Adding A/C but dont have shore power...??
 

My Mistress does not have shorepower, I want to add a/c is there easy way to run it off extension cord until I add the shore power setup? I may or may not have the money to do it all at once...

what are decent affordable units to add A/C and heat?

Keep your eyes open for a 5K~6K BTU "Take Our from a Salvage "donor" boat. Cruise Air units are very popular and parts are plentiful. Most of these are reverse cycle units and don't heat very well if the circulating water temperature is below 50*. They will give you about a 10* temp differential between air out put and the ambient circulating water. You may also be able to snag an electrical AC-DC Shore panel from a donor boat as well. If you are handy with wiring or have an electrician in your entourage then you are good to go.

I can do any kind of wiring myself as the install of the unit, I was thinking of gpoing new for the warranty, not sure if used is worth the savings or not...

http://boatwiringstore.com/boat-wiring/ac/

done wrong, water and electricity can phuck some stuff up. Its all quite shocking actually and not that expensive or difficult to do it right....

This is the one I have had on 2 different boats: Mermaid 5200 Looks like about $1200 for ac and $1375 for ac/reverse heat. You have to get the installation kit. I did find all this on Craigslist 3 years ago for my other boat.

I know what you mean..however I deal with mechanical systems for a living. In the Marine A/C business, if the unit only a year or two old and holds pressure you really don't have a lot of exposure. I am looking for that type of deal for mine and I have seen them for less than $1000 complete with controls, pump,etc. The same unit new will run $3~ $4K and if you don't have a factory authorized shop install it your going to have a fight on your hands if you do have an issue. Marine A/C mechanics get $100/hr down here and you can count on at least a 8~12 hour job which gets you to $5K fast. You are in a prolific boating area as I am...look around at what is available, talk to a few guys there and get a feel for it so you can develop a level of comfort.

I replaced the salon unit in my 40' EC Sea Ray with a 2 year old unit and it ran great for 5 years and as far as I know still is.

I am also considering a small Generator for mine. The bilge in my 255 was built to handle TRS set ups and there is enough room in the front of my bilge for a 3KW unit. How is yours set up? Was A/C w/Gen an option?

Great Idea ! two hot babes and two coolers full of ice cold Miller Light ------ No need for shore power!!!!


Jim

I have tons of room in front of engines, like 3 ft.... I have a few freiends that are boat mechanics... so I may be able to get a take out cheap also... tossing ideas around... i wanna do it on a budget..

I been running my charger off a regular cord for years... I do want to add shorepower and onboard charger to the cig, but I cant do both at same time most likely.. I am doing many projects and funds are running low...

I am just trying to see how to do it off a cord if I do the A/C now... I can add the shorepower later...sucks I have one of the few Cigs with no shorepower...

So...... what BTU is right for a 35 Mistress? white gel so its not that hard to cool... my budddy has a 9000 in his and he can freeze the fukkin thing, what is minimal? 6500??

I never knew they had 12V systems... wonder how good they are?

i will look to see what make mine is in the pics i have form my survey, but i can tell u this last year in april and october my cabin was like 80. it worked grate even in the cold water.

tim it is an OceanAir reverse-cycle.

I will look it up thx

There is a video on the site

6500 is about right...9000 is overkill. As a comparison, my 40 Sea Ray had 2: units, 12000 for the salon/galley and 6500 for the Master and Jr State rooms. The salon on that boat was probably double what you have so figure it from there.

Here's a couple of pics of the salon.

[IMG]http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...k49/Salon2.jpg[/IMG]

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w..._0432Large.jpg

Lots of cubic foot area...14' beam, 7' clear ceiling height and 20' long.

A unit with 6500 BTU of cooling will do a great job...5000 would work on all but Florida tropical heat. Remember that most single pole 3 wire 220 is 30 Amp and the draw of a much larger unit is going to draw a lot of current plus if you install a generator you might not want to lug the size required for a unit that large.

I hope this helps.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s...oner-8358.html check this out

I dont think installing shore power would be that expensive.... You would just need, the female plug, wiring, breaker panel, and an outlet..... You could then prewire for a charger. I would think 200 or 300 should easily cover it........
Jr.

Don't forget the galvanic isolater, panel with main disconnect with reverse polarity indicator, safety ground wire running from your panels neutral bar to your motor ground stud. Isn't the same as wiring a house, but not hard if you know the safety rules.


A buudy has a 6500 in his Cafe and it'll freeze you out. Going to big of unit and it will cycle on/off to much, not removing the humidity. It's gotta run some in order to do it's job.

ya think? I guess I will look around for stuff and see what I can get... I am good at finding deals...

would a panel like this work? I am a budget guy...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shore-Power-...8d04be&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shore-Power-...631294&vxp=mtr


Any guidence in doing shorepower would be nice, outlet plug like this?

Mine is 5000 btu in my 302 and works great! And even without shorepower my Honda 2000 gen sitting on the bow or swimplatform is a perfect substitute.

I had one of those also, worked great, ran all night off an inverter and batteries, but if you can just plug in to 120v even better.

That amp draw looks really low for a 12v system, which means the overall wattage is off. I am not sure they will cool as well as they claim. 600 watts making 6000 btu at 12volts? hmmm


I plan to integrate one of these into my boat http://www.ebay.com/itm/Danby-5000-B...370#vi-content

Run the duct work out to the gunwhale, drain out the sink drain to the side of the boat. The base of the unit can be cut down to help fit.

Not sure if you have a boat junkyard around, but if so ask someone to sell you the shore power system out of a junk cruiser. My friend added shorepower to a 23 glasstron (I know, I know) with shorepower from a wrecked boat, he paid $25 bucks for it with a galvanic iso!

I plan to look into a parted boat for shore power I'm ok with used parts!!

4bus,

When you say duct work, I assume you mean exhaust. Can you elaborate on exactly how you will do it? Are you running the duct work all the way to the bilge or something like that? Thanks!

I'd say you should be able to easily find the stuff to do shore power properly and cheap with used parts. The safety factor of having breakers and galvanic isolation are well worth it!

You don't need a dual feed panel. Just a simple single one with a main breaker,reverse polarity indicator, meter and 3 breakers or so for AC, charger and an outlet.
Best I found when doing mine was Paneltronics.

Single 30 is MORE then enough power for my 342.

Give me a day or two. I may have about everything you need. Panel, Charger, Shore Power outlet. Won't break the bank either.

that would work looks like the one in my boat. mine is under the port bolster seat. crap i ment the outher link of the plugin lol

let me know pklease..

I had a 6500btu unit in the 33OL and it ran so long it kept freezing up.
http://www.flagshipmarine.com/sizeboat.html
IMOP that units fan was undersized (275 cfm) and improper air flow will freeze up the coil. I added a second supply and it helped a bit.
That unit was on the cheaper side. Having to wake up hot cause it froze up during the night was annoying.
In retrospect the 9,000btu unit has 475cfm and would have been a better choice...

The Unit on the current boat is better quality IMOP
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?...083&id=1762790

Having a remote control so you do`t have to get up and change the temp is priceless. It`s also much quieter.
Hindsight spending the extra coin on a better unit is very worth it.

I don`t see why you couldnt hook up the ac and just put a plug on the power wires

my buddy is a marine mecahnic he said the cruisair are very reliable and easy to get parts for, I also have a buddy that has 9000 in his Mistress and its perfect size for it...I am gonna go about that size....

hmmmm seems like a good start... and it's new..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSR-266-W-A-...e87d43&vxp=mtr

Mine has frozen up also. What was the "second supply" you added?

That really is perfect. Wolf Marine is in Mentor over by Wiseco.

Firehill; A second air vent, the more air you can flow across the coil the better. Less restriction = more air flow