Hunter 33.5 Air Conditioner
- Thread starter Amos Cape
- Start date
Hey Amos, good to see you here! We ran into each other at Perry Lake when I was buying my Hunter 30T last fall. I hope you get good responses on this. Kansas summers are brutal without a/c. FWIW, our system was mounted under the forward berth and it works well. The admiral doesn't mind the hum at night. You may have other options on the 33. Where are you going to slip her?
Amos Cape, I have the same boat. Same year also. We raised the nav-station and built a shelf underneath to support the 16,500 BTU unit. From this location I ran 3 vents. One to each cabin. Installation of the plumbing and electric is also pretty easy. Sorry I don't have pics handy at the moment but have posted them on here before.
I hope your new boat is working out for you. It look like a very nice one! We have AC in our current boat and can't live without it. We are planning on putting it on El Dorado lake.
We raised it till it met the under side of the electric panel. About 6 inches. The shelf for the A/C unit is the same height as the port settee. This left space below for shoes and such. I found a picture of the finished installation.
Attachments
There are three 4" vents. One in each cabin. The plenum of my air conditioner allows for three connections. Since the aft cabin hanging locker shares a bulkhead with the A/C unit I ran two ducts thru it. The first vent feeds the main cabin and is visible in my picture. It's located just below my radios. The second duct run in the aft cabin locker comes out the back of the cabinet near the top feeding the aft berth. The third duct run is located behind the settee cushions and under the bottle storage area. Several 4" holes need to be cut. It continues thru the head sink cabinet and into the V-berth port cabinet. My cabinet has several shelves in it. I drilled 4" vertical holes thru them to allow the vent to exit the forward side of the cabinet near the top. It sure is handy that these cabinets are screwed together. With a little disassembly the drilling process is a bit easier.
Here in the mid-west my 16,500 BTU unit does a fairly good job. It gets rid of the humidity in the heat of the day and allows it to be some what comfortable down below. The thermostat climbs to the upper 80's. I did install exterior Sunbrella mesh hatch covers on the cabin roof to cut down on the solar gain. At night this unit will freeze you out. It'll take the boat down into the 60's without missing a beat.
Good Luck on your install. Hope you figure out what location works best for you.
Here in the mid-west my 16,500 BTU unit does a fairly good job. It gets rid of the humidity in the heat of the day and allows it to be some what comfortable down below. The thermostat climbs to the upper 80's. I did install exterior Sunbrella mesh hatch covers on the cabin roof to cut down on the solar gain. At night this unit will freeze you out. It'll take the boat down into the 60's without missing a beat.
Good Luck on your install. Hope you figure out what location works best for you.
Jeff, is your unit a heater as well? I'm not too familiar with marine HVAC but our "new" Hunter has a Cruisair heat pump system that delivers either from the same control panel. It really extends the 'live aboard' season.
My unit has an electric heater. There is a 5000 BTU coil the provides heat whether I'm in the water or on the hard. This really comes in handy when I'm needing a boat fix mid-winter and want to spend the weekend on board. I haven't mentioned to this point the brand I used. Flagship Marine http://flagshipmarine.com/ They have an informative website. What I liked was their units do not use expensive circuit boards that sometimes fail. Mine has been running for 12 years and I've only had to replace one $30 component in that time frame. A/C units are a personal choice and I don't want to push one brand over another. Cruise Air is a great brand too! I have several friends that use and love them.
Being able to run the heat on the hard would be nice. I have to run a portable if I want to work onboard.
Jeff thanks for letting me know all the details of your AC install. That is going to help me a lot! I went with a MarineAir 16000 btu unit http://www.marinaire.com/Marine-air-conditioner-16000-btu-110V-p/msba16k2.htm with the heat pump. So no heat on the hard. I will have to do like Justin and get the portable heater out.
Amos, good to see you and your wife last evening at the Ninnescah Y.C. murder mystery....What a heck of an event...
It take's bored sailors and Thumper of course to pull off that level of mid-winter entertainment.....Patrick Coulter
It take's bored sailors and Thumper of course to pull off that level of mid-winter entertainment.....Patrick Coulter
Amos, I'm happy this install went well for you. It looks GREAT!!! Glad you contacted me and I was happy to help a fellow sailor. I'll bet it's quite comfortable sleeping with the A/C.