Mods To Our "Near Perfect Boat" Question.

Folks, we've come across what we think is the near perfect boat for what we want. This is a 36-38 footer, single engine diesel, bed in the bow, with a pilot house set up. Here are the things that we'd like to do to it:
(1) It has a diesel furnace, we need air conditioning, what's involved in doing this? It has 6Kw genset and many models of this boat come with AC, but not this one.
(2) The dinghy is carried on the swim platform currently, we want it on top, with davit crane which will require modifying upper hand rails, adding crane mount, and supports for dinghy etc.
(3) We need a washer/dryer unit (Splendide combo vented model), probably modify an interior cabinet to install the unit.

While I understand this may not make sense financially any thoughts on cost on one or more of these modifications to a 10-15 year old boat? Or is this too much work and we should keep looking?

So, here are some answers and comments:

1. Try to find pics of a similar model with A/C and at the very least see where the A/C was installed. But there may be only one obvious location. Are you a DIYer? If so you can install it yourself,it isn't that hard. You will have to haul out to install a thru hull for the raw water cooling. Then mount the R/W pump as near as the thru hull and as low as you can go and hook it up to the R/W inlet and run the R/W outlet to a thru hull just above the water line. Then you need to run duct work which will probably be the hardest. You can buy ducts, y fittings, outlets and everything online. Then hook up a 20 amp circuit to power it, assuming it is the typical 16,000 btu unit and install the thermostat.

If you want professional installation figure the cost of the unit plus about $2,500 in labor and materials.

2. A light dinghy and O/B can be lifted up with a fairly inexpensive pipe davit such as Nick Jackson makes and you could also DIY. I am guessing one with a 300# capacity costs less than $2,000 and if you just use arm power to winch it up it could be professionally installed for less than $1,000.

3. A Splendide on a 36-38 boat is a bit unusual. Price them on line and add maybe $1,000 for electrical/plumbing hook up or DIY for a few hundred in materials.

To compare to a boat with all of these installed, discount the cost of the above by at least 50%. The other boat will have old stuff and this is new stuff.

David

As always DavidM is right on the mark.
I'm in the middle of helping a good boating friend install his AC in an older Carver.
Plenty of space under the fwd bed for the unit and hoses to discharge. On his raw water feed he is experimenting with A T into is toilet RW inlet thru hull and so far it seems to work OK. His back up if any priming problems was to get by till fall and install another thru hull during winter lay up. His toilet inlet is well below water line and AC pump self primes OK.
As David said touring duct & placing return & supply grills was the hardest part when you want to get beyond the fwd cabin where the unit is.
If you can find an owner with a factory installed AC it would help a lot knowing where outlets were placed and ducts run. No guarantee you can duplicate after the fact but a good place to start.

The A/C does appear to be the tough part. The furnace is in the engine room and has ducts that appear to exit near the floor through cabinet baseboards which would make sense for heat, not so good for A/C. I think we'll turn our focus to boats that have A/C already - probably easier to update/replace an A/C unit, and then add the dinghy and washer.

I am pretty handy with maintenance items, but installing electronics, fiberglass, cabinetry is not my strength, so I'd have to go the professional route.

I have installed A/Cs in 5 different boats over the years. It is pretty easy to do, the hardest part is indeed running the duct work. If you are in a location that has humidity then you will want insulated duct work so it won’t sweat. We had a boat in Arizona and didn’t run insulated duct work and due to the low humidity the duct work didn’t sweat. Here in Michigan it will sweat and create moisture problems.

Installing the washer/dryer isn’t too bad. However make sure you get a vented unit so it will dry the clothes. We have had several Splendide vented units and if you load them properly they work very well. Then you also need to run a duct for the exhaust.

Okay, so you have the lift on your boat and up comes your dinghy with motor. Its a beautiful clear blue sky with no wind, how you see your lift working as you dream about it. Now lets change the scenario a bit. The wind is 15 knots, there is a bit of a chop on the water. You are at anchor and you want to lift the dinghy that weighs minimally 250 pounds or more. Now imagine this dinghy bouncing around because of boat movement from the chop and also being blown around a bit by the wind.

A number of boating friends on the Canadian west coast started with a lift but eventually went to a davit system. Some went with Seawise which means you don't have to muscle the motor, it comes up with the RIB. Its easy to clip off the dinghy if you want to use the swim grid for swimming. And you aren't going through a production because you just want to use the dinghy for a shore stern tie. Lower the dinghy down on davits, unclip, get in and go to shore, come back and re-secure the dinghy.

Regarding the A/C, I fully agree with those on here who have already indicated running the ducts will be a significant effort. While undertaking this challenge, however, try to minimize (eliminate?) any sharp turns in the ducting. These can reduce the effectiveness of an A/C system significantly!


Also plan to install noise insulation in the compartment around the A/C unit, if you have the space. User rubber feet/grommets for where you bolt the unit to the floor in order to reduce vibration.

I think you need a bigger boat. Mine is 36 feet and although I do have air conditioning I do not have a furnace. I don't think there is room for a ducted furnace anywhere on my boat. No room for a washer/dryer either, unless I really made some sacrifices to storage.

Unless the "combo" washer/dryer units have come a long way in recent years they are not much good. Take forever to do a load, Loads must be very small, etc. We take boat excursions of around a week or ten days.We just let the laundry pile up and do it when we get home. Have never used a laundromat or the facilities at a marina. The way we look at it, we are on vacation, nobody likes hauling or doing laundry.

pete

Mark P said:

Folks, we've come across what we think is the near perfect boat for what we want. This is a 36-38 footer, single engine diesel, bed in the bow, with a pilot house set up. Here are the things that we'd like to do to it:
(1) It has a diesel furnace, we need air conditioning, what's involved in doing this? It has 6Kw genset and many models of this boat come with AC, but not this one.
(2) The dinghy is carried on the swim platform currently, we want it on top, with davit crane which will require modifying upper hand rails, adding crane mount, and supports for dinghy etc.
(3) We need a washer/dryer unit (Splendide combo vented model), probably modify an interior cabinet to install the unit.

While I understand this may not make sense financially any thoughts on cost on one or more of these modifications to a 10-15 year old boat? Or is this too much work and we should keep looking?

Click to expand...

What is this boat you have your heart set on? I ask because I am boat shopping in that size range and there are some clean 20 year old boats with the features you want listed in the 175-200K price range. Nobody mentioned it yet but a boat that size almost always needs 2 AC units. Some raised pilothouse boats have 3. I would rethink the Splendide. Read the factory operating instructions. The most common size has a capacity of 2 towels, 2 hand towels and 2 bath cloths. The long cycle time and small capacity would make for a long laundry day!

I'm going to agree with those saying a 36 - 38 foot boat is a bit small for onboard laundry. I have a fairly large 38 footer (in terms of cabin space) and if I wanted onboard laundry, I'd have to give something up (probably a closet or one of the heads) and work a bit to find a suitable spot for a washer/dryer.

Unless you've got a water maker, water capacity for doing laundry will be an issue on a boat that size as well. So you'd typically be doing laundry during a marina stop for water availability, at which point taking the laundry off the boat wouldn't be a big deal.

Mark P said:

While I understand this may not make sense financially any thoughts on cost on one or more of these modifications to a 10-15 year old boat? Or is this too much work and we should keep looking?

Click to expand...

Keep looking.....yes, it is too much work...eventually you'll want the dinghy stowed on the stern or bow.....with regard to your "wants", you are not looking at the "almost perfect" boat for you!