Worlds cheapest air conditioning

[Bill Roosa]

Sun shades and 12 volt hand size fans. The sun shades I made for about $10 (mostly the hardware) lowered the cabin temp by about 10 F. Add a personal battery powered fan to the mix and I've never needed to turn on the AC even 4 summers ago when it as +100 F more often than not. Sun shades are made of old/extra sail cloth. They also allow the ports to be left open in the rain.

 

[Chief RA]

Stay home in the air conditioning if you don't want to jump in the water when its hot! Wimps should not go sailing on a hot day! Chief

 

[SOCAL C50]

On hot days you can volunteer to jump in the water for man overboard drills...

 

[pateco]

whatfiero1 has the approach I use with my Catalina 250. I have a REMOTE controlled 6k btu unit and it will cool on the hottest of days (100 plus) here in Northern California. Hatch mount is the way to go! Chief

Pictures please

 

[thinwater]

What are you going to do with all of water from condensation?

Many AC units, including the portable units, are designed (or can be modified to) evaporate all of the condensate into the hot air. Easy.

 

[jwing]

Many AC units, including the portable units, are designed (or can be modified to) evaporate all of the condensate into the hot air. Easy.

Not exactly. The cool condensate that drips off the evaporator coil is sprayed onto the condenser coil. That cools the condenser coil, thereby reducing the amount of head that the compressor has to produce, which has the effect of reducing energy usage. In some situations, the condensate that is heated by the condenser coil will get hot enough to evaporate. In other conditions, the outdoor air's relative humidity is too high and the condensate stays liquid and will simply drip out of the unit if not conducted away through a pipe or hose.

The compressor controls can be set up to over-superheat and thereby raise the heat sink air temperature so it will evaporate more condensate. But nothing is free and this strategy will cost energy. Those portable AC units tend to have very hot exhaust hoses; now you know why.

 

[Chief RA]

The AC portable unit is actually sitting outside the forward hatch with hatch dropped down on front edge of unit. Close off the sides of the hatch and put securing line on so it can't fall overboard. Just operate it from the inside with the remote and you are in business! Don't make it any harder than it is! It also only costs about 250 for a 6k. Chief

 

[njlarry]

Hey Chief you're among the finalists, but do you have any pictures?

 

[Chief RA]

No, as I seldom use it and especially this time of year. I do think it is important to get the most bang for the buck though and buy the 6k, NOT the 5k. Have fun! Chief

 

[JamesG161]

all window unit

Same idea except this is portable inside the cabin.
http://manuals.frigidaire.com/prodinfo_pdf/Edison/2020255a0397en.pdf

Just the exhaust hose to relocate.
Jim...

 

[Chief RA]

jamesG161: I can't find what btu size it is. If it is smaller than 6k, beware! Chief

 

[Brian S]

Yeah, I've heard of a fellow in FL with a Hunter 23.5 I believe. He uses a standalone unit with exhaust tube mounted in a hatch board. Seems easier to deal with than a window unit mounted in hatch boards. Probably could step over the exhaust board to enter and exit the cabin easier than a small window unit in the companionway.

 

[Chief RA]

Mount window unit in FORWARD hatch and you don't have to step over anything. Chief

 

[kloudie1]

The real problem with the flex hose ducted units is that it draws in the same amount of outside air as it is exhausting.. in other words, it uses cabin air for condensation and exhausts that .. drawing that same amount of wet hot air.. which decreases the useful capacity of the unit.. Here in coastal Louisiana, these are almost useless unless used for spot cooling.. Some portables are available with a co-axial duct that takes in outside air and exhausts the hot, keeping it from drawing in outside air.. That works.. Stepping over a flimsy duct in the hatch board would not be much better than stepping over a small window unit.. and you'd not have to dance around the portable inside the cabin.. I used a 5000 BTU window unit in a board for sleeping .. and it was fine on the 34.. but it could not cut it on a hot day. It did dry the air enough to make it somewhat more comfortable than outside during a hot day..

 

[JamesG161]

I can't find what btu size it is.

The smallest is 3000 BYU.
We considered this as a point source cooler and light weight. In galley, move to galley. In bed, move too bed. The amp load was great for a small portable generator too.
There are bigger units, but I would buy 2@3k, instead of 5k BTU.

The cheapest is a cooling towels and hand fans.
Jim...

 

[Chief RA]

5k is usually inadequate: thats why I keep saying 6k! Bear in mind that even a 6k will only be adequate in about a 26' boat. Chief

 

[Brian S]

The real problem with the flex hose ducted units is that it draws in the same amount of outside air as it is exhausting.. in other words, it uses cabin air for condensation and exhausts that .. drawing that same amount of wet hot air.. which decreases the useful capacity of the unit.. Here in coastal Louisiana, these are almost useless unless used for spot cooling.. Some portables are available with a co-axial duct that takes in outside air and exhausts the hot, keeping it from drawing in outside air.. That works.. Stepping over a flimsy duct in the hatch board would not be much better than stepping over a small window unit.. and you'd not have to dance around the portable inside the cabin.. I used a 5000 BTU window unit in a board for sleeping .. and it was fine on the 34.. but it could not cut it on a hot day. It did dry the air enough to make it somewhat more comfortable than outside during a hot day..

Kloudie, let's say you have 2 hoses on a standalone unit. What if you hook up exhaust to outside, and don't hook up the intake hose. So, it's drawing in interior air, cooling and condensing that, and sending the exhaust air out. Does that work? (It's how I have mine set up at the house, figuring it's more or less sucking hot inside air out.)

 

[rgranger]

The air you blow out, has to be replaced... so hot air from outside is sucked back in through cracks etc.