Have you thought about an engine driven marine a/c system??
With you being in the Dallas, there is a company called NautiCool Air, based in the Fort Worth area. www.nauticoolair.com If you are going to be at the Dallas Summer Boat Show July 16,17,18 at Market Hall they are in the booth with Eliminator Boats. Visit the web site, the boat show, or call John at 817-656-4888. Being engine driven you do not need 110 volt power to cool a boat.
No batteries and inverters to add extra weight and only give a couple of hours of service before needing to be charged back up. Cool idea for a Hot Boat!

What about giving peltier junctions a try? Granted, their not that efficient, but they are solid state, and run on 12v. Bigger units can suck a lot of current, but what about making smaller "spot coolers" to put over the sleeping areas? If you're mostly concerned with comfort when sleeping, you won't have to deal with sun load at night. Possibly using liquid (lake water) for cooling the hot side, might increase efficiency. Plus, I've seen some pretty big units on ebay. Just a thought.

I know plenty of people that bungee down a Honda generator to their swim platform for overnight sleeping, and run a power cord to their shorepower for their overnight AC/Heat. I plan to do the same thing on mine as soon as I install AC/Heat.

I have 1350w inverter. I ran my 5000 btu ac around 500 wats several times before. My batteries were fully charged. I plugged in the ac and voltage drop occured (battery terminal voltmeter) . I heard a pop. then no power, and smelled burning smell. I know the motor has inrush and voltage drop. I'm looking for ideas on how to prevent this.

Startup draw on an AC unit is usually a lot higher than what it draws running,
you typically need an inverter 50% larger than you would normally think to handle the startup current.

how much longer does dry ice last compared to regular ice ? i would think before a overnighter, pick up dry ic with the cooler/fan thing , it would cool better?

Dry ice gives off Carbon Monoxide as it melts. DO NOT TRY THIS!!!!

Agreed!!!

Exactly..... The surge for starting the compressor is usually 50% or more of running amperage.

Try looking at Kenetic batteries over Optima.

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide not carbon monoxide. However both
can kill you. Just in different ways....


Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide (chemical formula CO2), comprising two oxygen atoms bonded to a single carbon atom. It is colorless, odorless, non-flammable, and slightly acidic.[1]

At temperatures below −56.4 °C (−69.5 °F) and pressures below 5.13 atm (the triple point), CO2 changes from a solid to a gas with no intervening liquid form, through a process called sublimation. The opposite process is called deposition, where CO2 changes from the gas to solid phase (dry ice). At atmospheric pressure, sublimation/deposition occurs at −78.5 °C (−109.3 °F).

The density of dry ice varies, but usually ranges between about 1.4 and 1.6 g/cm3 (87–100 lb/ft3).[2] The low temperature and direct sublimation to a gas makes dry ice an effective coolant, since it is colder than water ice and leaves no residue as it changes state.[3] Its enthalpy of sublimation is 571 kJ/kg (25.2 kJ/mol).