Cut the air so you can breath it!

[Bryan]

Just bought a "Taylor Made" 5000 btu AC, for a 29 sailboat. Used it last weekend to cut the heat and humidity of the Chesapeake bay. Wondering if anyone else has one, this unit doesn't seem to cool very well. It was not as hot, and much lower humidity, but still not cool, and certainly not cold. It was brand new out of the box from BoatsUS. Is this how the unit is supposed to work? Any help.

 

[Bryan Pfaffenberger]

Not enough BTUs, probably

The unit is undersized for its application. For a 29' sailboat, as a general rule, I'd recommend a unit with at least 10,000 BTU. I have a 10,000 BTU Aqua-Air unit in my Hunter 30 which does a very nice job.

 

[J.B. Dyer]

Under gunned

I hate to tell you this, but I have to agree with Bryan P. I have an O34 with a 10,000btu and in the deep South in July and August, it is everything it can do to keep my boat cool. You might try blocking off a portion of the boat that you are in to concentrate your cooling efforts. Even if your air is working right, I don't believe that 5000btu is going to give you the results that your looking for.Sorry!

 

[John K Kudera]

Rig a bimini

The unit may work a bit better if you can rig a canopy for some shade to keep the decks a bit cooler, you will need a larger unit. Best of luck.

 

[Don]

Used on on my H31

and it worked pretty good except in the mid-day heat. In fact, as I remember, at night it would get cold. I used a small clamp on fan to "forward" the cool air from the v-berth area to the main salon. That really helped in my situation. (Didn't they increase those portable units to 7k btu this year?)As someone else suggested, an overhead canopy over as much of the boat as possible will really help. I had on one my H31 that covered from the mast back.FWIW, I have 19k btu's in my 37.5 now and it strains in the day time right now too. I still use fans to circulate the cool air. These boats don't have much insulation and the mid-day sun is powerful.

 

[Augie Byllott]

Low BTU a/c units

Everything else notwithstanding, the more shade you can provide to the deck, the better you'll like the performance of your a/c. During the day, the sun is pouring more BTUs on your deck than your a/c could ever offset. Even when the sun goes down, warm decks continue to radiate heat below. You might not like the look of a tent on your boat, but the ability to rig a fly across the boom, with splits to lace together forward of the mast and beyond the aft stay will make the inside feel as if you added another a/c unit or two. You'll also find it more comfortable to sit out on deck.I didn't have an a/c on my C30 but shade from a full length fly and a little breeze made me think I did. Just keep a weather eye out and be ready to douse it when you see a squall coming. What's happening now is akin to attempting to make ice while still boiling the water.