A/C for boat?

Question

Looking for a SMALL air conditioning unit for cabin. Everything at Home Depot, etc is too big. Ideas?

Answer 1

If you were my wife and you asked me that question I would toss you right into the water and leave you there for fish food.

Answer 2

Several things to consider here:
1. If a small window unit is too big than your options are limited. I mounted a 5000 Btu window unit in my 26 ft Sea Ray that required only minimal modification. I had a built in ice chest that I ran the condensate drain to and used a 1000 watt Honda portable generator. Total cost : $1,000.
2. A built-in marine a/c unit uses lake water for heat exchange but are even more expensive and require a lot of work and modification to install.
3. I found a web-site that sells Kooler-Air. You buy an ice chest and the Kooler-Air unit sits in the top of the ice chest. Fill with ice water and plug into a 12 volt power source. It will drop a small cabin air temperature about 10 degrees. Not a lot but the cost is inexpensive. About $70 with shipping and the ice chest.
4. If you have a small hatch and will only use the air conditioning in the slip, around $600 will buy a portable a/c unit to fit the hatch but leaving it on the dock while you are on the water is a little risky.

Answer 3

Carrier used to make a low profile (10-12" high, normal width) window unit that was rated at 6000btu and will cool a small cabin pretty well. Last time I saw it was at circuit city. The real solution is a true marine air unit. They are reverse cycle and can heat in the winter. The compressor uses water pulled in from outside the boat, so they can be mounted in places other than an exterior opening like under a berth , dinette or lazerette. They are sized from about 6,000btu on up and are very compact and efficient. A little pricey though starting at about $1100.00. You could look on eBay for some used ones. One more solution: Cruisaire makes a marine unit that sits outside on your foredeck over the hatch. Available at you local marine supplier and possibly on eBay. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Look at Waeco they make air conditioning units for caravans and RV's, but i am not sure how they would handle being on a boat, i would go to your local boat shop and ask them because they would be able to point you in the right direction to look, Just make sure that the shop sells boats that are similar to yours.

Answer 5

Here is a a/c unit that a buddy of mine has. Works great. It fits in the hatch lid of the cabin in his boat. Kinda expensive comparing it to a normal (window) a/c unit of equal btu.

http://overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Carry_On_7000_Portable_Air_Conditioner_Cruisair&cname=Heating-/-Cooling&r=view&i=35258&aID=29I

Answer 6

Go to an rv supply. The a/c for motor homes should work well.