Cooling a Boat on the Hard

[Target9000]

So we're putting in to a marina and hauling out to start a major portion of our refit. I live in Louisiana and its hot. Very hot here in the summer. My plan is to put my portable window unit style AC aboard. Its one of the new generation ones that has a long exhaust hose that I can pipe right out one of the portholes instead of working with a hatch.

Basically I just want to be somewhat cool while working in there. Its 12k btu. Has anyone tried this? Ideas?

[svcambria]

I have had the boat hauled in Guaymas and Mazatlan on coastal Mexico, and lived on board while doing projects. I believe it gets every bit as hot and humid here as Louisiana. For relief, I use a 6000 Btu window mounted air conditioner in the butterfly hatch of my Panda 40. It takes a day or two to have much effect, but it gets the temperatures down about twenty degrees below ambient outside temperatures, and more importantly the humidity down from 95 per cent to perhaps 30 per cent. Soooo - a 12,000 Btu unit in a Westsail 32 will be more than enough....

Michael

[thinwater]

Rigging any sort of tarp to keep the sun off the deck will help the AC a ton. However, on the hard it may not be safe to keep it rigged--it will be too much of a sail in thunderstorms, with the boat on stands. Still air days only!

[Tripod]

We have one of those units. We found that the uninsulated exhaust hose gets quite hot. I slipped 5" insulated flex-duct over the exhaust hose. It cools much more efficiently without that hose radiating a big chunk of heat back into the cabin.

[Pelagic]

This model portable A/C is what I use and it works great on the hard, piping the exhaust out the portholes where I made a sealed plenum to fit the hose outlet.

Portable Air Conditioner - CP-25E3A-H16A, Portable Air Conditioner Manufacturer - Guangdong Chigo Air Conditioning Co.

Great thing being portable, it is easy to move to different areas to accommodate your work needs.

I actually use it at the marina all the time instead of using my built in marine air cons, because of heavy marine growth at the marina that quickly fouls the sea chest

Have been using it for 4 years without a problem…. Just make sure you take it apart and clean out all the sanding dust at least once a year

cost about USD350

[gonesail]

the only thing about exhausting air is that you must also bring outside air into the boat .. a law of physics. it might bring the air thru the bilge which would not be good. anyway something to consider.

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by Tripod

We have one of those units. We found that the uninsulated exhaust hose gets quite hot. I slipped 5" insulated flex-duct over the exhaust hose. It cools much more efficiently without that hose radiating a big chunk of heat back into the cabin.

Thanks for this tip.

[barnakiel]

1. Shade the boat. Shade the boat. Shade the ... but shade so that there is plenty of air circulating below the shade!

2. Yes, you can use any AC system. In French Territories we met plenty of live-aboards using cheapo caravan AC systems. They did very well.

b.

[SabreKai]

I have a portable Danby unit that cost me about $600 CAD. It has two hoses, one for intake of fresh air, one for exhaust. But putting in the boat would be more of a annoyance than a blessing because I'd be moving it about all the time while I do the work. I picked up a cheap window ac unit, 8,000 BTU which I will mount on the forward deck and have it ducted below. I don't expect the unit to really do a great job but if it takes the temp down 10-15 degrees and kills the humidity I'll be happy. I find it so irritating when I'm working and sweat drips onto my glasses. Or into the epoxy mixing pot.

Sabre