I'm in the market for my first boat and these forums have been a great help. I have a question for 36 Vision owners. From what I've read they are a great boat, relatively easy to single hand and maintain and comfortable inside. I like the idea of a free standing mast. Anything I should be looking out for? Also, I don't see any posts or listings with air conditioning and/or a genset. Can these be 'easily' installed? Will the equipment fit in the space aft of the aft berthing area for instance if the tanks are moved around?
Vision 36 AC/genset
- Thread starter huntercataS2
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neither of those will fit nicely on any boat most of us have. There are ALWAYS challenges. things that come to mind are how do you plumb the AC air ducts and cooling air/water for the genset? What storage do you have to give up to install?
Moving tanks is probably not an option on a 28' boat. They tend to be specially shaped to fit the space so moving them will not result in lots of extra space.
IMHO AC on a sail boat is a luxury that does not go with the sailing experience. The energy needed REQUIRES a genset or engine driven compressor or shore power (the latter only being avalable at a slip). 12 volt or battery powered fans and sun screens for the deck are a great option. I've found the portable "D" cell fans great for sleeping and the sunscreens lower the temp in the cabin by 10ish degrees (also let you keep the hatches open when it rains!)
Moving tanks is probably not an option on a 28' boat. They tend to be specially shaped to fit the space so moving them will not result in lots of extra space.
IMHO AC on a sail boat is a luxury that does not go with the sailing experience. The energy needed REQUIRES a genset or engine driven compressor or shore power (the latter only being avalable at a slip). 12 volt or battery powered fans and sun screens for the deck are a great option. I've found the portable "D" cell fans great for sleeping and the sunscreens lower the temp in the cabin by 10ish degrees (also let you keep the hatches open when it rains!)
Most all of the later model Hunters in 35 to 36 feet have a water to air heat pump installed from the factory. You will need a genset to power it when not at a dock. I have a 2003, 356 with HVAC and a 5 KW Northern Lights generator. We don't leave the dock without the generator running and we have either heating or cooling whatever we need. My Northern Lights is installed in the port lazarette and has a custom sound shield. It burns about .25 to .3 gallons per hour, so 5 to 6 gallons in 24 hours. While cruising, we have run it as long as 100 hours continuously. It's been reported that some of these Northern Lights generators go 30,000 hours. I have just over 3000 hours on mine since 2003. My wife and I are of the school of thought to be comfortable while out on the boat, as well as have fun sailing. We have a tracking satellite TV antenna too. Because we are equipped for comfort, she likes the boat. We spend about 75 days a year on board. Others would prefer a more simplistic sailing experience and we are all for that if that is what someone wants, but you can have both if you want.
Thank you for the detailed information on the 356, I haven't seen any for sale with the generator in my price range so I wasn't aware so many were fitted that way. My plan was to do a season without to get a sense of the needs of my family, then install the equipment if we want it. Not sure I need AC when away from the dock, so a generator may not be needed, but it would be good to know if it is possible to get one in as an option other than selling and buying a new boat. I suspect it comes down to the size of the storage spaces aboard for the AC and generator. I get the impression AC units can be installed under most settees to cool/heat the main salon without a lot of ducting if that is desired.
Jerry's talking about the newer Hunters, say 2000 on. the vision 36 isn't one of those..
On our 356s, Hunter installed the ac air duct from the dinette seats, where the ac goes, back behind the galley to the aft cabin - that's the hard run. installing my mermaid ac system took less than a day - singlehanded.
The space in the cockpit lazarette will accommodate several different units, and Hunter installed the exhaust tube into the hull already(the real hard part) as well as the fuel supply and return lines in the tank. The older boats generally didn't have this much option planning from the factory
On our 356s, Hunter installed the ac air duct from the dinette seats, where the ac goes, back behind the galley to the aft cabin - that's the hard run. installing my mermaid ac system took less than a day - singlehanded.
The space in the cockpit lazarette will accommodate several different units, and Hunter installed the exhaust tube into the hull already(the real hard part) as well as the fuel supply and return lines in the tank. The older boats generally didn't have this much option planning from the factory