Air Conditioner?

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Capt Jack
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Joined: 2/11/17
Posts: 8
Air Conditioner?

Hello all, 
I am a newbie here and on the water with my new to me 1988 Cat 36, Would love to hear options on opinions on AC units for the 36, I live in Florida where she is hot and muggy for most of the year, I am debating on what type ( Portable stand alone,Hatch , or Central Unit) ac unit to install. Would use it at the dock mostly but possibly would like to use it while on the hook for a few hrs during the night at bedtime. My thoughts were to have a portable hatch unit with a Honda 2000 portable Generator if that would work. But would a hatch unit cool the boat during our hot summer days?  Would love to hear your opinions and thoughts!
James

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pkeyser
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Joined: 5/18/13
Posts: 659

Our boat came from Florida. The PO installed a 16,000 BTU heatpump unit beneath the salon seat adjacent the galley sink. All three cabins, and the head have vents. We've used it in hot stinky weather up north. This sized unit seems absolutely fine in cooling the entire boat. The PO had no issues in FLA. The unit must weigh a hundred pounds though (He bought me an exact replacement unit that I installed because the survey found it had not been winterized correctly). If hatch mounted unit of similar capacity weights, the same, it might be a bit of a handling challenge.

Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B

danno
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Joined: 3/15/17
Posts: 43

Welcome aboard, James.  Make sure to take some time to fill in some information about yourself and your boat in your description.

We have a MK 1 also, 1989 model.  I installed air conditioning this summer on our boat which we keep in Florida as well.  I put in a total of 16000 btu, split between two units (one under the Vee berth and one in the aft cabin).  Our reason for doing so was 2-fold:  first, there was no way to feasibly get duct work all the way forward to aft.  Second, we can close off the aft cabin and just run 1 a/c unit when it's just the Admiral and I on the boat.  A honda 2000 can easily run either unit by itself (or both if they dont' start at the same time).  

We used a window unit in the companionway for a little while this summer (to make the boat cool enough for me to work in and install the permanent system).  It worked OK, but was a pain getting in and out of the boat, and when we went sailing, we had to set the clumsy 50lb behemoth on the dock or below decks.  Some dock neighbors use a standalone unit; the biggest problem they have is that it is constantly pulling air from inside the boat to blow over the coils and out through the exhaust, therefore pulling hot outside air back in through the companionway.  There's a few folks on the dock with the units that mount through a topside hatch.  Most of them also have to set them on the dock to get underway,

Dan

Dan & Amanda Reed
1989 Catalina 36 #947 Miss America
Fin Keel Std Rig
FL Panhandle

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