Opinions on A/C Brands

[horsemel]

After 5 years with this boat and 6 years with previous boats we have decided that enough is enough and are going to put A/C in Blue Moon before next summer.  I have read the posts on different installation set-ups but have not seen any comments on the brands selected.  It seems the most popular are the Mermaid and Vector Compact with one or two Cruise Air brands also.  What is your experience with the various makes?  Also, who seems to have the best price in your experience?
Mark Mueller

[Lance Jones]

Call Ken Roy at the Catalina Yacht Parts. They have several A/Cs that are available at a great price. Tell him Lance from Gill sent you.

[chuck53]

I just put a Cruise Aire in mine.  So far, so good.  My only problem is it's too big.  When I started talking to my AC guy about doing the job, we were looking at the brochure at the different models.  He suggested the 16K BTU, but I thought it might be too big and decided to go with the 14k  unit.  When he went to order it, the 14K had been discontinued so he got the 16k and I wish I had gotten the 14k.

[Ken Juul]

I think 16k is the right size.  According to all the sizing models I have looked at.  The brand I use is http://www.oceanbreezeac.com  They are mostly set up for commercial boats and don't have a huge advertising budget that they have to increase costs to cover.

[chuck53]

No doubt the 16k does a nice job on a hot day, but I'm more concerned with my sleeping comfort and my problem is, at night, the compressor doesn't run enough to keep the humidity down.  I have to turn the temp down to the low 60's to keep it comfortable.  When it comes to AC, keeping the humidity down is just as important as keeping the temp down and a smaller AC will run the compressor for longer periods and get the humidiy lower.

[Terry Forshier]

Down here is SW Florida it is HOT all summer. I Have a Flagship 1600 and it can run all day and never shut off set at 80. The sun is so intense it cannot keep up. I have talked to the makers on this. They say the unit works on lowering the ambient temp by 7 degrees. So if you are sailing all day and it is 90. You dock and tturn on the Ac. The Ac tries to cool you to 83 degrees. As it cools the inside air the temp slowly lowers but it NEVER puts out ice cold air lilke the car does. It does a nice job taking the hmidity out though, and we have a lot of that too. I have installed a condensator line that draws the condensate water from the tube out through the water discharge. It is from Mermaid Ac. It works well and keeps the bilge from filling up with this water. Believe it or not ,the AC running and temp in at low 80,s without humidity it feels cool compared to the cockpit, but not crisp cool like walking into a house with AC.
In Ohio, where I think you are, this may work well for you but for me I would not buy this one again. When your hot your hot. I would like an AC that cools down COLD right away.
In fairness, when the sun goes down the boat will cool down to 70 from 80 in half an hour in the summer. So sleeping is not a problem. Just getting out of the hear in the middle of the day say at anchor with the generator running.
I looked at several pther units lately and I like the new Turbo units I saw on line. I would def go with 1600 BTU. No sense running an Ac and still being hot.

[Joe Kern]

I have a 16,000BTU MarineAire and it works great for cooling and humidity.  I also installed the condensator line Terry mentions.  I turn the anti-humdity feature on when I leave the boat for the week and have yet to see any mold on my boat even though it is closed up tight.  I have never tried to use the a/c with a generator but for nights at marinas it remains one of the best non-safety items I have ever bought.

[sailaway]

Mark   I bought a 12k unit on a clearance at boat US when they went out of business. I wasn't sure how it would work. It works fine 82 with low humidity in the day 72 at night. I mounted it under the vee birth. and ran 6" duct with two outlets . One vent came up in the starboard hanging locker mounted on the flat top.  With a tee in the hanging locker I went straight throw to main cabin under the table area. The two most important area's to cool. I used the useless drawer as the cold air return. With the 12k it only pulls 20 amps of power. So I could use my 30 amp shore power. If you go bigger you really need two shore power cords. Stop down I will show you what I have done. Charlie

[horsemel]

HI Charlie,
I have stopped by a couple of times but you were away from the dock.  I sent you a PM but I think I screwed it up so am just replying here.  I knew you had put ac in and do want to see what you did.  By the way if that new Chevy Silverado I saw in front of your dock is yours then you got a good lookin' set of wheels.  Mel has a wedding on Sat so we may not be up until Sunday.
Mark Mueller

[sailaway]

Mark I  will not be up for 2 or 3 weeks.  Yes that is my truck.  This summer makes a/c worth the money. Charlie