

might could save yourself some money, by doing a lot of the interior grunt work yourself...but this will give you an appreciation of the labor involved...

[S/V Reveille]

Thanks for the responses, that's what I was looking for.

[skipmac]

Assuming by outlets you mean cool air out from the AC unit. That will be a big part of the labor charge, running the hose, cutting and installing the vents. If you have the time and skills doing that part would save a lot in the installation costs. Also cutting a hole and installing the through hull is fairly low tech but labor intensive and another place for savings.

Also, if your boat is anything like mine, there are through hulls that could be combined to leave one as a spare to use for the ac cooling water.

[pitlaw]

My 44’ Nordic is well cooled with one 16k btu unit. I have a duct in the forward berth, one in the main cabin and one in the aft berth. You may be using long pants and sleeves with two units, although I don’t know your layout. 😃

[Flatswing]

Seems like a lot of btu’s for a 45’ boat. My understanding is that it is important not to oversize the units or you risk not getting adequate dehumidification. But I may be all wet!

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Flatswing

Seems like a lot of btu’s for a 45’ boat. My understanding is that it is important not to oversize the units or you risk not getting adequate dehumidification. But I may be all wet!

This is a good point. We installed an 8k BTU unit in the port hull of a Seawind 1000 cat. Just to cool owners cabin and head at night. Even in Texas heat it would drop temp to 68 deg F but didn't cycle enough to get humidity down.

[cottonsail]

We have a 33' sailboat. I've considered a built in unit. It would go in the Lazerette. It's just too much loss of storage space. What we are going to do is add a Dometic commercial RV unit to our overhead main cabin hatch. I don't believe the esthetics would be ruined.

[Var Korall]

Thru hulls should be 'seacocks'. But you should be able to get by with one seacock, one filter, and one pump for both a/c units. Your outlet water is usually exits above the waterline with a thru hull. Should try to locate it away from sleeping quarters to avoid hearing the 'splash' all night.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by cottonsail

We have a 33' sailboat. I've considered a built in unit. It would go in the Lazerette. It's just too much loss of storage space. What we are going to do is add a Dometic commercial RV unit to our overhead main cabin hatch. I don't believe the esthetics would be ruined.

Why not just a small 5k-6k btu unit beneath the v-berth? Lazarette is a poor place for the unit.

[Shanachie]

I'm in the midst of doing a fresh install on my Catalina 320 with a Webasto 12,000 Platinum in western Florida. It has the interior space of many older 38-footers.


Cost to DIY, with paid help on carpentry, is less than 4K. Quotes I received from pros: A minimum of 7K.


It's important to note that many installers will charge you the list price of the unit, while you can usually buy it online for about 60 percent of that.


My Webasto was about $1,600 plus tax and shipping. Assorted vents, hoses, fittings, pumps, etc., amount to about another $1,500.


The 320 has no space to run ducts and a huge cockpit locker, so that's where it usually goes when someone does a fresh install. Cold air is pumped into the rear of the main cabin, with the return pulling air from the aft cabin.


This has been a successful plan for numerous 320 owners. The return vent pulls cooler air from the main cabin into the aft cabin. It works because the interior of the boat is wide open. YMMV.



These self-contained units have to be sealed inside a box or tight locker with a couple of inches to spare on all sides. Otherwise, they pull in warm, moist air from the bilge or locker and will never cool down your boat.


The DIY work is tiresome, but not that difficult for anyone familiar with boat work.



You install a seawater pump, strainer, hoses and fittings, a couple of through hulls (above and below water line), the vents (which involve cutting) and the unit inside the box.


The Webasto is prewired, so it's just a matter of connecting it to the AC system with the proper circuit breaker and hooking in the seawater and condensate drain pumps.


I suppose it's a question of how valuable your time is. If you're a $500-an-hour lawyer or consultant, pay someone and work a couple of extra hours. I'm retired.

[rwaldrop13]

I installed 3 units on our Hatteras 54'. While I realize there's a huge difference between a sailboat and a power boat, I'd like to share what I ran into. Disclaimer - I was essentially replacing a 40-year old split-unit system for different spaces, using single-piece/self-contained units. I would say for the most expensive unit we installed, my cost including hose, wire, unit and pump was about $3000. The unit was $2200, the pump was $350 including shipping and the hoses/wire were purchased locally. The biggest issue I had was with running the wiring/hoses from the generator room mid-ships to the aft stateroom hanging locker. I would price units before making a decision, but I will tell you MarineAire in Miami does not stand behind their product and when the unit arrived dead out of the box they tried to charge me shipping on the warranty repair part, then 2 months later the pump relay failed and they told me they were cancelling my warranty because I told them I wanted the unit replaced since it was defective when it was shipped and then failed again within the first 90 days, both failures being electrical.

[alaskanviking]

Originally Posted by S/V Reveille

I have a question about installing A/C in a Cabo Rico 45. It has never had a/c... so this will be a complete install from scratch...16k and 18k btu units. 3 outlets starboard side, 2 outlets port side, pump, thruhull, strainer, ducting, outlets, grills, controllers, ... everything. Does anyone know about what I'm looking at as far as expected cost? The self contained units are approx $3000 each. With all other necessary components, plus labor... Looking for a general ballpark guess based on experience. Thanks!

I am in the middle of such an install. 42-45ft boat 16k is the minimum, and this setup is good for the Chesapeake/ San Diego. Not sure about Georgia and Florida. Looks like this wouldn’t be good enough for the tropics. I ordered a Velair 16k via www.iMarineUSA.com. there was one or two other venders that had a similar price but i couldn't get ahold of them to get a shipping quote or verify they had units in stock & imarine answered the phone. AC was $2,261.93 Shipping was $220.00. I got this unit because it’s one of the few marine inverter brands, which are more efficient and more importantly have a low startup current. That means there is a possibility it may be used at anchor with a big enough battery bank. Keep in mind that will require some electrical/battery upgrades to make this possible. The low starting currant does mean I can run this unit and the rest of the boat off a single 30 SP connection which is also a big deal. Originally I wanted the larger 21 or 24k but it wouldn’t fit. The 16k doesn’t fit in the original spot I was going to install, it appears slightly larger than other similar units in the dimensions that make things difficult for me. The plan b location is better but required a lot of structural, cabinetry changes and some repairs.

I estimate this job for the single unit would have cost $5k plus, from researching things. At some point I will condense all my labor logs and figure out a total man hour labor cost. On a boat with a brand new install that had never installed AC before, this labor cost is mostly from the cost to install the ducting. This aspect is a major pain unless your boat was designed for it. The duct has to be insulated, so for a 16k unit with 6” duct outlet your looking at a 8”-10” duct with insulation to snake around the nether regions of your boat. 6” makes for large holes to drill through bulkheads. Note it is worth the effort to max out the insulation or add insulation. The locations are not always (read rarely) easy to access, so you really have to take stuff apart or pull things out to get in there. If you dig into the house AC duct info/forum sites and threads on cruiserforum about ac ducting, you will quickly discover that there is an art and science solely for HVAC ducting. There is some conflicting information, crazy formulas, and of course it appears that none of the marine units follow any of it, and don’t list the information you need to do some of the calculations. Looks like marine units recommend duct size and #s based on a bare minimum to not freeze up your unit, which makes sense as it’s a pain to install those ducts. Too few or too small ducts is bad, but so is too many and too large of a ducts. For the 16k the recommendation was 2 6” and 1 4” ducts.

Also a critical piece that many of the pros miss is the water proofing aspect. Uninsulated ducting, registers or other parts of the AC will condensate. That means you can get significant water damage over time in areas you don’t often see, and that are stuffed full of duct which makes it even harder to see problems. Even a little gap with no insulation can cause condensation. Other factors here as well regarding condensation, but the point is you should ensure the areas the duct are going through are sufficiently waterproofed via and epoxy coating AND OR bilge paint ect. A coat or two of thinned epoxy followed by bilge paint are not out of the question here. You could skip this step, it is a pain. However imagine having to cut out and replace plywood panels deep in those areas 5 years from now. Many areas would require some teak or cabinetry surgery to repair stuff behind it.

Prices for supplies
Register vents (supply) ~ $50-$70 each
Intake vent ~ $100-$150 each
MSI T, P, or Y diverters ~$60-$80 each
Flex duct 6” $60 for 50ft at home depot
Water pump ~$250-$500 or more
¾” or 1” Strainer ~ $100
Water hose for under the waterline $6+ per foot
5/8” ID Water hose $2-$4 per foot
¾” or 1” Thruhull and seacock set (should have two sets) ~$150-$200 per set
Plumbing fittings and hose nipples $20-50 each
Wiring – still have to get, but if you have to upgrade your electrical system this can be a several boat unit expense added on to the install.

For equipment and supplies That’s a rough estimate of close to $2k with 10% markup not including the cost of the AC unit, any wiring and wiring upgrades, cost to haul out and install the thruhulls and seacocks if you have the yard do those. I don’t have my notes and all my receipts here, but these numbers are based off what I have been ordering or shopping for within the last few months. It also does not include the cst of the big HVAC zipties, ziptie anchors, screws and other such ancillary supplies which can stack up costs. You can bring this amount down if you do things yourself since you can shop around and utilize sales, however some things will cost you more like the flex ducting because you generally have to get 50ft per size you need and you only need a little bit. There are marine versions so you can buy per foot but that can add up more than the 50ft pack costs.

It’s common for people to have to do electrical system upgrades like add a second 30 SP plug to run the AC. A socket is ~$200, plus you will need a new SP cable or Y adapter, and the wiring inside your boat, for 30amp you’re looking at 8-10 gauge I believe, which brings costs up. If you switch to a 50amp 120v inlet those SP cables are ~$500. If you switch to a 50amp 240v socket your looking at ~700 for the SP cable, $250 for the socket, 4 6guage wires to your panel, probably some circuit breaker upgrades, and likely some other panel and electrical system work.

Labor estimates are $100-$250 per hour depending on your location. Do not under estimate the unexpected oh-by-the-way issues or projects that you discover, that you are sure to find with any boat project. I had to replace some plywood panels with water damage from a leaky window, I also decided to fiberglass the whole area that the AC unit was being installed. Ducting location was an issue that resulted in losing a drawer and other storage space, and I had to fabricate an insulated fiberglass or sheet metal plenum to run my ducts to. Think about the fine cabinetry work that will have to be done to install the teak vent registers. So far fiberglassing my spaces, fabricating my plenum, and cutting my duct holes through the bulkheads is roughly 16+ hours. I’m not finished and have some more glasswork I have to do, likely another 5+ hours for the AC stuff specifically and another 10-15 hours for the other glasswork projects that popped up and I need to do concurrently. 3 coats of bilge paint probably a good 6-10 hours. Maybe 3-5 hours installing and sealing the ducts. I suspect I may be on the low side here for some of this, but I don’t have my notes on me right now, and it’s hard to estimate the time to secure the ducting every few feet, move or re ziptie cables ect. I didn’t add the time it took to measure, re measure, re-plan and re-measure ect to figure out the best way forward, or the time to research materials and best practices. Having someone do the install would not require as much time as it takes me on some of this as they have all their materials, and tasks run smoother since they do it so often, but because every boat can be its own unique pain in the butt in this regard im not really certain how much different this would be. Pro installs also have to weigh man hours with costs, which can mean they don’t necessarily do things that will endure for the long run, ie waterproof/paint a space, do calculations for correct duct sizes ect. Using my numbers for man hours I’m coming up with a labor cost of ~7k for 47 hours @ $150/hour. This is labor only. In San Diego the cost of labor was closer to $200+ per hour. This isn’t including taping down any protective sheeting or plastic, cleaning afterwards and finish varnishing ect. 2 AC units and we are increasing these costs.

Things that possibly will save you money on an install. Big one is clear the affected areas of all your stuff. A frequent complaint or issue is the boat owner expects the installer to move their stuff and put stuff back after. They will happily do so at the full labor rate usually. You could possibly by some of your equipment in advance if you found deals, however they may not have the support equipment or required supplies that match that equipment, meaning they don’t have it in stock and have to special order stuff. You may be able to work out a package deal for the equipment and full install, which could work out in your favor, however your boat may be complicated enough or extra projects that they have to add to your bill. You would have to know enough about boats to really get a good cost analysis to estimate if the deal is a good one.

I still don’t have my AC installed. I suspect I will have to use the reverse cycle heat before I have to use the AC at this point honestly.

Hope this helps