Quote:
Originally Posted by TooCoys
Have you been to Texas in August? LOL
Between the 100 degree days and the 90% or better humidity, there is no hatch and wind scoop big enough!!
|
Maybe what people actually do, will be helpful to know.
Air conditioning without
shore power is pretty tough even on quite large boats with diesel generators. You have to run the generator all night, which is not good for it, as the A/C cycles on and off, leaving the generator unloaded.
On small boats, you could try the Honda (you'll want at least the 2000 watt one) -- gasoline engines don't mind running without a load.
But it creates
noise which no one likes in an anchorage, and you might have to get up in the middle of the night to refuel. Also you have to be extremely careful with CO getting blown into the boat if the wind changes -- you can die.
As a result of all of this, it is almost just not done, to air condition a
small boat like yours overnight off shore
power. I have indeed been in Texas in August and know what you're talking about, but I think your practical, realistic options are to either tough it out or find a marina where you can
plug in.
I cruised SW
Florida for decades in a boat with a good
marine air conditioning system. I don't know whether Texas is hotter (I think we were further South), but we didn't mind all that much not having AC on the hook. It was always far, far cooler on the
water than inland. The boat would swing with the wind, and wind scoops worked very well. For times with really zero wind, we had permanently installed 12v fans next to every bunk, which really help a lot. In
marinas, though, it was always much hotter because of the
heating effect of land, and the boat wouldn't swing to the wind, so we hurried to hook up the AC there. This works pretty well in my experience.
For your other power needs, the two killer apps for a boat that size are (a) solar; and (b) heavy duty externally regulated
alternator. If you correctly select and install the heavy duty (School bus type)
alternator, it will be almost like having a diesel generator. Match that up with a decent
battery bank and a decent charger/inverter, and you will be in power heaven. If you're not trying to run AC without shore power, you probably don't really need a generator. We never had one on my old boat (a 37 footer) and never missed it once we got a decent solar
installation.
You can run a 110v fridge off an
inverter without any problem, but 12v fridges are more efficient.