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Old 08-16-2016, 08:46 PM   #32
janice142
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City: Madeira Beach, FL
Vessel Name: Seaweed
Vessel Model: Schucker mini-trawler
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,236
Aw shucks... thank you oldhatt... I appreciate the kind words and sharing the article. That's real nice of you.

And thanks for the compliment Miz Trom.

Air conditioning is a hot topic around the docks here too. Being cool is a big deal when the inside temperatures top 90 degrees. It is hard to think or do anything when the humidity and temps are that high.

I grew up with air conditioning. Our 40'er didn't have it and Mother liked it h-o-t. Blazing hot. When Daddy was mad he'd get out his charts of Hudson Bay planning a cruise there. We'd not need a/c up there for certain.

Here is a different matter entirely.

Like others I've seen the split units. They are intriguing. On Seaweed even if the budget could swing one there really is no place to install it. For me it was either an RV unit (11k btu is the smallest rooftop I could find) or a 5k wall-banger.

I absolutely hated having it in my doorway for all the reasons listed in the article.

For me on the rooftop works. I like that it is virtually hidden.

Here we are heading west:


A few weeks ago I met a website reader (he and his wife are shopping for a bigger Schucker) at a local dock. The gent was aboard my boat. We chatted, had lunch at a restaurant and then the couple left. In the time between the two articles posting he sent a note saying "let's see the a/c"

He'd been ON THE BOAT and had not noticed it. In my view that made my solution a win for me.

A rooftop RV unit has a lot of merit for those with $500+ to spend. They look better, are lower profile and have a lot of good things said for them. Ted and Sarah installed on on their pilothouse of their Manatee.

I like that Ted plumbed the water discharge (filtered) into a water tank for showers. If memory serves me he gets 11 gallons of water per day via the a/c. That article is here:

Janice142 article Manatee Moves

There are a lot of cooling solutions. The best one is to head for the poles as the summer approaches. That's not always practical.

For those with yachts I'm sure the built-in marine units are a good choice. The percentage a unit costs in relationship to the boat value is appropriate. Others such as self have found low-cost solutions. I could not see spending a lot on an inexpensive boat.

Question for the yachtsmen: What percentage of purchase price did you spend to make air conditioning a reality? I do not want to know the purchase price of your boat. If you have a $100k boat and spent $5k that's 5%. That's the number I'm interested in.

I'm curious. I wish someone like BandB would start a thread about that! (hint!) WifeyB understands polls...

My Moby-Cool.com,barnacle antifouling,paint,a/c hood/hatch is not for everyone. It is one option for those with smaller budgets and ought not to be discounted immediately because it is not 100% marine.

Note to Capt.Bill11: Rust would not normally be an issue for the wall-banger solution I detailed. For several months I was downwind (across the dock) from an 85' steel shrimp boat doing a major overhaul. Between the grinding, chip hammers and more, well, it rained steel dust on my Seaweed. A year later I still am finding more rust spots.

Eventually I'll track down all that steel but in the meantime I'm having too much fun to pull out the ospho every time my boat gets spots. Someday the 30 year old gelcoat will be spiffy and shiny. That's not going to happen today.

That film looks interesting... Larry: I read your baby shampoo and water hint. I've always used straight Dawn detergent -- not much mind you. Just an aside, in case you're ever out of baby shampoo. J.

To those of you looking for an economical solution, consider Moby-Cool. It's not perfect. For me however it is plenty Good Enough.
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