M_norrick

A couple years ago a purchased my 93 PQ 257 Legend and was a huge upgrade from an old Baja that I had. This boat was perfect for me except it did not have air conditioning. After pricing some actual marine A/C units I quickly realized that they are out of my price range that I was willing to pay. I am an "extreme" DIY type of guy and came to the conclusion that I was going to build one from an old $40 3000btu window unit that I purchased on CraigsList. I thought I would do a little writeup on my build with pics to share with everyone. Keep in mind, it was ALOT of work but turned out fantastic for the kind of boating that I do. My goal was to keep the factory look but also accomadate the new air conditioning sytem.


In the Legend there is a built in cooler on the starboard side down in the cuddy. This will be the new home to the air condioner.
http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps916f2258.jpg

M_norrick

With having an A/C unit I also needed to have shore power with all the quality circuit breakers
http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4afea7b4.jpg

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps60bdd62c.jpg

To start, I dismanteled the entire window unit with the freon discharged ofcourse. I then cut it apart and removed all the components I used. The compresser, the evaperator, and the wireing. The fan was discarded and replaced with a 110v "squirrel cage" type bilge blower. The condenser was discarded and replaced with a self made heat exchanger. Here is a mock up of the components
http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psfaa22c04.jpg

M_norrick

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1cea5af1.jpg After endless hours of fiberglass mold making and trial and error, here is the air conditioner fiberglass drip pan with fan shroud for evaperater.

A little bit of black paint added to the fiberglass for cosmetics and as you see in this picture, The heat exchanger/condenser is made and installed. It is simply a piece of 1/4' copper tubing that is ran inside of some 5/8" heater hose with all of the proper connections for water input and exhaust. http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psf5382651.jpg

Here is a pic of the AC with all of the tubing ran and ready to bench test. At this point it is all wired in with the thermostat installed.
http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps77573413.jpg

Here is a pic of the ac installed with the little storage door open. inside is where i adjust the thermostat.
http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psa8ef519c.jpg

Here is the finished product. I perfectly working marine air conditioner for a fraction of the cost..... just a whole lot of time! I ran it all last season with no issues and made for some perfect sleeping conditions on those hot summer nights.

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps916f2258.jpg

Here is the AC installed in boat. At this point I have already installed the Through Hull fitting, Shut off Valve, Pump, and Strainer along with the 5/8 Heater hose line for the water supply going to the heat exchanger/condenser. The discharge of the heat exchanger went to the existing through hull which was previously used for the factory cooler drain.

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5a5155d8.jpg

apollard

Nice build. More updates?

M_norrick

Thank you very much. Yes everything is working just like it should. When compressor kicks on, it also sends power to my water pump thus cooling down the air conditioner coolant. Nice and cold down in the cuddy now