portable ac
- Thread starter Rick
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had one
Had one. sold it after 2 seasons of luggin it around. Work well. Kinda noisey, (couldn't sleep under it). Bulky and when ready to sail had to be stowed. Just too much hassle for what we got out of it. Need to take into account that we live in Michigan. More use down by you I suppose. Will cool the hell out of the vee berth, some of the main cabin. Pray for Wind, Lugeman
Had one. sold it after 2 seasons of luggin it around. Work well. Kinda noisey, (couldn't sleep under it). Bulky and when ready to sail had to be stowed. Just too much hassle for what we got out of it. Need to take into account that we live in Michigan. More use down by you I suppose. Will cool the hell out of the vee berth, some of the main cabin. Pray for Wind, Lugeman
Try this/ cheaper
I put a cheap 5000 BTU window unit in my main companion way using a piece of plywood with a cut out for the unit. A lot cheaper and cools the boat down at night. The attached link is a cleaner idea if you want to make it more permanent.
I put a cheap 5000 BTU window unit in my main companion way using a piece of plywood with a cut out for the unit. A lot cheaper and cools the boat down at night. The attached link is a cleaner idea if you want to make it more permanent.
Used the...
portable, through the front hatch unit for 7 years on my old 28.5 and found it to be pretty efficient. We were in Texas, on a lake and had LOTS of heat. When coming in from a night sail, we would mount the A/C and crank it up, seal off the cabin, then hang/swim off the stern for 20 minutes, and the boat would be very comfortable that night. In anything over 90 degrees or so during the day, it would keep it "cool". A fan on the chart table to move air to the aft cabin was a necessity. We normally would drop it down the hatch and store it in front of the table while we sailed. Honestly, I'd look at the method Jeff D shows in his post and see if you could "up" the size to 7,000 btu or more.
portable, through the front hatch unit for 7 years on my old 28.5 and found it to be pretty efficient. We were in Texas, on a lake and had LOTS of heat. When coming in from a night sail, we would mount the A/C and crank it up, seal off the cabin, then hang/swim off the stern for 20 minutes, and the boat would be very comfortable that night. In anything over 90 degrees or so during the day, it would keep it "cool". A fan on the chart table to move air to the aft cabin was a necessity. We normally would drop it down the hatch and store it in front of the table while we sailed. Honestly, I'd look at the method Jeff D shows in his post and see if you could "up" the size to 7,000 btu or more.
portable A/C
Hi Rick, I have a hunter 30 and used the cruise air for abt 3 months. I found that if i ran it at night it did ok but after about 10 in the morning , it was struggling to keep up with the temps above 90 outside here in fairhope. I think it would do ok on the 28.5 with a small fan running also. Being spoiled as i am though I went with the central unit. might want to look at the post above regarding the window unit. You can pick those up at Walmart for under $100 and should cool your boat nicely. Happy sailing: Chuck Fairhope,AL.
Hi Rick, I have a hunter 30 and used the cruise air for abt 3 months. I found that if i ran it at night it did ok but after about 10 in the morning , it was struggling to keep up with the temps above 90 outside here in fairhope. I think it would do ok on the 28.5 with a small fan running also. Being spoiled as i am though I went with the central unit. might want to look at the post above regarding the window unit. You can pick those up at Walmart for under $100 and should cool your boat nicely. Happy sailing: Chuck Fairhope,AL.
Depends
Rick, The Cruisair works well on smaller boats (the smaller the better) I had a 7000 BTU model on my 35.5 and it wouldn't cool it, friend tried it on his Catalina 30 with same result. In addition they're heavy, and a pain to move on and off the boat when you want to sail. I ended up selling the unit and got one of the new portable apartment AC units that sits on the floor and is vented outside. My unit is a 10,000 BTU, paid $349.00 for it at Best Buy, a lot less than the hatch air units, it sits on the floor in front of the Vberth and I vented it out the forward hatch. I was concerned about it moving around when we heeled over but last week we were heeling 20-30 degrees and it didn't move. Last time I was at the boat when I got to the marina the inside temp on the boat was 98degrees below. Turned on the unit and within an hour it was down to 85, within 3 hours it was 74 with the temp outside hovering around 92. That night my wife slept under a blanket. If you've got the room below this is IMHO probably the best solution around, plus, and I haven't tried this yet, but I'm told one of the Honda 2000 generators will run it while on the hook.
Rick, The Cruisair works well on smaller boats (the smaller the better) I had a 7000 BTU model on my 35.5 and it wouldn't cool it, friend tried it on his Catalina 30 with same result. In addition they're heavy, and a pain to move on and off the boat when you want to sail. I ended up selling the unit and got one of the new portable apartment AC units that sits on the floor and is vented outside. My unit is a 10,000 BTU, paid $349.00 for it at Best Buy, a lot less than the hatch air units, it sits on the floor in front of the Vberth and I vented it out the forward hatch. I was concerned about it moving around when we heeled over but last week we were heeling 20-30 degrees and it didn't move. Last time I was at the boat when I got to the marina the inside temp on the boat was 98degrees below. Turned on the unit and within an hour it was down to 85, within 3 hours it was 74 with the temp outside hovering around 92. That night my wife slept under a blanket. If you've got the room below this is IMHO probably the best solution around, plus, and I haven't tried this yet, but I'm told one of the Honda 2000 generators will run it while on the hook.
I use the Carry-on A/C
I recently bought an H28.5 with the Carry-on unit. My wife and I have slept on the boat during cooler evenings and were fine w/out the A/C. Now that the temps have increased we started using the A/C unit. It is a bit of a hassle to carry it out and set it up but the pay off is worth it to us. As others have stated, we store it in front of the table while we sail and only set it up at the end of the evening. Mine is not loud at all, even from the outside. I have installed a make-shift diverter so the airflow is directed to the main cabin. When we sleep in the V-berth we use a blanket. We have also slept in the aft berth and found it to be comfortable. When I step up to a bigger boat I will look at an installed A/C system, but for now this will work for us.
I recently bought an H28.5 with the Carry-on unit. My wife and I have slept on the boat during cooler evenings and were fine w/out the A/C. Now that the temps have increased we started using the A/C unit. It is a bit of a hassle to carry it out and set it up but the pay off is worth it to us. As others have stated, we store it in front of the table while we sail and only set it up at the end of the evening. Mine is not loud at all, even from the outside. I have installed a make-shift diverter so the airflow is directed to the main cabin. When we sleep in the V-berth we use a blanket. We have also slept in the aft berth and found it to be comfortable. When I step up to a bigger boat I will look at an installed A/C system, but for now this will work for us.
Cruise Air
Just used our Cruiseair for the first time on a 98 degree weekend in North Florida. It did a good job of keeping our Newport 28 around 78 degrees during the day and it was 65 degrees inside when we woke up the next morning. Does a great job of removing humidity, which is a big deal in Florida. Kind of awkward to handle and store. I mounted it in the salon overhead hatch and used a small 12volt fan to direct the cool air into the v-berth. Great product for a temporary solution to the heat. Will have permanent A/C in the next boat.
Just used our Cruiseair for the first time on a 98 degree weekend in North Florida. It did a good job of keeping our Newport 28 around 78 degrees during the day and it was 65 degrees inside when we woke up the next morning. Does a great job of removing humidity, which is a big deal in Florida. Kind of awkward to handle and store. I mounted it in the salon overhead hatch and used a small 12volt fan to direct the cool air into the v-berth. Great product for a temporary solution to the heat. Will have permanent A/C in the next boat.
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